Battery grip more useful for portrait, landscape, general or sports, action, wildlfe

[astroNikon]

What did you upgrade from ?
I know for me, using a D600/D750 (also d7x00) the D500 is right there in size with or without grip.

That's exactly it - I upgraded from a D5100, so the D500 was already significantly larger and heavier than I was used to.

You identified yourself as a "casual shooter".
The D500 was designed for the Action photographer. Car races, birds in flight (brides in flight too as my first typo lol), air show stuff, etc that all can use 10 fps shooting. Also, as you probably noticed there no AUTO, AUTO no flash, no SCENE nor EFFECTS modes .. only PASM. Thus designed for the more serious shooter who needs the more sturdy build, more water resistant, and able to handle much larger lenses.

It's the top of the food chain for DX cameras right now in all regards.

 

[Dave442]

I still use a couple D200 bodies, one with grip and one without. I would never want to be trying to decide if I should take the grip off, it is much easier to just grab the camera that is closer to meeting the expected shooting scenario for the day. An all day event, larger lens, high percentage of portrait shots will bring out the body with grip and BlackRapid strap. For everything else the plain body. For a new camera like the D500 I would certainly include a grip.

 

[zombiesniper]

with Nikon cameras and the battery grip is the main battery is still in the body, and the 2nd one is in the Grip.

Is this all Nikon's? Can't be.
Why in the world would a company continue with a stupid design like this unless the engineer is the boss's son?

 

[adamhiram]

I recently upgraded to a D500 with the OEM battery grip, and so far I'm not a big fan.

• It sounds like most of the benefit is with extended battery life, however this doesn't offer much benefit to me as a casual shooter. I’m just as happy keeping a spare battery in my pocket or camera bag. The ability to use the larger EL-18a battery from the D5 sounds good, except it requires a different charger, which is one more thing to buy and carry. The ability to use AA batteries sounds like it could be useful, but I don't have many other accessories that use them. My speed light and wireless triggers are still on the same AA batteries I put in them a year ago.
• Grip needs to be removed to get to the primary battery in the body to charge it
• Bigger and heavier - the body doesn't fit in any of my camera bags without first removing the grip
• For vertical shots, the grip feels awkward to me with a tripod plate or Blackrapid style strap attached

Perhaps I need to force myself to use it for a while to get used to it, but so far the pros don't seem to outweigh the cons for me.

As a quick follow-up to my original post, I forced myself to use the battery grip for 2 weeks, and I've had a bit of a change of heart. I'm still not taking advantage of most of its benefits, but it definitely feels more balanced when using heavier lenses. Moving forward, I will most likely leave it on unless I have a reason to remove it, such as wanting a smaller or lighter kit for travel.

 

[astroNikon]

with Nikon cameras and the battery grip is the main battery is still in the body, and the 2nd one is in the Grip.

Is this all Nikon's? Can't be.
Why in the world would a company continue with a stupid design like this unless the engineer is the boss's son?

I believe it's all Nikons. But you may want to check all battery grips and their camera bodies. They also charge too much.

 

[snowbear]

with Nikon cameras and the battery grip is the main battery is still in the body, and the 2nd one is in the Grip.

Is this all Nikon's? Can't be.
Why in the world would a company continue with a stupid design like this unless the engineer is the boss's son?

Maybe just the digital ones -- on the N90/N90x (F90), the grip replaces the main battery pack.

 

[greybeard]

I put a MB-D11 on my D7000 2 years ago and have never used it without since. I just like the way it all feels in my hands with the grip on.