Forgot Password
Pentax Camera Forums Home
 
Log in or register to remove ads.

Pentax Accessory Reviews » Grips and Power Accessories for Digital » Grips (Genuine Pentax)
Pentax Battery Grip D-BG4 for K-5 and K-7 Review RSS Feed

Pentax Battery Grip D-BG4 for K-5 and K-7

Reviews Views Date of last review
38 53,387 Mon December 16, 2019
spacer
Recommended By Average Price Average User Rating
97% of reviewers $188.85 9.08
Pentax Battery Grip D-BG4 for K-5 and K-7
supersize


Description:
D-BG4 battery grip for use with the K-7 DSLR and the K-5 DSLRs.

-Comes with two inserts: one that accepts 6 AA batteries, and one that accepts an additional rechargeable battery
-Can also hold an SD card with the rechargeable battery insert

Controls:
-2 e-dials
-ISO & exposure compensation buttons
-"Green" button
-AF button
-AE-L button
In Production: Buy the Pentax Battery Grip D-BG4 for K-5 and K-7
Price History:



Add Review of Pentax Battery Grip D-BG4 for K-5 and K-7 Buy the Pentax Battery Grip D-BG4 for K-5 and K-7
Author:
Sort Reviews by: Date | Author | Rating | Recommendation | Likes (Descending) Showing Reviews 31-38 of 38
New Member

Registered: November, 2010
Location: Kamloops bc
Posts: 2
Review Date: December 3, 2010 Recommended | Price: $270.00 | Rating: 9 

 
Pros: sturdy, AA and D-L190
Cons: cap for pins does not stay on

i bought the battery grip because i was going on safari and would not have the luxury of a plug. the insert for AA battery's real saved the trip allowing me to go the full 5 days with out charging the camera. the weather sealing did a great job of stopping the dust from getting in, the added shutter release button make it a very comfortable to shoot vertical shots.

now the down side is that the grip dose make it bigger for carrying around and traveling. also the grip did add some weight to the setup. the cap meant to cover the pins when not in use, once taking of seems not to like to stay on any more, forcing me to use tape.

all in all the ability to be so versatile with your power choice or using both to extend it is well worth the investment, especially for trips with limited charging options. the problems were a little inconvenient but nothing to get in the way.
   
New Member

Registered: August, 2010
Location: New York, NY
Posts: 2
Review Date: September 5, 2010 Recommended | Price: $189.00 | Rating: 9 

 
Pros: Well built, weather sealing, improves handling
Cons: Pricecy

I had purchased the Bower unit from B+H earlier. Reasons: Cheaper & it comes with a 3-year warranty. But it arrived DOA. I returned it and decided to buy the Pentax unit instead.

Though pricey, the Pentax unit it very well made, the buttons have a positive feel and I feel that it improves the handling of the K7 & gives it better balance when using with the 55-300mm lens & also to shot macro with attached close up lens handheld. Used with Pentax prime lenses, the extra weight of the grip actually helps me to stabilize the camera better. I have tried switching off the SR and the shots still come out Ok.

I have not tested the weather resistant function yet, I only have one WR lens, the 18-55mm kit lens and will post an update after I try it.

Compared to the Bower unit, though it costs almost double, the Pentax grip is made better, there is a real feeling of quality when holding it & finishing is first class. The two battery holders are made better, not as flimsy as the Bower unit. I believe the price will come down if Pentax decided to phase out the K7.

   
Forum Member

Registered: November, 2006
Location: Sweden
Posts: 218
Review Date: July 27, 2010 Recommended | Price: None indicated | Rating: 9 

 
Pros: Build, balance, weather sealed, flexible batteries
Cons: Lacks the card holder of the BG-2 for K10D/K20D

I ordered the BG-4 grip with my K-7 as I had used the BG-2 grip for both my K10D and my K20D and liked the balance it gave with most lenses and as I figured that the K-7 was a bit smaller also...
It was a good choice! I love it as it has better layout of even more buttons and give great balance and grip also for vertical framing. The only flaw (which is a small one is that it lacks the holder for a meory card...
   
Veteran Member

Registered: March, 2010
Location: south west
Posts: 775

2 users found this helpful
Review Date: November 28, 2016 Recommended | Price: $200.00 | Rating: 8 

 
Pros: much needed accessory that helps hold the camera more steadily especially in vertical position and/or with bigger / heavier lenses
Cons: price; contacts plastic cap doesn't stay in place well; lack of a tripod holder pin hole; hard to unscrew; mine has started malfunctioning!

