got a battery grip today

[mudman]

ordered a battery grip from hong kong about 12 days ago. it arrived this arvo.
for 69.00 for a pentax knock off it sure beats kennedey's price.
i have one question, which may or may not be highly importance, which power switch should i turn on and off first to avoid possible camera damage? the camera or the grip?

[Kym]

The grip is subordinate to the camera i.e. if the camera is off so is the grip

[MarkChap]

If anything like the canon ones, the switch on the grip only turns off the buttons on the grip.


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[Tommo1965]

how good is it? did you get the one with metal locating pins?...Kym did you buy one of these ? if so what's your thoughts on them...I need one now due to the sigma 70-200 hsm hanging off the front of my K7. [ need more camera body to grip onto}, the BG4 from the states can be had for about $230 to your door at the Mo...is it worth the extra?

[reaction]

grip is just a lock, not a power

[mudman]

how good is it? did you get the one with metal locating pins?...Kym did you buy one of these ? if so what's your thoughts on them...I need one now due to the sigma 70-200 hsm hanging off the front of my K7. [ need more camera body to grip onto}, the BG4 from the states can be had for about $230 to your door at the Mo...is it worth the extra?

it looks just like a pentax one. metal pins and all.
from the use i have of it it's fine. having dials and shutter on it makes portrait mode far more comfortable not having to twist the wrist. i say go for it.
ordreed mine on ebay.

[Tommo1965]

cheers Mudman...
I find the K7 a bit small in my hands ..I also like to shoot portrait a lot with the longer focal length lenses

[mudman]

the extra nulk with the grip added could help you then. i like the lightnees of the k7 myself.
i have clumsy hands myself but have no probs with the k7
haven't tried using the bigma in portrait mode withe the grip attached yet. shouldn't make any differece i don't think.
cheers

[sugarcourt]

Im not someone that likes going for knockoffs. I find the real deal is always better quality. The price is the biggest issue though.
I have been looking at getting a body grip, just dont want to spend too much though. Is there much difference between the one you have and a genuine one?

[mudman]

the price difference, depending on retailer, is at least $300.00.
you could buy 5 at the price i paid for what an Australian retailer sells for.
i doubt that the genuine Pentax d-bg4 is 5 times better than the grey import i bought.
then again, there is no real way of proving that either way.
it comes down to choosing obe or the other. or neither.

[doppelganger]

I try to buy genuine, but at times it's just not economical

I've had my grey import from HK for a couple of weeks now,external build quality looks sturdy and all the buttons and attachments are all doing there job.........does the job.

Steve

[Tommo1965]

I really wanted a Genuine Grip..and from the states to my door it could be had for $230au..but then I wanted a cable remote,,so it run up to $255.....made me think about the Knockoffs...so I bought the lot for $55 Au to my door...cable release was $3.88 au...I dunno if its going to be any good...but as the lot cost what I spend on a Chinese meal at the takeaway..I thought Id give it a chance...if its crap,,then I will have learnt yet another life lesson!!

[jwheat65]

I bought a D-BG2 a while back and i wouldn't be without it now. The power switch on the grip just activates the controls on the grip, it doesn't turn on the camera. Stops you pressing a button without meaning to. If the camera is off, the grip is off (even if it's switched on).

[mudman]

thanks John. i leave mine on the camera all the time. don't know about others but i find taking portrait format a lot easier now.
cheers

[pkaye2004]

For those still considering buying and comparing cost vs features, I looked at the imitations however ended up purchasing a Pentax D-BG4 from Amazon for $230AUD delivered to Australia. At this price it was still over $200 cheaper than retail outlets I visited in Australia.

After reading alot of reviews on the net, my reasons to go with the original were:
1. Metal locating pins, some have plastic or fewer;
2. Full rubber grip, some have less rubber grip around the case;
3. Quality of switches being same as the body, some reports talk of flimsy switches and dials without the detent feel;
4. The tripod mount having more screws fixing to the bracket to the body of the grip, and the most important given the WR of the K5/K7,
5. Weather sealing on switches and the battery carrier door.

Its always a personal choice and if you are doing portrait work in a studio, the weather sealing may be less of an issue. For my interests in landscape (shooting in portrait to maximize stitching perspective) and outdoors photography, the grip doubled the battery reserve and avoided changing batteries in the field.

[Ozzi Paul]

I got the grip for my K20D & couldn't be without it now, just so much better to hold now & with the Sigma 70-200 on the camera it just feels much better balanced. I have reasonable sized hands so the extra size or the camera with the grip attached is much better. The weight doesn't worry me to much either. My grip was a shelf item & had been reduced in price a bit so thats why I got it, although I wanted 1 for a while anyway.

[Tommo1965]

I now have both the the third party Grip and a Genuine Pentax grip for the K5/K7....the pentax grip is night and day better than the third party....fit/finish and feel are very much improved with the pentax offering, and its now nice to have a shutter button that feels the exact same as the one on the camera body ...if you can get a pentax grip foe $230 , dont waste the $60 for a third party grip, instead save another $170... you ll be pleased that you did