[nanok]

Space left over inside the grip is for your 'stash'. Not something they can advertise for obvious reasons.

sure they can, with a bit of imagination "convenient place to store your.. paper tissues, you always wanted to have a place to store your PAPER tissues, away from prying eyes". and we can figure out the rest :-P

[and]

Wait, so not replacing the internal battery is considered a plus?

absolutely. for the canon dslrs one thing is you need to remove the battery door hatch to attatch the grip, so if you want to be able to remove the grip while on the road then you need to bring the battery door, which it would suck to loose. then once attatched that empty space where the body battery used to be is basically wasted, it could have been used to store a battery.

[thibs]

Wait, so not replacing the internal battery is considered a plus?

Of course it is. Other brands excepting very big cameras where you can put two batteries in the grip do replace the battery in the body by the battery in the grip.

Pentax way of doing things allows you to double energy capacity. If you don't want the bulk, choose either btery in the grip or in the body as you prefer (weight balace).

How can that be anything negative?

[Peter Zack]

absolutely. for the canon dslrs one thing is you need to remove the battery door hatch to attatch the grip, so if you want to be able to remove the grip while on the road then you need to bring the battery door, which it would suck to loose. then once attatched that empty space where the body battery used to be is basically wasted, it could have been used to store a battery.

And, you're missing the point. This allows Canon to charge you (estimate) about $1.2 zillion for a replacement battery door. Just like all those lenses that are not shipped with supplied hoods or tripod rings that cost another $zillion or so. Btw, ever look at the cost of their batteries? If you can afford the grip, it will set you back $130+ for the second battery. yessh!

[and]

And, you're missing the point. This allows Canon to charge you (estimate) about $1.2 zillion for a replacement battery door. Just like all those lenses that are not shipped with supplied hoods or tripod rings that cost another $zillion or so. Btw, ever look at the cost of their batteries? If you can afford the grip, it will set you back $130+ for the second battery. yessh!

one thing that is nice tho, is that you can put 2 batteries in the grip, now it would be cool for the k7 to have the option of 2 batteries in the grip and 1 in the body. then u could go on a long vacation and not bring the charger. and im sure shooting movies must drain the battery. unlike some grips, well the d300 grip in particular, the k7 grip doesnt add any features beyond storing batteries, so they could have crammed 2 in there. or added something else of interest like wifi, gps, ethernet, second usable sd slot etc. so many things have gps now, like so many mobile phones, am sure there are lots of suppliers of gps chipsets and since they can fit in a phone they should be very small, so why not cram one of those in the grip and get some more positive reviews for that feature.

[Gimbal]

Pentax's SR already supports 'twist' and X and Y at the same time. It was marketed as such with the K20

Not Z axis though, as that would affect focus.

As I said way back in the thread, Pentax doing SR round the Z-axis is a myth.
(Well, up until the K-7 that is.)

Read about it here:
Pentax K-7 Digital Camera - Hands-On Preview - The Imaging Resource!

[Yohan Pamudji]

absolutely. for the canon dslrs one thing is you need to remove the battery door hatch to attatch the grip, so if you want to be able to remove the grip while on the road then you need to bring the battery door, which it would suck to loose. then once attatched that empty space where the body battery used to be is basically wasted, it could have been used to store a battery.

The battery door slots into a convenient holder inside the grip. That is, if you're not using it to store your "stash" So it's not exactly easy to lose the door.

Of course it is. Other brands excepting very big cameras where you can put two batteries in the grip do replace the battery in the body by the battery in the grip.

Pentax way of doing things allows you to double energy capacity. If you don't want the bulk, choose either btery in the grip or in the body as you prefer (weight balace).

How can that be anything negative?

