Battery Grip?

OK, so I get that it's an accessory that attached to the bottom of the camera etc... but what does it actually do? I only ask because I've seen them selling for over $400 here and I'm confused as to their use now. Someone told me it was for "weighting" a camera etc, someone also told me it was useful for underwater shooting, buoyancy etc

But what are they actually for? Surely for $400 they'd have more of a purpose than just weight?

Sorry if it's a dumb question

A battery grip has several benefits:

1) It allows you to use two batteries with your camera instead of one. This doubles the amount of frames you can take in between charges.

2) It acts as a portrait hand grip with duplicate buttons. Without a battery grip, you'd have to hold the camera at an uncomfortable angle to shoot in portrait orientation. With the grip, you just turn the camera 90 degrees.

3) The grip does tend to balance out the camera a bit better (also makes it heavier). Some people appreciate the weightier feel, while others think it's cumbersome. It's just a matter of preference and taste.

Right now, it looks like the Canon BG-E11 battery grip that pairs with the Canon 5D Mark III is selling for around $300. However, Canon also makes a [less popular] Wireless File Transmitter that's also a grip and retails in the $600-$700 range.

EDIT: Ah, yes, Busted Knuckles...I meant to include a note about 3rd party battery grips but forgot. Several companies make battery grips that are almost identitical to the Canon OEM grips and cost much less.

I have the T3i and bought a battery grip for it from China - $60 or so. Sean is right about the portrait orientation, it is handy. Some folks have a hard time w/ the small rebel sized bodies and like the extra real estate that grip provides. Most of the ones you find on ebay will include an extra battery - it will help the number of shots you can take, but you don't need two batteries in the grip for it to function.

The SOME of cheap batteries are often a little less powerful (1100 amp hrs vs. 1500) and don't have the ability to tell the camera accurately how much charge is left - the battery meter in the camera suddenly reflects a nearly dead battery. However, I have yet to completely exhaust a battery in a single session. Through some sort of quirks I now have 1 original canon (1500 amp hr), 2, 1100 amp hr cheapies, and 1 1500 amp hr generic battery. I know I get 500 shots both 1,500 amp hr batteries and 400 ish from the to cheapies.

I dont routinely shoot 1,000 shots in a day - in fact I don't think I have ever done this. FYI, I think I got the 2nd 1500 amp hr battery from a wall/car charger combo on e-bay. The new wall charger has a bulit in flip out plug vs. cord AND has a seperate car charger cord. Used the car charger functionality on a recent vacation.

Another benefit of the Canon grips (not sure about 3rd party) is the AA battery tray. I use 6 Eneloops as a back-up to the two NimH batteries. AA performance is noticeably degraded (continuous burst), but it doesn't slow me down. If I'm not getting ready for something, I'll just shoot until the batteries fully drain and swap them out. My Canon batteries have been at an indicated half-charge for at least a couple of weeks now.

I've been trying to get motivated on taking pictures, but I'm not feeling it. So, I may take up to 50 pictures with a 10% keeper rate a day if the girls are doing something. (Spider pictures make my skin crawl now.) Yesterday and today were the first day of school, so I clicked a few before heading to the bus stop -- full body on-flash with 17-55; and head shots ambient with 70-200.

That on-flash diffuser thread has me experimenting with some different things as well. I like the Rogue FlashBender best, but it's too big and bulky. So, I've partly settled on using the Stofen with the built-in flash card raised (and the built-in diffuser panel); flash is tilted up 45-deg and right 45-deg so it's in the same orientation for landscape and portrait.

I purchased my first BG for the Rebel 2000 I purchased a dozen years ago. I didn't really need the extra battery capacity. The camera was too small for my small hands. I had no idea how much I would love it. I've gotten grips for every body I've purchased since then. If for no other reason, I would get a BG for the vertical shutter release so I don't have to crane my arm over like a monkey when shooting portrait-oriented shots.

The downside is the extra bulk and weight. My Rebel 2000 body no longer fit in the customized fanny pack I was using for a camera bag at the time. My bodies don't fit well in my Low Pro Off Trail II pack. And they make my bodies a little tall to be upright in my Pelican 1514 case, although I make it work. I can't comment on underwater buoyancy advantaged.

Hey everyone,

Thanks heaps for the great replies. I had no idea they had battery compartments etc, I was just like "ok, so extra weight... what else?"

If I got one I'd want it to be Canon battery compatable instead of the AA method (my Canon battery seems to never die... and seeing as how I bought 4 of them :/ )

The battery grip uses two two Canon batteries. The grip has an adapter that allows it to use AAs.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

Legend, thanks :)

Squidy, everyone else has mentioned everything about battery grip and I agree with all of them, but there is one thing that they have completely missed!

Have you looked at the 1D series camera (1Ds Mark III, 1D Mark IV, 1D X)? As you can see they all have built in grip, do you see how cool they are with the grips? You and your camera will look a lot cooler with a battery grip attached! That's the only reason I have a grip for my 7D :) :)

Nate, you look cool cuz you're hand-holding that 500mm ;)

Hey all,

Thanks heaps for the feedback. I've ordered an official Canon BG-E8 for my camera. Saw some aftermarket ones but something seems wrong when they're only $20 or so... Saw an aftermarket one in person yesterday and the quality felt... wow, just bad, and it was incredibly light.

Oh, and it's probably a stupid question, but can you charge via the battery grip? Or do you still need to charge one battery at a time via the Canon charger?

The official one is fairly light, it's putting batteries in it that makes it heavy.

You still need to charge one at a time.

Dagnabbit!