A vote AGAINST Opteka battery grip

[DeepSpring]

I have had mine for about 7 or 8 months by now and until yesterday I have been EXTREMELY happy with it. It was a lot cheaper then the canon one plus it came with 2 batteries.

I was assisting (and second shootering when I had time) a wedding yesterday and during the family portraits when I was changing batteries the little plastic latch snapped. The latch has to be push against the little button hat tells the camera it is able to turn on otherwise it will stay off. Luckily it was completely gone and I was able to wrap a rubber band around the body which help the latch down. RIGHT before the ceremony I was setting up to get the bride as she walks in and the rest of the latch broke off. I was freaking out trying to get it fixed but I wasnt able to. I had to try and jam my finger and press the tiny button to get the shot. Of course I didn;t have the cameras original battery door because I didnt think something like this could happen. I ended up not being able to shoot any of the dinner dancing or candids during the rest of the night which was disappointing.

The grip comes with the AA battery holster and I managed to screw off my broken latch and replace it with the one that came on the AA holster. I have a feeling tho that will eventually break too and then my grip would basically be useless.

I don't know if this is common but I am now ALWAYS going to keep the cameras battery door with me in case the grip fails and I would recommend everyone else does the same.

 

[Garbz]

Yeah live and learn. I've had equipment fail before. Regardless of how stupid it may look take a backup no matter how crap. I'd sooner pull out a disposable and keep shooting then go back and say I couldn't take a picture

When doing weddings I have ALL my gear in the car but not with me, even stuff I usually don't need like tripods, cable releases, the aforementioned battery door, etc. But then I've broken waaay to much in my life not to be prepared for a disaster :lmao:

 

[Digital Matt]

If you had bought the Canon version, the battery door fits into the grip so you can't lose it Sorry to hear about your troubles though.

 

[S2K1]

I've never had anything break...yet, but I too keep backups of everything, like the battery door. You never can be too safe.

 

[Garbz]

http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/2005/10/02/3s_bubble_narrowweb__200x335.jpg
Can't you?

Man the Canon door fits in the grip. And I have always heard Nikon's were most aesthetical. That is an incredibly good idea!

 

[-spam-]

Man the Canon door fits in the grip. And I have always heard Nikon's were most aesthetical. That is an incredibly good idea!

Yup. Slides into a gap next to the bit that slides into the camera's battery compartment

 

[Big Mike]

Welcome to the wonderful world of wedding photography...where Murphy's Law reigns supreme. :roll:

The first wedding that I used my flash bracket, two screws came loose...and they needed an allen key to tighten...which I didn't have, or course. Live and learn.

Always try to imagine what might break and if there is anything that you can have with you, that will help in that situation. And of course...back up, back up, back up.

 

[DeepSpring]

Yup. Slides into a gap next to the bit that slides into the camera's battery compartment

HEY I just found it... thats pretty nifty. I had no idea. Now I can keep the door IN the grip at all times

 

[sabbath999]

When I did weddings, I had a firm policy of having two sets of EVERYTHING I owned, identical, with the exception of lenses (I had a nice selection, you can always make do on lenses if one fails -- and I have never, ever heard of a hasselblad lens failing.

Hassy C500's are an entirely different matter. I had a shutter fail on the third shot of a wedding... fortunately, it failed in a way that I couln't miss (totally jammed)... with film, when you have a failure you might not notice it until it is too late. I had my second C500 to shoot the rest of the wedding, and pulled a Pentax LX out of my bag (I shot Pentax LX's at my day job, the only Pentax photographer in our entire newspaper chain... the papers were too cheap to upgrade and had everybody shooting with ancient Nikon F's and F2's in the mid to late 80's so I just bought my own).

I don't even go out on non-paying gigs without a full set of backup equipment... when we shoot zoos we end up taking 4 bodies for two shooters.