I am a freelance photographer in London and am also currently working for a national newspaper as a ...
I am a freelance photographer in London and am also currently working for a national newspaper as a graphic designer. I also run a popular sporting/gaming related website which also provides an extra income opportunity for many of my members.
Member since:26.03.2006
Reviews:14
The Canon BG E2 is the battery grip for the Canon EOS 20D. It also goes under the name of a vertical grip as not only does it provide a holding space for two batteries (BP-511A, or 6 AA's using the AA adapter it comes with) but it also provides an additional shutter release button on the "top" of the camera as you hold it verticaly (providing of course you rotate the camera anti clockwise from the horizontal shooting position).
Battery grips are a must have for any serious amateur photographer who uses their camera intensively. I say amateurs because your average professional will be using a camera body that effectively has a battery grip built in as one unit. The reason for this "need" of the grip is to improve camera handling and also to give the camera greater balance when using longer and heavier lenses.
Once attached to your camera body, you will not want to remove it. You will become used to the additional grip space and find it most uncomfortable should you try to revert back to the body alone.
The grip, as mentioned, provides room for two batteries, so your camera will work for longer if you invest in a second battery as it will be like doubling the capacity of your original setup. Having said this, however, there are many who claim the best battery life is sought by just having one in the grip at a time. I have no actual proof of this but presumably there is a quicker drain on the power when both are working at the same time. Still, unless you are going to be shooting hundreds and hundreds of frames in one go, the two batteries in the grip will last plenty long enough.
The grip itself attached by firstly removing the battery compartment cover from the body which can them be safely stored inside the grip, and then inserting the section with the power contacts on inside the battery chamber of the camera body. Once in the screw on the grip will line up with the tripod mount on the body and you just rotate the dial on teh grip to screw it in place. Here is one of the problems I have found - the screw seems to work itself loose and reaches a point where the contact is broken and the power no longer gets through to the body. This is easily resolved by tightening it up, but the first time this happened I couldn't work out why the camera was cutting out on me!
There have been some reported problems with certain batches of these grips, although I think just from those imported from the States, as mine sadly was. But Canon offered free repairs on all these batches.
If you have never used a grip on a camera before then you dont know what you are missing. If you have a lens longer than say 200mm then you really should make the small investment for one of these. If not for the handling improvements then get one just for the fact it will make your camera look bigger - and we all know bigger is better!
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