some ppl told me 30D/5D with batter grip only for hand-held shooting so it'd better go with L-plate for w/o batter grip. Does this make sense to you?
I bought RRS L-plate for my 30D with batter grip months ago and the only thing inconvenient is, I can't put my camera into lowpro photo runner waist-bag. otherwise it is fine, no shaky at all. If I bought L-plate for 30D w/o grip, I would have to take off grip and L-plate frequently.
Let me know what you think about this issue. Because I am gonna buy 5D body and another L-plate soon. I need some experienced advice here. thanks in advance.
I much prefer my 5D with no battery grip, and do not own one. I have had a grip for my 10D, but found I really did not need it or use it. The extra battery is not really necessary because changing the battery in the camera is fast and easy. If you really need the grip for hand holding in either orientation, then you will need to choose which way to go. For me, I learned to hold a camera long before grips were available, so I go quite naturally to portrait with my hand over the top on an SLR, even for long periods of use.
Most of the situations where I am actually making use of an L plate are with a tripod, and for that use there is no handling benifit of a grip. I leave my L plate on my 5D and 30D much of the time, and they still work fine in most of my bags that way. I use the lever release on each of my tripods to change from portrait to landscape quite a lot, but feel no need for a grip.
I guess it is going to depend on your use, but you could consider an L plate for the body with no grip attached, and then change the camera over to with grip and without an L plate for hand held uses where the grip makes sense.
maybe there is another reason for grip is, making 5D look like more pro like 1d series
and when you do long exposure shooting in cold environment, the extra battery would make more sense?
except these factors, we might not need grip necessarily but you won't get any disadvantage from grip anyway(except bag issue,but you will encounter same issue as long as you get 1ds),right?
When using heavy lenses such as the 70-200 F/2.8 L IS, the grip adds a balancing weight. The grip also makes HH vertical shots more comfortable for some.
I had a grip on my D60, but if I were to get another small (not 1 series) camera I wouldn't bother. Just put the second battery in your bag or pocket. Even using the 1d2 vertically I just flip my wrist over rather than using the other controls. If you run around with the camera in a vertical format all the time then the grip makes sense. My humble 2 cents. John
I do almost all of my shooting on a tripod. As such, the grip is of no use to me and adds flexure into the equation. I get a much more stable platform without the grip.
I did use one on my old XT. The body is small enough that it can really benefit from the addition of a grip.
My vote would be to not put a grip on. If you want the "pro" look, go all in with a 1 series camera. I'm half kidding, but the big advantage to the 40d and 5d are their small size compared to the pro camera bodies.
You might want to ask about in a Canon forum if people find a stability issue from the grip, I think it's the kind of problem, if there is one, that's model specific. I happen to have a D200 and the grips aren't fabulous. I liked the feel but never got one and there is some "looseness" to the rig that way. The L brackets don't do anything to resolve that for tripod use. So I'm going with a non-grip bracket.
I think it comes down to what you do with the camera most. If you have a grip and it's on the camera 90-100% of the time, by all means go with the grip L.
I have an L bracket for the 5d with grip, and one for the 5d without grip.
I shoot portrait orientation at least 50% of the time so the grip is on a lot. The reason I got the bracket without the grip too is so I can use the 5d for travel and go as light as possible.
Bottom line, if you want to use heavy lenses (70-200, 100-400) or shoot in portrait mode frequently, get the grip and bracket. If you don't do any of those things, get the bracket without grip. If you want the best of both worlds, get both like I did.
jamesf99 wrote:
I have an L bracket for the 5d with grip, and one for the 5d without grip.
I shoot portrait orientation at least 50% of the time so the grip is on a lot. The reason I got the bracket without the grip too is so I can use the 5d for travel and go as light as possible.
Bottom line, if you want to use heavy lenses (70-200, 100-400) or shoot in portrait mode frequently, get the grip and bracket. If you don't do any of those things, get the bracket without grip. If you want the best of both worlds, get both like I did. ...Show more →
Exactly what I did - and glad I did. L brackets are a necessity, IMO.
For most heavy lenses like the Canon 70-200 or 100-400 mentioned above, your should really be using the system mounted via a lens collar and Arca Swiss plate when you are on a tripod. You get much better balance of the system above the center of the tripod, and are holding more directly the part of the system that needs the optical rigidity. Any thought as to if a grip is rigidly attached to the camera goes away, and the need for the grip is now down to a user preference decision.
As I expressed in a post above, I use my 5D and 30D with no grip, and with L plates. I then have a lens colar and plate on every lens I own that has that feature available. The lenses are then ready to use on either a ball head or on a Wimberley with no change. If I want to hand hold a longer lens, the lens collar comes off the lens fast, all though I usually just leave them on and use the lens plate as the way I support the lens by hand. And for hand held use with with larger lenses, some people do like a grip for the feel of the system, and for a better grip when the camera is in portrait orientation. But that situation has no need at all for an L plate on a grip, because you are not tripod mounting. If you are going back and forth from tripod mounting to hand held during a shoot, an L plate on a grip may make sense, but the lens collar and AS plate is the right way to handle the larger lenses, and should not really be a factor in deciding if you want an L plate for a camera with grip.
+1 on the model-specific nature of the flex problem. Nikon D200 grip was not great, but the new D300 is much, muuuuch better according to my first impressions. I've also seen a couple of Canons which felt great with grips, and one or two that felt cheap, so definitely model-specific IMHO.
Also +1 on using the lens collar for heavy lenses, anything from a 70-200/2.8 up. Better balance, better rigidity, better shooting, and more comfortable to boot.
Finally, a question: does the OP only have one camera, or two? Somehow it's unclear to me. Since I have two camera bodies, I have one with a grip and the other with an L-plate. The gripped body gets the long lenses with collars, and the other gets the shorts. So either one is ready for both handheld and tripod use.
Savas K wrote:
If I shot a lot of portrait orientation, I would get the grip. But I don't, so I won't.
...I do, so I did. I also have an L-bracket for it & if anything it helps stabilize the whole thing. I see no reason for not getting the bracket for the gripped body & using it together. While the added height makes some bags a tight fit, I can still get it in all mine (Lowepro OffTrail2--the tightest fit--SS200, and Tamrac Expdition7).
),right?