I don’t usually review stuff around the time I buy it as I like to give things a bit of a road-test. I’ve had my Canon 600D since December last year and have made several music videos with it. Battery life was an issue early on so I was looking for a solution. I like battery grips, even though they add considerable weight and size to the DSLR camera. Makes an amateur photographer and film-maker like me look a little bit more professional!
The official Canon battery grip is hideously expensive, usually costing upwards of £100. So I searched for an alternative that would be a bit cheaper.
On Amazon, they have all sorts of camera grips available and the one I bought cost about £30. Now this is a cheap, Chinese-made rip-off of the Canon version, but looks almost identical. When I bought it, it came with 2 spare batteries and a wired remote control for the camera. ALL this for £30? It’s got to be terrible. I bought it anyway, out of intrigue and an empty wallet.
It arrived a few days later and I fit it to the camera. Removing the door from the bottom of my 600D was easy enough, and like the original Canon battery grip, there is a storage compartment for keeping the door inside so you don’t lose it. The grip itself screws to the bottom of the camera and you have to get it VERY tight for the whole thing to work, but work it does.
The grip, has a button allowing you to take photos in portrait mode and the other buttons found on the official Canon version. The markings on this grip look a little cheap, but it doesn’t look terrible.
The two batteries that come with it, are also cheap rip-off versions, but I’ve been using them for a few months now and they work very well. They’re holding the charge up fine and my new set up with grip and two batteries installed gives me considerably more shooting time than the single battery.
So a few months after buying it, I’m surprisingly happy with it. It’s working great and I saved plenty of money in the process. If you want to get this battery grip, here is the Amazon link.
Matt Keil 