Pros:
i'm happy i got this (for my K-7 in 2010) especially after i also got a 3rd-party one at a quarter of the price a couple of years later (when i also added a K-5) too ...

sadly, the cheaper one was fully damaged and turned to garbage when it received its first splash of sea water at a beach ... (it's not even quite good for parts anymore! i have a report of that broken grip with photos somewhere in this forum, possibly within these pages but can't find it right now ...) ... the original Pentax grip did also undergo the same fate in the same incident, but it is still working fine after 4 or 5 years because it is splash-proof, while the cheaper 3rd-party one wasn't! (i have another problem with the original Pentax grip though, see below please ...)

Cons:
some people (including myself) consider this item a little too pricey! yes, but given its overall build and performance (especially compared to the faulty cheaper 3rd-party offers) i guess we have to agree it's reasonably priced after all ... so, i don't know if we should mention the price among the cons or pros or just leave it really!?

others have criticized the Pentax DBG-4 grip for its off-center tripod screw ... understandable, but since i don't use the camera on a tripod while its grip is attached too, not all the time at least, it's of no particular concern for me anyway, especially when the camera's going to be used in the vertical position while on the tripod and the extra bulk and weight of the grip with an extra battery inside make it rather cumbersome if a light weight tripod is in use ... speaking of the the extra bulk and weight of the grip, well, i don't criticize that item either because that's simply the way it is: attaching a grip to any camera adds to its overall bulk and weight too, right? i also agree this grip is hard to unscrew when you attach it to the camera, especially if you screw it a little too tight ... but, well, it's probably because Pentax designers and makers decided that extra tightness helps two things: a- the contact pins on the grip touch their mates on the camera's bottom plate more securely, and b- moisture and dust won't get to the 'exposed' pins and contacts ... (am i right about that Pentax / Ricoh?)

i believe the little yet important contacts plastic cap that doesn't stay in place well is really important though, because if it did stay securely in place then you wouldn't have to worry about those fragile pins when you leave the grip loosely inside a camera bag ... and then the lack of a tripod holder pin hole; well, as i said already, i don't use the camera with the grip attached on a tripod very often but that 'holder pin hole' thingy is certainly missing on the Pentax camera bodies at least! surely that's an item that's mostly needed on video cameras rather than still photography cameras, especially when used on video-specific tripods that do offer that extra holder pin (most photography tripods don't even bother with that item) but nowadays many DSLR (as well as majority of non-DSLR) cameras do video too, don't they? besides, such an item is a great help to hold a camera (and possibly its grip just as well) even sturdier, especially when the camera is mounted vertically on a video tripod ... of course i know of almost no other DSLR (or non-DSLR) photo-video cameras offering that holder pin hole, but maybe it's about time Pentax as well as everybody else started doing something about it, don't you think so?
_ _ _

lately though, i have found out there is a problem with the original Pentax grip: it's been a while its rear dial is showing erratic behavior! i have set it to control the ISO (which is the same as the camera's rear dial) but it jumps or skips between ISO settings! when i turn the camera on first and then the grip on too, it may or may not read the ISO already set on the camera correctly and when i turn the dial right or left to set the correct ISO i want, it behaves drunkenly all the time and may change the ISO in the opposite direction and in no particular order, or skip some settings just as well!

to give a clearer picture, if the camera was set @ ISO 200 when i turned it off, after i turn it on again, it's still on the same ISO because it's the only thing i want the camera's memory to retain for me when i turn the system back on later ... but when i turn the grip on too, it may set the ISO lower or higher than 200 all by itself occasionally but not always! then when i want to turn it back to 200, or merely change the ISO to another setting using the grip's rear dial, it may jump to 1600, or on the next move of the rear dial when i want to turn the ISO digits back down to reach 400 for example, it may jump to 12800 or even higher ISO settings instead of back down to 800 first and then 400 and so on ... now if i turn it the other way again and in the opposite direction to correct the error, it may go up or down as well as skipping some settings again! it malfunctions when i try to change the ± exposure compensation too!

long story short, it works so badly i just have to quit using the grip's rear dial eventually and go back to the camera's own rear dial which works just right ... all other buttons and the front dial on the grip still work fine and correctly but for the rear dial ... (my Pentax K-x's only dial on the camera's rear also started to behave erratically a while ago when trying to change the ISO or aperture!)

i have tried cleaning the dial's whereabouts and even slightly pushing a special cleaning brush a little further inside the dial's housing; cleaned the contacts on the camera's bottom plate as well as on the grip; tested it without battery, or with both weak as well as freshly recharged batteries (all genuine Pentax batteries that are still working great btw) but the problem is still there ... i switched it between K-5 and K-7 and the problem has remained unsolved! changed the order of how the two batteries are to be used, no use! (i set that option on Auto in the menu most of the time anyway, or sometimes to grip-first because that way it's easier to remove the grip's finished battery for recharging and i won't have to remove the grip to reach the other battery inside the camera itself for quite a while ...) even tried 'hard-resetting' the grip by live-removing the battery while the camera and the grip are both on, but to no avail! (the only thing i have not tried is resetting the camera to factory defaults ...)

dunno if i did the right thing to talk about this here or should i have posted it in another page of the forum, asking for help?! if anyone knows anything about this odd behavior, then please let me know too! thanks.
   