It's negative because with Canon (just as an example that I'm familiar with; don't know if anybody else does it this way) you put 2 batteries in the optional grip, so you run both batteries down all the way then replace both (or just 1 if you only need 1 at that point). With Pentax's method, you either run down the in-grip battery all the way then replace only that 1 battery (shorter time between battery changes) or you run both down and have to detach the grip to replace the one in the body (time consuming to do while on a shoot). I guess some could prefer the Pentax way, but with this implementation the grip is only for ergonomics and offers no improvement in battery life.

And, you're missing the point. This allows Canon to charge you (estimate) about $1.2 zillion for a replacement battery door. Just like all those lenses that are not shipped with supplied hoods or tripod rings that cost another $zillion or so. Btw, ever look at the cost of their batteries? If you can afford the grip, it will set you back $130+ for the second battery. yessh!

Let's not get too crazy here True about the "optional" lens hoods--what a sham. But losing the battery door is very much user error, not Canon's fault, as the grip has a secure slot to store the door in. You'd have to be pretty careless to lose the battery door, despite Canon's best efforts to help you not to.

$130 batteries? You must be talking about the price gouging on the 5DII batteries. Yeah, that was pretty horrendous. It's now down to a "mere" $100

one thing that is nice tho, is that you can put 2 batteries in the grip, now it would be cool for the k7 to have the option of 2 batteries in the grip and 1 in the body. then u could go on a long vacation and not bring the charger. and im sure shooting movies must drain the battery. unlike some grips, well the d300 grip in particular, the k7 grip doesnt add any features beyond storing batteries, so they could have crammed 2 in there. or added something else of interest like wifi, gps, ethernet, second usable sd slot etc. so many things have gps now, like so many mobile phones, am sure there are lots of suppliers of gps chipsets and since they can fit in a phone they should be very small, so why not cram one of those in the grip and get some more positive reviews for that feature.

That "stash" area in the grip is a puzzler, isn't it? Like you said, would've been nice if they went with room for 2 batteries in there.

[thibs]

It's negative because with Canon (just as an example that I'm familiar with; don't know if anybody else does it this way) you put 2 batteries in the optional grip, so you run both batteries down all the way then replace both (or just 1 if you only need 1 at that point).

That's why I talked about smaller bodies, not bigger bodies (compared to Pentax bodies I mean, it is not negative per se) with larger grips can get two batteries in the grip. Pentax bodies aren't large enough to do so.

With Pentax's method, you either run down the in-grip battery all the way then replace only that 1 battery (shorter time between battery changes) or you run both down and have to detach the grip to replace the one in the body (time consuming to do while on a shoot). I guess some could prefer the Pentax way, but with this implementation the grip is only for ergonomics and offers no improvement in battery life.

Of course it does since the camera takes energy from two instead of only one from the body. Battery life is indeed two times the battery life without a grip.

However, it is a annoying if you need to change both batteries, totally agree. D300/D700 is exactly the same btw but D90 battery pack follows the system you described.

There's pros and cons to bith systems. The worse of all is battery grips taking only one battery and blocking internal battery at the same time.

[MMVIII]

It's negative because with Canon (just as an example that I'm familiar with; don't know if anybody else does it this way) you put 2 batteries in the optional grip, so you run both batteries down all the way then replace both (or just 1 if you only need 1 at that point). With Pentax's method, you either run down the in-grip battery all the way then replace only that 1 battery (shorter time between battery changes) or you run both down and have to detach the grip to replace the one in the body (time consuming to do while on a shoot). I guess some could prefer the Pentax way, but with this implementation the grip is only for ergonomics and offers no improvement in battery life.

You are not joking, right ?
Getting 900 pictures with one battery, another 900 with the grip and quickly changing the in-grip battery for another 900 makes me wonder what shooting with 2700 pictures you seem to attend where you would not find the time to de-attach the grip for change of the body battery for another 900 pics.
I guess your sentence with no improvement in battery life with grip does seem a little bit...hm, strange
Nevertheless, one welcome feature with the grip for me as an outdoor guy is definitely the possibility to use different kind of batteries, what a cool solution.

[rparmar]

Though I would never use a grip, I think it's great the new one will take AA batteries. What a perfect solution!

