Poll: To grip or not to grip

If you use a battery grip, what is the primary reason you have it?

  • Comfort / ease for vertical shooting

    Votes: 44 33.8%

  • Extra battery power

    Votes: 8 6.2%

  • A combination of the above

    Votes: 63 48.5%

  • 'Cause it makes my camera look bigger ;)

    Votes: 6 4.6%

  • Other (post you reason below)

    Votes: 9 6.9%
  • Total voters
    130
DizMatt said:
gripped for some stuff, like studio shoots and fight gigs when weight is good and power is needed.
also the vertical controls are handy
for everyday stuff...not at all
will grip my backup 40D for extra power as the batteries are failing now :(
on another note, I can't figure out why people put 'gripped' in their camera box over here
<----------------------------------------------------------------------------------O
seems hugely irrelevant to the whole canon/nikon camps etc or even in the occasional one-upmanship that might occur.
I've seen it quite a lot and never figured it out.
Might get a grip for my recent canon purchase, but always go 3rd party as I'm cheap like that and don't use them all the time
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Might get a 3rd party grip for the 60D just for using when I have the 70-200 f2.8 on
 
Grips on all my dslrs (450D, 20D and 40D) - i have big hands and the grip makes it much more comfortable ( I find the xxxD series virtually unsuable ungripped) - the extra power is also handy when you are shooting all day

I would definitely recomend getting a grip that takes interchangeable batteries - rather than the cheap aansman ones with a built in battery- also an AA caddy is handy for emergencies. That said theres no need to spend extra on manufacture ones as third party grips like the hahnel and mieke ones are fine
 
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The only time I would grip would be if I shot Nikon and had the one that gets a frame rate boost, that wood be nice

But I don't
 
The hand strap is a must IMO gripped or not
really gives you the feeling that the camera is secure in your hand
 
I purchased a grip for my 20D the other day and I have to say, I'm already finding the camera better balanced with larger lenses on it, and it's now excellent for vertical shooting just feels much more comfortable.
 
Huge hands, no grip. Waste of weight and space for me, especially as I think cameras should be getting smaller!

If I shot portrait orientation more, I'd probably change my tune. But as I don't...
 
andy1868 said:
i've got one on my D7000, it transformed the camera and made it much nicer to use. Especially with me 70-210 on, its not a particularly big lens but having the battery at the bottom in the grip made it much better balanced and easier on my wrist :)

I've never felt the need on my D200 though, the bigger camera sits better in my hands i can't say i've ever felt like it needed one :)
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Andy do you not find the standard battery drains really quickly on the D200? I have heard battery life is bad, and i thought it was just the body i have. If i go out for a day, i will be on my 2nd sometimes 3rd battery by the end of the day.
 
I can't make my mind up about gripped/not gripped and I tend to use one for a while then swap over, feel the benefit (for there are benefits both ways, imho) and then use that set-up for a while.

It's nice to have the extra battery power - but I always carry spare(s) anyway - when I'm using the grip, I have to carry two spare batteries (unless I ditch the grip). - Edit - Never found the single battery to be too short on juice - with the 50D, a full battery usually lasts the whole outing.

The handling certainly is different but I cope quite well with both. My hands have (as an adult) never been described as small, have sometimes been described as big (but not as often as my fingers and thumbs - I have club fingernails) and I have no problem with the 50D sans grip - I find it natural to hold it with my little finger curled underneath the battery compartment, two middle fingers around the body and top finger on the shutter button. I did always struggle with my ungripped 350D - my fingers wouldn't fit around the front grip-bulge of the body between the bulge and the lens - the gap between the lens and the bulge was narrower than my fingers.

It is nice and comfy to wield the camera with the grip attached, and I do like it for hand-held portrait shots, but it does make the camera a lot bigger (and heavier) - and too bulky to throw in my 'man-bag' with a standard zoom on the front for 'casual' or candid use. It won't fit in my Lowepro toploader holster pouch with the grip on and I do like to use that bag on a shoulder-strap or belt for day-trips with the missus and/or friends.
 
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I got a grip with my 5D2 so I could get battery information with 3rd party batteries. Not bothered about the looks and it was a bit if a pain size wise . Portrait shooting was handy though.

I used 3rd party grips would never have bought a canon one.


I'd imagine most people buy them so their cameras look more expensive when in reality they look like consumer cameras with a grip lol
 
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I mainly shoot with a 1D so any camera without a grip feels odd to me particular shooting vertical. Grip to me offers balance, comfort, buttons in the right place and battery life. Therefore my non 1Ds have grips.
 
I like t use a grip on my 30D when I am using the 17-85, the whole thing feels better and balances well. When I shoot with a smaller prime lens I go 'gripless'. Horses for courses.
 
if the body was meant to be bigger they would have made it bigger in the first place. you have to carry 2 batteries at once, so one gets drained you still have to carry it

sounds silly to me, i think its a studio thing for shooting portrait formate
 
Siilver said:
you have to carry 2 batteries at once, so one gets drained you still have to carry it
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True , but having two battteries in the camera means you can shoot for longer without having to change them , which lessens the chance of missing an important shot because you were changing batteries
 
but when you do have to change it is going to take longer!
 