Site Supporter

Registered: September, 2014
Location: SF Bay Area, CA
Posts: 1,037

1 user found this helpful
Review Date: June 12, 2016 Recommended | Price: None indicated | Rating: 8 

 
Pros: Quality
Cons:

It's a quality piece. Gets the job done. A grip is one accessory though where I would pony up for the real deal and skip the knock-offs.

There are no real downsides. Design-wise though I find that this grip feels more like an after thought for the k-5/k-7 line compared the the grip for the K10d/k20d line which seems to have a much more integrated design and personally I feel has better ergonomics. But I'm nit-picking here which tells you how good the D-BG4 actually is.
   
Site Supporter

Registered: December, 2007
Location: Montreal
Posts: 1,249

1 user found this helpful
Review Date: August 24, 2011 Recommended | Price: $300.00 | Rating: 8 

 
Pros: Fits well to the body, supports AA batteries
Cons: off-center tripod mount, no more place for the remote, expensive

Overall this is a good complement to the K-5/K-7. It fits very well in the hand and it doesn't ruin the style of the body like some other makes.

Positive aspects:
- Support AA batteries through a special tray (supplied)
- Easy to attach to the camera
- Can fit a SD card (only with Li-On tray)
- Add balance for heavy lenses
- Can be turned off

Negative aspects:
- Very expensive for what it is, no wonder there are cheap 3rd party alternatives at a fraction of the price.
- Tripod mount is off-center (but I don't use it on tripod anyway)
- Add bulk to the camera (I most often use it without a battery to avoid that)
- Doesn't add any special feature (no GPS, no dual SD card or additional performance)
- The K10D grip had a place to put the wireless remote. No more.
- Wobbly attachment, the K10D grip felt more secure, it's no big deal but doesn't feel like the camera and grip are one
   
Inactive Account

Registered: October, 2012
Location: Lietuva, Vilnius
Posts: 627
Review Date: August 8, 2013 Recommended | Price: $200.00 | Rating: 7 

 
Pros: Better grip both horizontally and vertically
Cons: Expensive, lack of features.

The grip is really an essential accessory. With it my K-5IIs feels excellent in the hand.

Things I like:
1. Improved ergonomics.
2. Ability to use AA's (Battery life is just awesome with good AA's)
3. Build quality is OK (just).
4. WR.

Things I didn't like:
1. Very expensive (C'mon for 200$ you can get Nexus 7, which is a wonderful piece of technology, and the grip is mostly just a piece of plastic)
2. Lack of features like Wi-fi, GPS, real SD card slot.
3. Control wheels are a little too deep in the grip.
4. AF button placement (a little too low for my taste).
5. No buttons/dial to change AF point.
6. The pin that locks battery door doesn't look very sturdy (even though I have absolutely no complains yet)

To sum up, I can't give more than 7. Still, recommended!
   
Veteran Member

Registered: November, 2011
Location: Uppsala, Sweden
Posts: 4,438
Review Date: February 13, 2014 Recommended | Price: None indicated | Rating: 6 

 
Pros: Build (plastic but solid), weather-sealed, nice fit, buttons as good as on the camera
Cons: Off-center tripod mount, hard to get to the body battery, bad designed lock to camera that can be hard to loosen

Generally the build is nice, no weak points that makes you question its longevity. The seals for WR seems well designed. Buttons and wheels have a nice feel to them although some positioning are a bit odd compared to the ones on the camera body.

The off-center tripod mount is bit of a bad design for anyone trying to get total balance in their tripod setup. The locking wheel that locks it to the body is hard to grip and tends to get hard to unscrew after a while in use, I've gotten both broken nails and gotten blisters when fighting to remove the grip. Temperature shift seems to have a part in this. This is especially troublesome if you need to get to the body battery out in the field to change it or if the camera locks up for some reason.

All in all a good build but could have been better designed with an easier to use lock and a center-placed tripod mount.
Add Review of Pentax Battery Grip D-BG4 for K-5 and K-7 Buy the Pentax Battery Grip D-BG4 for K-5 and K-7



All times are GMT -7. The time now is 04:06 AM. | See also: NikonForums.com, CanonForums.com part of our network of photo forums!
  • Red (Default)
  • Green
  • Gray
  • Dark
  • Dark Yellow
  • Dark Blue
  • Old Red
  • Old Green
  • Old Gray
  • Dial-Up Style
Hello! It's great to see you back on the forum! Have you considered joining the community?
register
Creating a FREE ACCOUNT takes under a minute, removes ads, and lets you post! [Dismiss]
Top