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Just managed to piece together my MB-D18 battery grip, EN-EL18b battery, BL-5 cover and charger. By piece together I mean exactly that, each part was bought either at a different store or had to wait for each part as they were not all available to buy in one go. Took about a month!
So, to the way it all works. The grip + battery adds about 400gms to the camera so not a big deal. I spent the day yesterday with the 200-500 f5.6 VR mounted, it is perfectly balanced, a fantastic combo for general wildlife photography etc. I do not find the combo heavy it is so well balanced and goes together so well, it's almost perfect for that sort of thing as far as balance and ease is concerned. The only drawback with the 200-500 is the slowish AF, acceptable, but I wish it was faster. I'd even pay a premium for a fast AF version if it were possible.
With the 70-200 f2.8E FL VR attached, again very well balanced and great to use. With my 400 f2.8E FL VR attached, again very well balanced and makes the 400 a little easier to use and manoeuvre. There is no doubt that a larger camera on the larger lenses really works and works well. Even on the smaller/shorter lenses it is still a great combo. With the 105 f1.4 of 24-70 f2.8E VR attached it is very well balanced and I think makes the combo a little easier to handle, albeit a tad heavier.
AF speed? I have not used it long enough to say whether AF speed is faster due to the higher voltage EN-EL18b battery, but I have a sneaky suspicion that it does in a small way. I think that the AF speed of the 400 f2.8 and 70-200 f2.8E FL VR are blindingly fast, possibly faster than without the grip - marginal though. I am not so sure abut the 200-500, but I did get some decent BIF shots with it which was much more difficult with the D810. I had not used it with the D850 yet. The problem with trying the AF with and without the grip is that you can never be sure as to whether there is an actual difference as it is generally subtle. The only real way is to have a good idea of previous keeper rates under the same conditions however, as I rarely used the 200-500 previously I would be guessing at best as to whether the grip is an advantage. The seat of the pants belief is that it does help. However, I have used the 400 a lot previously on the D850 and D810 and will endeavour to make a better judgement once I have used it more with the grip.
The D500 is a wonderful wlldlife/sport camera and much of this is due to it's responsiveness - AF speed and fps etc. I love the D500 due to this responsiveness, but also for it's excellent IQ. The D850 without battery grip went a long way in almost matching that responsiveness, just that it was 7fps instead of 10 fps of the D500. However, with the grip, 9 fps basically matches the D500 and thus makes it a true FF match for the D500.
Spent a day shooting and took about 400 images and the battery hasn't even moved from fully charged on the indicator! The Battery Info in the menu states 85% charged after 470 shots so, it would seem you could get about 3,000 shots from one charge - quite impressive. I must say that I am very happy with the grip, a big help for those heavily into sports/wildlife.
Some BIF and some static shots. Unfortunately, the birds weren't do cooperative for BIF shots so I didn't get many. I was also trying a few different AF methods, mainly AF-C, Auto AF with face detection on.
A few BIF shots
1) Silver Gull
D850 + 200-500 f5.6 VR, 1/4000s f/8.0 at 330.0mm iso500
2) Darter
D850 + 200-500 f5.6 VR, 1/4000s f/7.1 at 500.0mm iso1000
3) Pacific Black Duck
D850 + 200-500 f5.6 VR, 1/4000s f/7.1 at 500.0mm iso720
Static
4) Superb Fairy Wren
D850 + 200-500 f5.6 VR, 1/800s f/8.0 at 500.0mm iso640
5) White-faced Heron
D850 + 200-500 f5.6 VR, 1/1000s f/8.0 at 360.0mm iso200
6) Bar-tailed Godwits all in a row.
D850 + 200-500 f5.6 VR, 1/800s f/8.0 at 500.0mm iso200
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