I am less enthused about the change in proprietary battery type, since I don't think the incompatibility is worth a few percent more images. It's so easy to swap batteries. I can think of no situation where the down-time is detrimental, especially as one has to swap cards as often or more. (In any pro fast shot situation I'd always have a backup body ready.)

Keeping track of which battery goes with which body, and keeping a supply of both, is going to be a royal pain.

[and]

I dont really mind the change in battery since the new one is a better battery. better to do that than to make more advanced bodies with video and live view and keep the same old battery.

[keltia666]

I am less enthused about the change in proprietary battery type, since I don't think the incompatibility is worth a few percent more images. It's so easy to swap batteries. I can think of no situation where the down-time is detrimental, especially as one has to swap cards as often or more. (In any pro fast shot situation I'd always have a backup body ready.)

Yes, I'm a bit worried about the new battery as it was pretty easy to find replacements for the old one, being NP400 compatible... I welcome the larger capacity though. As for the grip itself, even with my moderately small hands, it is a must. It is so much easier to, well, have a better grip on the camera

[Peter Zack]

Personally I don't like any part that is detachable from the body if at all possible in regular use. Yeah yeah, I know the lenses are detachable.... So a detachable battery door is just asking for trouble at some point unless you always leave the grip on and never fiddle with the door.

The dual battery grip idea is fine but I've shot weddings where the K20D took over 1000 shots. The grip battery depletes first. Once it's drained, I just quickly swap the grip battery and always leave the camera battery full as a backup. It's never failed me. My grip never comes off the body.

I wish they had stuck with the same battery but whomever gets my K20D will get a few batteries thrown in on the deal. I'll keep my K10D and grip with 2 batteries. The K20D will have 3-4 batteries included. What sucks is I have a car charger as well and that won't be any good either. I always liked having the option of charging away from home.

I suspect the increased shot count is increased effeciency as much as the increase in MaH of the new battery. A bit of a PITA if you asked me.

Let's not get too crazy here True about the "optional" lens hoods--what a sham. But losing the battery door is very much user error, not Canon's fault, as the grip has a secure slot to store the door in. You'd have to be pretty careless to lose the battery door, despite Canon's best efforts to help you not to.

$130 batteries? You must be talking about the price gouging on the 5DII batteries. Yeah, that was pretty horrendous. It's now down to a "mere" $100

Here the Canon battery for the 50D or 40D is $129.99 Canon BP-511A Battery Pack for EOS 5D, 50D, 40D, 30D, 20D, 10D, D. Rebel Digital Camera Batteries 9200A001 - Vistek Canada Product Detail That's just nuts. It's fine to charge a fair price for a lens or body, but to gouge this much on parts is just stealing from your customers.

A typical PLASTIC Canon hood is $75.00. Yes I said PLASTIC. I just ordered a Pentax OEM hood from B&H for my DA12-24mm and it cost me all of $15.00

$199 for a tripod ring for the L70-200 f4. And these lenses don't come with hoods when you buy them. Every Pentax lens does. It's a must have item.

I did some serious research the last month or so on adding a 5DMkII to my kit and at every turn the costs were making my eyes roll. This is an switch were the law of dimishing returns hits you straight in the face. Pentax shooters really have no idea how lucky they are. SR, WS, legacy glass, $$ etc...

[Yohan Pamudji]

Peter, I didn't know about the prices in Canada. Here in the States it's not nearly that bad. BP-511A batteries go for $40-some, although I got my spares for $30-some. You don't have to tell me about those plastic hoods that Canon can't be bothered to throw in with some of their lenses though. The fact that they're "optional" and cost so much for plastic is ridiculous.

But back to the K-7 grip, a bit disappointing that it's not made of the same material as the K-7 itself, but it should be plenty durable. Regardless, not an issue for me personally as I don't plan to add any bulk to the tiny K-7

[jct us101]

Oh come now, this thread is too far down the page.