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Looking for BG-R20 review

thedutt
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Looking for BG-R20 review

Does anyone have hands on experience with BG-R20 ? I would love to hear how it compares to BG-R10 and R3 on how it feels in hand. I have the BG-R10, but have stopped using it completely as its a bit too heavy and simply does not feel that good in my hands, while the R3 feels like butter.

Sep 01, 2024 at 12:12 AM

garyvot
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Looking for BG-R20 review

I don't own one and cannot give a hands-on review, but it appears that while keeping the overall form-factor the same, Canon has reworked the control placement on the new grip. The AF-On button and AF Joystick in particular seem to be within more comfortable reach now, and the Magnify button has been moved.

Won't change the bulkiness but may make it a bit more ergonomic to use.

Sep 01, 2024 at 09:58 AM

cjacques
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Looking for BG-R20 review

I own both the BG-R10 and BG-R20. If you do not like the R10 you will not like the R20. They are essentially identical and feel the same. I love them both to the point that when I got my r5m2, I did not install the grip initially and it felt uncomfortable to me. I put the grip own and it suited me like a glove and it felt right at home

I have fairly large hands. I used the R3 and really liked the way the camera felt in my hands too but I did not keep it because of the low mgp. So I understand why once you touched an R3 it is hard to give up its comfort. Perhaps the R1 is closer to the R3 in terms of how it will feel in your hands. I have not used the R1 yet.

Sep 01, 2024 at 11:14 AM

Hairy Heron
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Looking for BG-R20 review

thedutt wrote:
I have the BG-R10, but have stopped using it completely as its a bit too heavy and simply does not feel that good in my hands, while the R3 feels like butter.

The R3 feels great because the vertical grip isn't bolted on. Being part of the body means fewer design compromises and a focus on ergonomics. No grip accessory is ever going to compete with a built-in grip, which is why I don't bother with them.

That said, the R52's hand grip (on body, not accessory) is beefier than the R5s and I find it much more comfortable to shoot vertically than the R5 to the point that even if the BG-R20 mimicked the R3's feel I don't think I'd feel a need to buy it.

Sep 02, 2024 at 05:57 AM

thedutt
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Looking for BG-R20 review

garyvot wrote:
I don't own one and cannot give a hands-on review, but it appears that while keeping the overall form-factor the same, Canon has reworked the control placement on the new grip. The AF-On button and AF Joystick in particular seem to be within more comfortable reach now, and the Magnify button has been moved.

Won't change the bulkiness but may make it a bit more ergonomic to use.
Thank you - helpful.

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cjacques wrote:
I own both the BG-R10 and BG-R20. If you do not like the R10 you will not like the R20. They are essentially identical and feel the same. I love them both to the point that when I got my r5m2, I did not install the grip initially and it felt uncomfortable to me. I put the grip own and it suited me like a glove and it felt right at home

I have fairly large hands. I used the R3 and really liked the way the camera felt in my hands too but I did not keep it...Show more →

Thank you - good to know. I do R10 became too cumbersome to me so I stopped using it. The added bulk ended up being just not worth it after some time. R3 / R1 is not an option for me as I often find myself cropping pretty deep and the per pixel advantage is not that substantial on R3.

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Hairy Heron wrote:
The R3 feels great because the vertical grip isn't bolted on. Being part of the body means fewer design compromises and a focus on ergonomics. No grip accessory is ever going to compete with a built-in grip, which is why I don't bother with them.

That said, the R52's hand grip (on body, not accessory) is beefier than the R5s and I find it much more comfortable to shoot vertically than the R5 to the point that even if the BG-R20 mimicked the R3's feel I don't think I'd feel a need to buy it.

Agreed, the R5MKII feels a bit better in the hands than the R5; Grip lets me do a full day of shooting w/o changing batteries in the field and overnight USB-C recharge for both batteries. This is why I endured the BG-R10 for as long as i did, but perhaps I will pass on the R20 for now.

Sep 02, 2024 at 12:49 PM

Mike Jacks0n
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Looking for BG-R20 review

1+ on much of what cjacques says. I'll add the new one is a tiny bit better in hand, and some buttons have a tiny bit better placement. Largely feels the same as the old one. I wasn't a fan of the R5's grip, but chose to keep it. I'm only slightly happier with the R20. Still feels like Canon is nerfing the add on grip to promote people to the R3 and R1. They know what makes a good grip and they simply will not put those designs on their add on grips for some reason. There's no reason the grip couldn't be made nearly identical to the body's button placement as they do on the integrated bodies.

Long story short... its a little better than the last one. Still not great, but its OK. Unfortunately, I hate they charge a premium price for a purposely nerfed design.

Sep 05, 2024 at 01:58 PM

ardvorak
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Looking for BG-R20 review

I find the R20 much nicer than the R10, though I never minded the bulk. I always go for the grip for the extended battery life (two batteries) and balance (I shoot big whites). The buttons and the joystick on the R20 are significantly better placed. I can easily reach for the joystick on the R20 and it feels natural, unlike on the R10, where I just learned not to use it at all, as the joystick was basically in my palm.

