D-BG2, D-BG4 ???

What are the advantages of using a grip ? (D-BG2, D-BG4)

I tried one on my K10 and found it heavy, awkward and cumbersome ! even for portrait shots it seems awkward !?

I can always keep a spare battery in my camera bag, and I'm unable to use a tripod without removing the grip !

So am I missing something ?? :

Why?

The grip has the same threaded tripod mount that the camera does, which should not prevent the use of a tripod at all.

For me the grip on the K-5 brings it up to the size of the K10D/K20D.

So it does !!

For some reason I completely missed that !? How odd !!

The thing is, if you like having a grip then use it. If you don't then don't.

Personally I find it odd to hold a camera without a grip. And if you're using a heavy lens it does help add to the balance.

I can't live without a grip - if I did, it would be because there's a second body doing nothing but video.

Bret

I've just got a grip, so to speak, and I'm not really taking to it at the moment.

Normally to do portrait shots I'd simply tilt my wrist so the camera is vertical. The strap stays wound round my wrist.

Using the K-5 grip (for one day so far, as an experiment) I find that I need to unwind the strap from my wrist and change position so that I hold the grip, and then the camera is 'upside-down' compared to before. With the original method I can do longish hand-held exposures with my elbows resting on my chest, but with the grip I'm holding the camera uncomfortably high in order to see through it.

I guess the main distinction is that the quick 90-degree twist to vertical is gone, now it is a change of the way I'm holding the camera.

I'm trying to get used to it, but maybe the grip isn't for me...

Grips are like Marmite - you either love 'em or hate 'em. Personally I think they make the balance of the body better. And I like the insurance that they hold a spare card. Having a second battery on line will aid when access to a charger is fraught.


Steve

I've never owned a grip. I found the K20d too big without one, so it would have been awful for me with one.
Now the K-5 is just perfect for me, so I can't see me sticking a grip under it either. But I am prepared to be convinced. Maybe someone going to the Scottish meet has a gripped K-5 for me to hold.

I carry a spare card and battery with me at all times (quite often when I don't even have the camera with me :lol.

Well, as a lonely voice crying in the wilderness, I shall present the case against grips.

1 They are very expensive, and do very little.
2 They make a petite Pentax look like, and weigh nearly as much as, a lumpen, bloated, camera like a Canon.
3 They make your arms ache if you are using them for long periods.
4 In practice, you almost never need the extra battery, unless you are so dis-organised that you go to a shoot with a flat battery in the camera. And pockets were designed to carry things like spare batteries.
5 The correct way to hold a camera is with your right hand holding the body, and your left holding the lens. Balance doesn't come into it.
6 There are much cheaper and easier ways to carry a spare card. But again, how often do you need one?
7 It's child's play to hold a camera vertically. You don't need a grip.
8 You can put the money saved towards another lens.

But, there is one massive argument in favour.

The production cost of a grip is a couple of quid. The rest is profit. If Pentax weren't selling loads of grips, they'd have to raise the price of the camera.

So, keep buying grips, chaps. They're a thoroughly good idea.

G

Very good ! I like that

I do a fair bit of walking and I carry spare cards and batteries in my camera bag, so no problem there, unfortunately the camera with grip won't fit in my small bag (too wide) so another reason not to use one

Thanks all for your comments

.

9 The camera won't fit in the bag!

Thanks Stu.

G

I bought one, almost never use it. I find the camera suddenly focusing and changing ISO and gawd knows what else because the controls on the grip are being knocked by my leg or bag or tummy. The only time I do use it is when I know I am going to be using one of my larger lenses for a prolonged period of time.

I could survive without it quite easily.

K.

I'm one of the people that like a heavier/bigger camera. Maybe because I have big hands, but having the grip on my GX-10 gives me more comfort, and less strain on my hands. Although I have to say that it gives me a sore neck after a long day of usage.

If the grip with 2 batteries is too heavy, consider battery in grip only. It helps even more with the balance (on the bigger cameras anyway).

One trick to winding strap around wrist and still being able to flip camera to portrait position, is to trap the ends of the strap where it narrows together with a rubber band or similar. Then a double loop around wrist can be loose giving your hands freedom, but if camera slips strap will tighten hard around your wrist rather than coming off (because of the band). I use a figure of 8 double elastic loop.

I find that with grip I can carry camera in hand all day, but without grip fingers and thumb get cramp quickly due to load being on just 1 or 2 fingers. But then YMMV - my puds are bordering on XXL!