Grips don't provide extra power, they provide extra energy to shoot for longer.
 
Grip which then enables more frames per second on my D300.

Realspeed
 
I pretty much always use a grip on my D300, as I'm a people shooter and having the controls for portrait just really suits me. If i'm out and about with my D80 then the grip stays off as I like having a "compact" option (teamed up with a 50mm). Also knowing that i'll have plenty of battery power is always nice too.
 
No grip. If I am to bother I'll only use first party models. I bought a third party one for my D90 and it was flimsy at best. You really get what you pay for with these things. Something that is adding to your camera body should match the build quality.

I think people who really like a grip should really be using the larger pro cameras.

The poll needs a "Don't bother using them" option.
 
my 400d is gripped and for me is well worth it but i now have a 5d3 and dont know if a grip is worth it
 
boyfalldown said:
not grip. gripping a camera just looks like you're trying to convince the worl you have a pro body
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I don't grip, partially because I think people might think 'look at that idiot pretending to have a pro camera'
 
redddraggon said:
Not necessarily always the case. Put an En-El4e (or AAs) in an MB-D10 and you get a higher FPS, than you would with just a En-El3e in a D700/D300 body.
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Ah, Nikon doing some clever gimping of camera features to encourage folk to buy a grip there ;)
 
I find with a grip with a pair of branded batteries I can go out and shoot all day without the need to change the single battery, which is bound to go flat just at the most inopportune moment, then you faf to find the spare only to realise you left it home on the charger.
I also find it useful to be able to do a quick check of the batterie's charge status in camera of both batteries I have loaded in it before I set out
 
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Siilver said:
but when you do have to change it is going to take longer!
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nope - for one thing two batteries will last nearly all day ( I have done whole weddings on two ), and for another you can swap two batteries nearly as fast as swapping one it doesnt take twice as long - and the bincreased power capacity means you have a greater chance of picking your moment.
 
big soft moose said:
nope - for one thing two batteries will last nearly all day ( I have done whole weddings on two ), and for another you can swap two batteries nearly as fast as swapping one it doesnt take twice as long - and the bincreased power capacity means you have a greater chance of picking your moment.
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:agree:

I have only shot 3 weddings but haven't yet needed to change batteries (1000-1300 shots). I have the camera set to use the grip battery first, it it runs down and uses the body battery i can change it in seconds. The body battery just acts as a reserve. Also shooting on 2 bodies means each cameras batteries are used less.
 
on canons you dont still have a body battery - theres just two in the grip - but yes two cameras with a grip on each tends to mean you don't have to change batteries (although i usually do as a precaution while the guests are eating - so that i start the evening session with fresh batts in everything )
 
Gripped for me, haven't got large hands, but I have long fingers, the grip just means the camera sits better in my hand and I don't feel like I'm going to drop it and it is better balanced with the 70-200 on it.

I really had never thought about what other people think about the way my camera looks, I have never had anyone say anything about the grip, but loads of people comment as I always have my flash on it when we go out, winter or summer, its normally when its sunny I get the comments.
 
Mank said:
I bought a grip for my D90, didn't like it. Doesn't feel like its apart of the camera, it feels out of place and I never liked using it. But on the D3 with the built in grip I like using, its apart of the camera, it feels the same as the rest of the camera and just feels right. :)
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Totally with you on this. Love the built in grip on my D2X. Really don't like the grip on my D700, though I'll be using it for a forthcoming wedding, mainly for battery life but partly for ease of vertical shooting in a hurry. Will likely flog it after that.
 
well, after this thread last week i've been using my D7000 without the grip again, the small compactness was a nice change. I might ditch the grip for good :LOL:
 
The D90 is so good on battery life, a grip doesn't add anything there. Unless you get/need more fps, or shoot a lot in portrait orientation, I don't see the point. I got a third party grip along with my D90. Bought it used, 6mths old, like new - the grip looked like it was never touched. So the guy who bought it must have maybe tried it once, and put it back in the box. I did the same after buying. It felt flimsy, too light to balance the combination out nicely. And even tightened up it would jiggle a little. I'm sure Nikon grips are much better, but are they worth the cost? I don't think so.

I's used to just turning the camera to shoot portrait, it's no big deal once you're holding the camera properly.

Maybe for the D800 it's useful? If it adds longevity to battery life?
 
Vertical shutter button first, additional batteries second.

Ive got a nikon grip for my d7000, it balances the 300mm f4 better and the vertical shutter button is my main reason for getting it at the start, so much easier especially panning and following wildlife when on a tripod. I've recently started to use rechargeable AA batteries in the grip, they last so long and i rarely charge the camera battery now. No worries about forgetting to charge the batteries before going out now as the camera battery acts as a backup. Original camera batteries are expensive so using AA batteries I already had makes sense to me.

I got this grip free as i had tesco vouchers from jessops and they didnt sell anything else that was of use to me (only a few stores sell all the products). Would I buy a grip again? Probably as it now feels weird without it, it's down to personal preference I think.

I can understand the "because it makes it look pro" comment as I believe some do use it for that, for me it's annoying as most people (public) always make comments like that to me. Then again if you use a tripod you get the same comments.
 
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