Sep 05, 2024 at 02:12 PM

arbitrage
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Looking for BG-R20 review

Looking at those side by side photos it looks like a huge improvement for muscle memory if you actually use the grip to shoot portrait orientation.
Personally I rarely shoot portrait orientation. I use the battery grips on Canon and Sony cameras to improve my grip comfort. Stops my pinky hanging off the bottom and cramping and just allows all my fingers to spread out into a more comfortable position. I've gripped all my cameras.
The only MILC I've found that I would probably not buy the grip is the Nikon Z8. It is large enough to use fairly comfortably without one. It is also makes the camera very large, I'd probably just buy a Z9 if I was intending to use a Z8 with a grip.
I loved the R3 ergonomics more than any integrated grip camera I've owned in the past (1DIV, 1DX, 1DXII, Z9). I wish Canon could just put all the R5II internals into an R3 body to give it a super comfortable body and have the LPE19 to drive the RF supertesles motors at full tilt. Why Canon can't you do that??

Sep 05, 2024 at 02:23 PM

jedibrain
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Looking for BG-R20 review

Mike Jacks0n wrote:
1+ on much of what cjacques says. I'll add the new one is a tiny bit better in hand, and some buttons have a tiny bit better placement. Largely feels the same as the old one. I wasn't a fan of the R5's grip, but chose to keep it. I'm only slightly happier with the R20. Still feels like Canon is nerfing the add on grip to promote people to the R3 and R1. They know what makes a good grip and they simply will not put those designs on their add on grips for some reason. There's no...Show more →

While there is a non-zero chance its all a ploy by big evil Canon to force your cramped hand to pull out the plastic and order an R1, I think physics is more of a factor.

The LPE6xx batteries, in a tray, are wider than an LC-E19 battery. This limits the narrowness of the bolt on grips. The AFon and joystick, to match the relative placement of the same buttons in landscape orientation, would have to sit on or near the seam between the body and grip, which is obviously impossible. I rented an R3 two weeks ago, and actually measured it side by side with my R5 and grip. Could Canon do better? Maybe. Probably. But I also don't think it will ever be quite the same as an integrated grip camera.

Brian

Sep 05, 2024 at 02:45 PM

Mike Jacks0n
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Looking for BG-R20 review

jedibrain wrote:
While there is a non-zero chance its all a ploy by big evil Canon to force your cramped hand to pull out the plastic and order an R1, I think physics is more of a factor.

The LPE6xx batteries, in a tray, are wider than an LC-E19 battery. This limits the narrowness of the bolt on grips. The AFon and joystick, to match the relative placement of the same buttons in landscape orientation, would have to sit on or near the seam between the body and grip, which is obviously impossible. I rented an R3 two weeks ago, and actually...Show more →

I guess we'll just have differing opinions on it. I feel like they could do better making the grip feel more like the camera body in terms of placement. Also note, its nothing to do with the narrowness or thickness of the grip, for me. Its completely a button placement thing. Again this one is closer, but still a little ways off.

As far as conspiracy theories or a money 'ploy', it wouldn't be the first time Canon has done something like this to get people to pull out the wallet. Things have been done in the past to differentiate the models, and I don't see that changing anytime soon. Personally, I would have preferred an R5 II in an R3 body and would have happily paid for it, but those aren't the cards we were dealt.

Sep 05, 2024 at 03:17 PM

Scott Stoness
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Looking for BG-R20 review

I saw somewhere that the BG-R20 [Wild Alaska I think} had a bug with R5ii where the 2nd battery did not automatically kick over when 1st filled. Sometimes requiring a on/off cycle or removal of one battery and reinsert.

It will likely get fixed with hardware update, going forward.

Sep 06, 2024 at 12:01 PM

Mike Jacks0n
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Looking for BG-R20 review

Scott Stoness wrote:
I saw somewhere that the BG-R20 [Wild Alaska I think} had a bug with R5ii where the 2nd battery did not automatically kick over when 1st filled. Sometimes requiring a on/off cycle or removal of one battery and reinsert.

It will likely get fixed with hardware update, going forward.

I saw him make that claim too, but mine works fine. I don't think he correctly understands the way it works, but he may also have a bad grip. I felt like the batteries drain like the BG-R10's, a little on one battery and then a little on the other (alternating). But admittedly, I don't watch my batteries drain away. I thought he mentioned it drains one fully then goes to the other (but I may be mistaken). Either way, when he said what he said, it didn't square with what I've seen on either of mine, so I largely discounted what he said.

**Edit**
Note: I am not saying that I know how it's supposed to work, just that it seems to work similar to the way it did before.

Sep 06, 2024 at 08:43 PM

Mike Jacks0n
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Looking for BG-R20 review

After a few weeks using the new grip, I feel a little less critical about it. Still not what I would consider "done right", but I'm much more neutral on it now. I no longer have to double check which button I'm pressing like I did for nearly 2 years with the BG-R10. That is significant, and what I would say was the worse trait of the BG-R10. The BG-R20 only made small changes, but the grip no longer tricks me in its button placement. I sense it was more of a case where the buttons aren't where they should be, but they are in a place that easy to recognize and adapt to, unlike the previous one. Obviously, that's something each person will have to judge for themselves, but it is something I would call an improvement.

Additionally, I still haven't seen what that YouTuber was referring to as a bug. Overall, the BG-R20 seems to be solid, even if not ideally setup.

Sep 16, 2024 at 04:52 PM


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