K-7 Grip

Didn't get a grip with the K-7 for testing, which is a small shame as I am a dedicated grip user, and would have loved to be able to report about it!

Ned has posted some pics of it here on his blog. The first thought I had was 'it doesn't look as well integrated as the K20D one.' The K20D & grip really do look like they were meant to be together unlike some of the competitor versions that look like tacky afterthoughts. The K-7 & grip doesn't quite have the same 'fluid' look about it.

Then after clicking on the pictures and looking at the larger images, it does look as if it will be more ergonomic. Differences I can see are:-

Control wheels look the same as the K-7, they do feel a lot nicer.
AF and ISO buttons are included
Rubber thumb rest
AE-L button to right of rear wheel instead of below it
Wider base, may offer a better feel.
Spare tray for using 6xAA batteries

All in all, they do look very much like welcome improvements, and it does look like it will feel and work nicer than the K20D grip. Shame about losing the storage space for an IR remote though.

But.....

I think they may have missed an opportunity or 2 to make it a killer upgrade.

The RRP of the grip is £269.99. We got used to paying £99 for the old one, but with price increases that is now £159. So £100 difference 'for a couple of extra buttons and an extra battery tray.'

To be honest, I was hoping for something extra, something a little different to really make it stand out. The competitors have GPS, WIFI and faster FPS options in their grips or available seperately, and whilst those options would be welcome additions, Pentax adverts do ask us to be interesting, so I would like to ask them to do the same!

My idea revolves around video, but would obviously work for stills shooters too!

Power: A quick look suggests they could, at a push squeeze 2 batteries in there for extra power, or if not, make a far bigger one available to fill up all the empty space in there. That would really give us some juice to play with! Tech specs on another forum suggested the new sensor has the speed to kick out 7 FPS at full resolution, so this would be a welcome addition similar to the D300.

Storage: Many of us would have liked to see 2 SD slots in the K-7, but I can see why not as it helps keep the size down / lack of space etc. But how about having an active slot, or 2, in the grip instead of just storing it? There is room, and the benefits could be very beneficial.

You could have stills saved to one card, and video saved to a larger dedicated card.
Have RAW & JPEG go to seperate cards
Save photos twice, once on each card for extra backup.
Automatically switch over to 2nd card when the 1st one is full.

Additional accessories could include:-

GPS hot shoe adaptor that takes its power and transmits data via the hotshoe.
Wifi hot shoe adaptor.
Weatherproof flashgun.

Those power and storage options would make a huge difference, and really help to put this camera on the map, and would make me feel that the price was justified, because as it is, I don't think it should be priced higher than £199.

Would love to hear your opinions on this!

Regards

Danny.

Well I can't stand grips as a rule (as you know!) and I'd never conceive of buying one usually, but actually this one does have me tempted purely because it can take AA's as an alternative power source - as far as I know none of the competitor's models offer this feature (whereas you can get seperate GPS units and WiFi memory cards so their absence is of no consequence as far as I'm concerned).

As for a faster FPS, this is something that's limited by the shutter/mirror assembly as well as the sensor - in other words, just because the sensor can do 7fps doesn't mean the rest of the hardware is up to the job!

The extra card slot is an interesting possibility, but again one I'd rather see included in the body rather than the grip so we who think grips are pointless lumps of wasted money could enjoy the benefits too.

Nikon grips take AA batteries(6) in total from the D100 days.

I stand corrected - shows how much notice I pay to grips

I still think the offer of an alternative power source for emergencies is the only thing a grip could possible have going for it though.

I would pay for a grip with a second card reader. Always prefer to have things written twice!