Is a Grip Helpfull

[41jas]

I like mine, which I haven't had all that long, because your guaranteed your batteries will last the whole day plus the main thing of having the controls at your finger tips without twisting your wrists around to use when not in landscape. When in the portrait position it makes it so much easier to set up the shot. I picked mine up new with 2 batteries all for $129.00. I thought worth a go and it's great.

[yummymummy]

wow Julie-Anne, where abouts did you get that from? I'd be interested to see how much I could get one for my Canon if they're only that price?

[bigdazzler]

Mine lives on my camera. Maybe because im too lazy to take it off I use it with my tripod and dont seem to get any camera shake, but i really love using it for portraits, makes handholding vertical so much more comfortable and you added controls .. oh and i got it for free, that helped

[Kym]

I've only started using a grip this last week. I did a sports event on Tuesday night.
Initial feelings - yes I like it and it did fell better and obviously portrait mode was much better.

[Tannin]

Interesting discussion. I've never owned or even used a grip, and have never really thought of buying one. Why add weight and bulk to no purpose? is my usual thought.

On the other hand, my Mark III (which has a grip built in, of course) is the nicest thing to use, especially with big lenses. How much of that is the grip, and how much of it other factors, it's hard to say. I do find it moderately useful for shooting in portrait, but only moderately - I'm so used to simply turning my wrist around to shoot in portrait with tre other cameras that I more often than not just do the same with the Mark III and ignore the vertical grip. But sometimes I use it.

I do admit to being a bit puzzled by the people saying that they like the extra battery life. Huh? Every DSLR I've ever used (with the partial exception of the tiny-battery 400D) has had more than enough juice in a single fresh battery to go all day long, yes, even back when I was using a 20D as my main birding camera and sometimes taking 1000, even 2000 shots. What are you people doing to your poor little cameras to thrash an entire battery in a single session? I probably should report you all to the RSPCO (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Optical equipment.)(

In any case, even if you do somehow thrash batteries out regularly, surely it's much easier to just carry a spare battery in your pocket -you have to carry spare flash cards anyway, and a battery for any normal camera takes up less pocket space than your key ring. (Not the Mark III battery, mind you, these are about the size of a plump sunglasses case, and apparently contain enough charge to power a small city for a week. Well, almost.)

The little batteries in the smallest DSLRs (my old 400D for example) can get used up in a day's shooting if you work it really hard, but it sems a bit weird to buy such a tiny-bodied camera and then stick on a grip to make it bigger. Wouldn't it be easier to just buy a bigger camera (20D/30D/40D/50D) in the first place? By the time you pay for the grip, you'd be half-way there already.

But don't let my musings stop the discussion! I'm still reading and - who knows? - at some point, perhaps I'll start to see a reason or two to make me change my mind.

[MrJorge]

I love my grip. Yes it's a 400D Tony but I bought it and it felt ok in my hands but once I felt a grip on it it's never come off. Only got the grip because I got it for $99 though

It adds to the feel of it so much for me and makes my camera easier and more comfortable for me to hold. Purely personal preference of course.

I do think it adds to counter balance weight too with longer, heavier lenses. But every camera is going to be different.

[I @ M]

Huh? Every DSLR I've ever used (with the partial exception of the tiny-battery 400D) has had more than enough juice in a single fresh battery to go all day long, yes, even back when I was using a 20D as my main birding camera and sometimes taking 1000, even 2000 shots. What are you people doing to your poor little cameras to thrash an entire battery in a single session? I probably should report you all to the RSPCO (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Optical equipment.)(

In all seriousness Tony, the little D50 will go for ever, the D300 around 500 shots and the D200 somewhere around 300 photos to a charge and all using the same model battery.
The above figures are rough sort of estimates but the D200 is an absolute pig when it comes to power consumption and an extra battery ( or 2 ) never goes astray with them in the course of a days work for me.

Of course the original post was about the value of grips and it will be a personal thing for each of us to decide whether we like the way our hands hold the camera in whichever position but for me it is a win win situation, comfortable hands and seamless battery changeover from exhausted to charged mid way through the last quarter at the local footy match when the winning goal was scored.
That of course is after the hockey, the netball and golf shots.

[Kym]

Oh!! I should have said (I think many may be afraid to say this)...

Grip gives you pose value

[jdreamer]

Tried my friend's camera with grip.. just love the feel. Much more comfortable.

[Seesee]

I have the grip on my D300, I use it so as not to disappoint the person who bought it as a gift for me, but..........

to be honest I find it a pain, good for pose material to make people take notice of you, but adds much too much weight to the camera and makes it harder to hold steady due to the weight. I find it very clumsy and bulky and a pain having to remove it to access the main camera battery for charging.

I personally find the second shutter button is a PITA for portrait shots as once the camera is rotated one has to then locate the button and extra controls. I find it so much easier to keep ones finger on the main shutter button and rotate the camera while keeping in full control of the shutter etc.

Battery grips....good for poser material, look at me.... look at me....but can happily live without one for easier use.

[Goldie]

After recently picking up one for my camera cheap, I can I prefer to use it than to go without. Portrait shooting is a lot more comfortable.

The only downside is that it adds a little bit of weight, which is only a problem if I'm shooting with my 50mm f/1.8 because the weight adds a bit of shudder when shooting at low shutter speeds.