[anquire]

Hi All,

I am a legal practitioner and I am considering whether to buy the original Battery Grip D-BG4 or the Pentax 3rd Party Battery Grip.

My concern is that the Original Pentax Battery Grip D-BG4 seems to state that it is weather-sealed to protect the battery.

Yes, the battery only not the body.

Do you guys think it is worth it paying 4-6times more the price to protect my battery other than the original quality grip?

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Pentax D-BG4 Battery Grip for Pentax K-7 & K-5 39846 B&H
Pentax D-BG4 Battery Grip for K7 Camera 39846

[Eulogy]

Well, by protecting the battery, you protect the body from short circuits. Personally, I use a third party grip, as it seems silly to pay $200 for something to be sealed, when all it takes is removing the grip in inclement weather.

[rbefly]

Hello Anquire,
The Pentax grip is indeed a better fit and made to a higher standard. But I have a 3rd party grip on my K-7 along with a BG-2 grip on the K10D; The generic grip works fine, all buttons and controls function properly and I've never had any problem using it in wet weather.
It does feel "cheap" and there's an obvious (but tiny) gap around the front right-hand part, where your lower fingers rest. Again, no problem, just doesn't inspire confidence. The BG-2 "feels" tighter on the K10D, whether it actually is, I have no way of knowing.
It comes down to how bad the shooting weather is and your budget. If I could buy an Pentax BG-4 for $100 USD, I certainly would. Until then, the generic works pretty well.
I've heard of users running a bead of weather-sealant around the edges of the generic grip while protecting the camera bottom with kitchen wrap, until it's dry.Of course you must make a hole for the electrical pins during the process.
Haven't tried it, but for peace of mind, I might!
I understand this doesn't exactly answer your question about the battery sealing, just wanted to pass my experience along FWIW.
Ron

[siamthai]

I have a genuine D-BG4 and wanted to try a third party grip so I bought one from eBay. The quality of the third party grip was very bad, the buttons worked sometimes and not other times. But I know other's who have bought from eBay that have been very pleased so the grips they sell on eBay seems so differ a lot in quality.

Bying from Adorama is maybe better than eBay but still expensive. 204 USD for a third party is very much. The third part grip from eBay cost only about 40-50 USD.

[flyer]

That's something that never ceases to amaze me. People are paying around $1000.00 for a camera, and quite a few hundreds for lenses, but they balk at the cost of the grip.

When you buy the Pentax grip, you buy peace of mind. You know if something goes wrong with your camera, it won't be blamed on a third party grip, or whatever...

[Ex Finn.]

Hi All,

I am a legal practitioner and I am considering whether to buy the original Battery Grip D-BG4 or the Pentax 3rd Party Battery Grip.

My concern is that the Original Pentax Battery Grip D-BG4 seems to state that it is weather-sealed to protect the battery.

Yes, the battery only not the body.

Do you guys think it is worth it paying 4-6times more the price to protect my battery other than the original quality grip?

-----------
Pentax D-BG4 Battery Grip for Pentax K-7 & K-5 39846 B&H
Pentax D-BG4 Battery Grip for K7 Camera 39846

The D-BG4 has a seal for the contacts, therefore protecting them also. Rest of the body bottom is already sealed obviously.
It is worth every penny IMO.

[Giklab]

That's something that never ceases to amaze me. People are paying around $1000.00 for a camera, and quite a few hundreds for lenses, but they balk at the cost of the grip.

Because the camera at €1000 is a much better value than the grip at €250. The grip should be ~€100 IMO.

[flyer]

Because the camera at €1000 is a much better value than the grip at €250. The grip should be ~€100 IMO.

But if the grip at $100.00 damages your $1000.00 camera, you're not ahead in the game.

And, if people would start buying the original instead of clones, it might bring the price down. You know, the law of supply and demand...

[siamthai]

It can be ok with third parti grip sometimes. For me it was not ok, I bought my K-5 new and paid about 1207 USD, and then a genuine D-BG4 for 241 USD. I never even gave a third party grip a thought. But today many buy used K-7 or K-5 for a low price and I do understand why they don't want to buy expensive genuine D-BG4 as they are almost impossible to find used.

A used K-7 can cost 450 USD and sometimes even cheaper and a new genuine D-BG4 cost nearly the same so I don't think I'd buy a genuine grip if I had bought a used camera (^_^)

[anquire]

I received mine today from an ebay seller.

It's a third party D-BG4 grip for my pentax K-5.

The quality is ok for the price of AUD$45. It won't break anytime soon moreover I was given a 12 months warranty.

After using it for 1 day, i don't really like it. It adds extra weight and my hands kept pressing the button on the battery grip when I take Horizontal Photos.

Regards,
Kwan Win Goh (Kelwin)

[siamthai]

I received mine today from an ebay seller.

It's a third party D-BG4 grip for my pentax K-5.

The quality is ok for the price of AUD$45. It won't break anytime soon moreover I was given a 12 months warranty.

After using it for 1 day, i don't really like it. It adds extra weight and my hands kept pressing the button on the battery grip when I take Horizontal Photos.

Regards,
Kwan Win Goh (Kelwin)

I felt the same the first week but after that I started to love it and have kept it on since then. It doesn't matter if you touch the buttons if you put the "on/off" on the grip to "off" when not using it.