I’ve bought the Pentax battery grip for every APS-C Pentax I’ve owned. I can’t speak to the Pentax vs. off-brand, but I know Bob Sullivan and IIRC one or two others here have used other-than-Pentax with no issues.
As to whether the grip is a good thing in general… 1. I don’t find battery life that much of an issue. And carrying a spare battery takes up a lot less room in the bag than carrying the grip. 2. Being able to use AA’s is cool. One of these days I may be able to find the AA insert and finally get around to trying out that feature. Never have done that on any of the gripped bodies I’ve owned. 3. If you shoot much vertical, then you’ll find the grip to be very comfortable. When you use it. When shooting “fast action” such as birds at a feeder or a developing scene on the street I often switch back and forth from horizontal to vertical. And maintain my hold on the body rather than switching back and forth from body to grip. If I am doing a long sequence of verticals, then at some point I realize that there is a better way and move my hand down to the vertical grip. 4. Actually, from the beginning of my Pentax DSLR adventure, I have liked using the battery grip because the body alone is a bit small for my hand, the grip gives a more comfortable feel even when shooting horizontal mode. 5. If you shoot much vertical and if you shoot much with tripod, you’ll have a real challenge finding an L-bracket for the K-5 to begin with. An L-bracket for the K-5 + grip is barely possible with a kludgy eBay generic L-bracket. All things considered, if I am shooting macro I take the grip off so as to be able to use a better fitting more solid L-bracket to simplify switching back and forth between horizontal and vertical. 6. The dual controls can be a pain. Somehow, the way I carry my camera+grip when walking has the lower right rear corner brushing against my clothing. Which can turn the On-Off switch to On. And it is not that hard to brush against one of the shutter release buttons. Electrons are cheaper than film was, but still those inadvertent shots are a nuisance. And a more fundamental issue is that if the grip’s On-Off is not thoroughly in the Off position, then you can get a camera freeze when you try to turn on the camera from the body switch. 7. With grip in place, you of course cannot change the battery in the body. You can set the preference to work from the grip’s battery first, trying thereby to not use the camera’s battery, but you still will frequently need to dismount the grip to change out the body’s battery. A bit of a fiddle. I have listed quite a few negatives related to using a battery grip. However, if/when I buy another Pentax APS-C or possibly even a FF someday,(and assuming a similar form factor for future bodies) I will buy at the same time the matching battery-holder “vertical grip.” On balance, the feel of the camera in my hand outweighs the minor nuisances I have outlined. stan > On Jan 28, 2016, at 11:28 AM, P.J. Alling <[email protected]> wrote: > > OK, so that's not really a question. > > I've been contemplating getting one for my K-5II. Now I had an opportunity > to buy one from same source as the camera, at a very good price I might add, > but passed as I didn't see a pressing need. But as I get older and less > steady, I can't help to think that vertical shots would be easier to hold > steady with a vertical grip and shutter button, not to mention the extra > battery power and ability to use AA batteries in a pinch. > > The official Pentax grip, is still kind of expensive, so I've been looking at > third party grips. I know probably none of them are weather sealed, but the > prices of some a certainly attractive. > > First question has anyone here used one? > > Second question was it any good? > > There are several brands, are there any known differences between them, (not > that I expect a real answer to that), it would be nice if a magazine like Pop > Photo did a comparison, (anybody else remember when they used to do stuff > like that)? > > So that last one wasn't really a question. > > I guess my assumption is they're all manufactured in the same factory in > China, possibly from the official molds, or close copies, sourced from there > by a variety of distributes, but maybe I'm wrong. > > Hell prices range on Amazon from as low as about $30 to as high as 4 times > that, and at any price point they might throw in a of battery or two both > battery trays and a charger. > > Feedback is all over the place, none seem to be perfect, but then neither is > the official grip. > > I guess I'm kind of looking for information, that I trust more than the usual > amazon feedback. > > > -- > I don't want to achieve immortality through my work; I want to achieve > immortality through not dying. > -- Woody Allen > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
