battery grip for xsi

[nimblybimbly85]

How much extra shooting time does a battery grip add?





I will be going on a camping trip and I want to bring my xsi and shoot as much as possible over the course of 3 days.





Thanks a lot!

[Sean Setters]

A battery grip with two fully charged batteries will last twice as long as a camera with only one battery.

[MrGreenBug]

I agree with Sean. I think you can stretch those two batteries for three days. I'm sure you wouldn't be shooting continuously. [] Please take note if you're going to use flash (built-in/pop-up) as this will eat up the batteries too.

[Sinh Nhut Nguyen]

One of the advantages of the grip is in case of an emergency, you can put in 6 AA batteries and continue to shoot.


I buy vertical grips for all my camera bodies not because I want extra battery life, but because I want stability. The extra bulk and weight of the grip make it more stable when you have a heavy lens. Now if I purely want battery life I just buy a couple of batteries and put them in my pockets.

[neuroanatomist]

How much extra shooting time does a battery grip add?

Absolutely none. A battery grip holds two batteries, but when you buy one, you don't get a second battery - you need to buy that separately. You can buy the second battery alone, and just bring it along, and you'll still double your shooting time. For $10 more than the price of a Canon BG-E5, you can buy three extra Canon LP-E5 batteries instead, and quadruple your shooting time.


The main advantages to a grip are better balance with heavier lenses, and much easier shooting in vertical orientation. The AA-battery tray is nice, as Nate mentions, but you also need a place to buy batteries! IMO, useful if you're going somewhere that you cannot rely on availability of power, but you can find somewhere to shop (on a trip I took to Africa, in many remote places power was an iffy thing, and when I was in Belize, the whole country lost power for hours on several occasions, but batteries were fairly available).


So, don't buy the grip for more shooting time, just buy batteries and charge them up before you go. Another tip would be to avoid 'chimping' (reviewing your shots on the LCD). If you want to check a histogram, fine, but minimize - the LCD uses a lot of power. Bring along enough memory that you can keep shooting and worry about sorting through your pics when you get home.


Have a great trip!