Editorial Review:Product Description:Effectively doubles the available shooting time to approximately 1000 shots / Stable and comfortable shooting platform
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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
-
Love it!!
Love this extra battery compartment. Came in handy with family reunion when camera battery ran out of charge. It does add a lot of weight to the camera, but is worth it!!! Like the way I can quickly change from camera battery power to battery in this compartment within seconds!!!
Rating: -
Excellent extension, especially because it is removable...
As an on-and-off pro photographer, I need something that shoots pro-quality pictures, but since I am a field photographer not a studio photographer, I wanted something smaller, more compact, more rugged, and less expensive than the top end Cannons. I have no interest in risking a five to ten thousand dollar piece of equipment as I shoot out the window of a moving jeep. I also want something that is a little easier to carry around and doesn't require the standard photographic luggage. So I picked the K20D, which is the smallest and sturdiest DSLR I can find. It's also at a good price, and shoots great pictures.
Thus, the BG2 battery grip is perfect for me. Like an expensive pro camera, I have controls for vertical shooting, and nice balance with longer lenses. Unlike an expensive pro camera, I can take the bulky bottom grip off when I want to slim the camera down!
This is also great for field work, because it stores an extra card, an extra battery, and the remote control, rather than leaving me juggling a bunch of little boxes cluttering up my bag. Because I shoot in full manual mode and do most of my photo editing (eg, noise reduction) on my computer not in the camera, the K20D uses virtually no power. I can shoot for four weeks / 1000 photos on a single battery without recharging. The optimized "auto" setting drawing from whichever battery has higher output does a little better than double that, because by switching back and forth it can take advantage of the bounce after a battery is turned off then on. The Lithium Ion batteries are great, and don't have memory and heat problems of Nickle MH batteries, so you can use these ones all the way, and recharge whenever you feel like it.
On the whole, I use this rather than carrying a bag full of backup batteries and cards, and it's perfect.
Rating: -
Added finger space and double battery life
I keep this grip on my K10D most of the time. If you use heavy lenses this grip gives the camera considerably more heft and a larger gripping surface to help you keep it still with the lens extended. With two batteries in the camera I can go literally for days without a charger. I've shot 1500 shots over three days, using the flash about a fourth of the time. I never got close to exhausting the batteries.
Rating: -
Well built, everything I needed
I was looking for a little extra battery life as well as vertical shooting controls for my K20D, so this grip was the obvious choice. Weather sealed like the camera, and with what appears to be typical nice Pentax build quality, I am so far very happy and impressed with it. It adds some heft to the camera (not that I mind), and the SD card storage has saved my behind a few times when I pull the card out of the camera and leave it in the reader. Nice touch!
Rating: -
A Must Have for the K20D
The Battery Grip is a "must have" if for no other reason that it balances out the K20D body to provide a full and balanced surface to hold the camera. As an added bonus, it can hold an extra battery, and provide storage for a extra SD card and Pentax wireless remote. The extra battery extends the power capacity of the K20D and can be adjusted in the camera to either be the primary or secondary source of power. The power switch, shutter button and wheel all work seamlessly when used in the vertical orientation. At aprox. $150-$160 it is lower priced than similar grips for Nikon and Canon and therefore an affordable accesorry which saves me money for good quality glass.
The only improvement I can think of that Pentax can make is to add the flexibility to use AA batteries in addition to the L-I50 recharbale battery. Nikon accomplishes this via a supplied adaptor insert which can accomodate 4 AA cells.
Not withstanding the above, I give it an A+.
