TimSandhu
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[Photos removed - will email on request if anyone desperately wants to see them].
Well, my third party battery grip arrived this week and I thought I'd just give it a mention on here in case anyone else is thinking of getting one similar.
I'd ordered the Opteka grip from Amazon Marketplace, but when I opened the shipping envelope, it said Zeikos on the box and not Opteka. Not a great start. I'll be dropping the seller a quick email to see what happened to the Opteka. Nevertheless, I opened it up and found the grip, two OEM LP-E5 batteries, and two battery cartridges (for AA & LP-E5) inside.
The batteries are 1450mAh Li-ion. I haven't had a chance to test their longevity yet but if they last as long as the Canon one that came with my 450d (rated at 1080mAh), I'll be happy. The battery cartridges are fairly well constructed and not as flimsy as I'd imagined.
As for the grip itself, I was pleasantly surprised with the construction. The finish is virtually identical to that of the camera body. It looks and feels substantial, adding much needed weight and balance to the body (imo). It attaches securely to the camera via the tripod mount leaving no gaps or movement. There is a rubberised area on the grip which can be seen in the image below. This is contoured and has a ridge for improved grip when in portrait mode.
As far as I can tell, it has the same vertical grip button configuration as the Canon-branded grip: shutter button, Av button, Exposure Compensation, AE lock, FE lock, index, reduce/enlarge and AF point selector. Pressing the buttons reveals the the weakest point of this grip for me personally. The resulting clicks are just not as solid-sounding as their counterparts on the camera body itself. It's a small thing though. And the selector wheel is fine.
All in all, I'm rather pleased with this item. It certainly doesn't look or feel like a budget product - quite the opposite in fact. A grip and two batteries for £70. If it weren't for the Canon logo on the original, you might be hard-pressed to tell the difference between them. Buttons aside, the only real negative that I can see so far is that the resale value will be considerably lower than for a Canon-branded one. I'm usually very cautious about buying third party stuff, but this has raised my confidence in them. Only time will tell if holds together but my initial impressions are that it just might.
Tim
Well, my third party battery grip arrived this week and I thought I'd just give it a mention on here in case anyone else is thinking of getting one similar.
I'd ordered the Opteka grip from Amazon Marketplace, but when I opened the shipping envelope, it said Zeikos on the box and not Opteka. Not a great start. I'll be dropping the seller a quick email to see what happened to the Opteka. Nevertheless, I opened it up and found the grip, two OEM LP-E5 batteries, and two battery cartridges (for AA & LP-E5) inside.
The batteries are 1450mAh Li-ion. I haven't had a chance to test their longevity yet but if they last as long as the Canon one that came with my 450d (rated at 1080mAh), I'll be happy. The battery cartridges are fairly well constructed and not as flimsy as I'd imagined.
As for the grip itself, I was pleasantly surprised with the construction. The finish is virtually identical to that of the camera body. It looks and feels substantial, adding much needed weight and balance to the body (imo). It attaches securely to the camera via the tripod mount leaving no gaps or movement. There is a rubberised area on the grip which can be seen in the image below. This is contoured and has a ridge for improved grip when in portrait mode.
As far as I can tell, it has the same vertical grip button configuration as the Canon-branded grip: shutter button, Av button, Exposure Compensation, AE lock, FE lock, index, reduce/enlarge and AF point selector. Pressing the buttons reveals the the weakest point of this grip for me personally. The resulting clicks are just not as solid-sounding as their counterparts on the camera body itself. It's a small thing though. And the selector wheel is fine.
All in all, I'm rather pleased with this item. It certainly doesn't look or feel like a budget product - quite the opposite in fact. A grip and two batteries for £70. If it weren't for the Canon logo on the original, you might be hard-pressed to tell the difference between them. Buttons aside, the only real negative that I can see so far is that the resale value will be considerably lower than for a Canon-branded one. I'm usually very cautious about buying third party stuff, but this has raised my confidence in them. Only time will tell if holds together but my initial impressions are that it just might.
Tim
