D70 Battery Grip - Anyone got one?

[shinwood]

Found this on Ebay....anyone seen or used one?
Dosen't seem to be anyone selling them in Aus...

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Battery-Grip-for-Nikon-D70-D70s-Body-2-x-EN-EL3-Kit_W0QQitemZ7559535857QQcategoryZ48519QQssPageNameZWD2VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


Thanks,
Sonny

[moggy]

That does look interesting, wonder if anyone will advertise them here?

Bob.

.

[birddog114]

This has been posted, debated and stone to death before in many threads on this forum.
No, did not see anyone has this so far.
Perhaps u/g to the D200 with battery grip as optional.

[shinwood]

This has been posted, debated and stone to death before in many threads on this forum.
No, did not see anyone has this so far.
Perhaps u/g to the D200 with battery grip as optional.

Well there you go.

So I guess we should all do a full search of the site before we post...So as not to bring up anything that has been discussed previously.

Please, everybody don't waste your time with my post because it has been already "debated and stone to death".

[johndec]

Shinwood,

Before you get on your high horse and gallop off into the sunset, there are a couple of points you should consider:

1. You have been a member of this forum for nearly six months and this topic has been discussed many times during that period. A quick search reveals that there was an 11 response thread regarding this topic as recently as the 7/10/05.... It took me all of 20 seconds to go to search and type in "d70 grip"

2. If you were paying attention during the last six months, you would have noticed that Birddog's native tongue is not english. He can appear brusque at times, but no one who has ever got to know this fine man ever takes what he writes in that fashion. How are your skills at the finer points of Vietnamese grammar??

[cameraguy21773]

If you attned the mini-meet you'll get to see one.

[elffinarts]

stonings aside, that seller has it for au$140 plus shipping, not too bad

[moggy]

Having had a chance to try Mike Parkers D70 equipped battery grip at the last mini-meet I was most impressed. It stores two EN-EL3 batteries and feels very comfortable to hold. Definitely worth it for shooting in portraiture mode.

Bob.

.

[elffinarts]

in that case I'll be buying one in the next few weeks

[marcotrov]

I twould be great if mark posted a full review of the unit. Be interesting to see how you connect the grip to get the shutter function and how much or little modifications are necessary.
cheers
marco

[birddog114]

I twould be great if mark posted a full review of the unit. Be interesting to see how you connect the grip to get the shutter function and how much or little modifications are necessary.
cheers
marco

We talked about it before,
I knew there are two type of grips in the market for the D70, one can be shot portrait mode with vertical shutter release made in the USA, other is just only the battery grip made in China.
The one made in the US is more expensive than the one made in China.

[marcotrov]

I was never impressed with the ones that first came out Birddog because you had to do too much modification to the camera. This one seems much more refined and simple to bolt on.
cheers
marco

[birddog114]

I was never impressed with the ones that first came out Birddog because you had to do too much modification to the camera. This one seems much more refined and simple to bolt on.
cheers
marco

marco,
It's the one made in China, the first one you have seen, made in the USA, more modification but it works. The latest version from China made, has the vertical shutter button

The one made from China:

http://www.hkjenis.com/

It sucks like their website I had two units for sample and returned them to sender.
If you have money to spend on a garbage stuff, then go for it, I don't see you need it btw.

[marcotrov]

You just burst my dream Birddog As always though you are very right. Ok I'm over the grip
cheers
marco

[elffinarts]

ahh I had no idea that this was a different product. I'd rather have the US made grip as the mouldings were more closely resembling the body of the camera and as far as modifying the D70 goes, I'm not too freaked by it. It was only the battery cover being changed and I'd be keeping that battery grip on the D70 pretty much full time.

[birddog114]

ahh I had no idea that this was a different product. I'd rather have the US made grip as the mouldings were more closely resembling the body of the camera and as far as modifying the D70 goes, I'm not too freaked by it. It was only the battery cover being changed and I'd be keeping that battery grip on the D70 pretty much full time.

The version made in the USA is not cheap as it! If I'm not wrong it's at least around AU$200.00 (or more) + shipping.

[elffinarts]

I think I'd rather enjoy the better build quality for the extra $60 or so.

[birddog114]

I think I'd rather enjoy the better build quality for the extra $60 or so.

Yes, you may do the search and will find more threads/ posts about it.

[MattC]

Mark,

I had a look at these grips a while back. They look good on the camera, and may give a better balance with heavier lenses. The deal breaker for me was the fact that there are no command and subcomand dials, no AE-L button and to top it off, no half press on the shutter release. This actually makes the grip fairly useless (to me anyway) in the portrait position. It is not like the D70 actually needs or benefits from having the extra battery.

Cheers

Matt

[Onyx]

Mike (Cameraguy)'s D70 with grip. Pose value = 10, functionally useful = arguably 5/10. Yes vertical shutter can work, but as mentioned missing main and sub command dials, and more importantly half depress shutter. Also the fibre optic linkup would have to be attached to the IR receiver in the top left of cam, and camera would have to be set to remote mode, as if using the ML-L3 remote, the one that keeps resetting itself... So every shot in portrait mode would require resetting camera's shooting mode to be able to actively release shutter using the grip.

Feel quality is as lousy as Canon's factory OEM add-ons for the 300/10/20D (ie. decent).

[elffinarts]

bugger! in that case I'm going to wait on for a d200

[birddog114]

bugger! in that case I'm going to wait on for a d200

elffinarts
Go on and order it, at least you can write a review for our members, if it not suitable to what your expectation than eBay is the door.

[elffinarts]

I do see it as being handy to have that extra battery already in there for doing nightclub photography where the LED focus assist is being used nearly full time.

So - maybe after the next paying photographic job I might go ahead and buy it. The lack of shutter button half release functions will really inhibit its usefullness for most of the work I do though.

First and foremost I want to get the SU-800 though so this grip can wait.

[cameraguy21773]

I can't address availability in OZ but I can tell you that Jenis (Hong Kong) makes the grip I have on each of my D70 bodies. They also make them for Opteka, Hoodman, and others.

Build Quality - OK but not equal to what you would expect from Nikon.

Pros - Lightweight (without batteries), 2 Nikon EN-EL3 batteries or 6 AA in a container provided. Gives added handling improvements for larger heavier lenses.

Cons - Vertical shutter release is not half press and camera must be set to remote shutter to use.

[pippin88]

Also the fibre optic linkup would have to be attached to the IR receiver in the top left of cam, and camera would have to be set to remote mode, as if using the ML-L3 remote, the one that keeps resetting itself... So every shot in portrait mode would require resetting camera's shooting mode to be able to actively release shutter using the grip

Remote release doesn't require resetting every shot. It's done on a time basis, so in the menu you can set the amount of time that it remains in remote mode after having not fired a shot. Mine is set to 15mins (longest) and while I'd like it to just stay in remote mode unless I turned it off, its not that big a problem.