[dcp5570]

I know that this may be a really dumb questiion but I'll ask anyway.................I would like to buy the grip for the K10D. Do I have to buy another battery for the grip to function?

Thanks.......dcp

[Duplo]

No you do not.

But I would recommend it. It gives a very very nice battery life.
And I prefer having a back up battery when out shooting... why not keep it in the grip

[stewart_photo]

You basically have two common choices...

1. Remove the battery from the camera and place it in the grip with no battery in the camera. The advantage is not needing to remove the grip each time the battery needs recharging. If you purchase a spare, it can just as easily be inserted into the grip whenever the previous one is discharged.

2. Purchase a second battery and place one in the grip and one in camera. The advantage is longer camera use between charges since the camera can use both batteries (one after the other), but the grip has to be constantly removed to get at the battery inside the camera for recharging.

I think the first is more convenient, with the second far less so. The constant removal of the grip in the second also causes unnecessary wear & tear on the various parts (screw threads, electrical contacts, etc). Therefore, I personally prefer the first method.

Note: The power switch on the grip does not affect the camera's use of the batteries with either method. That switch is only for the buttons on the grip.

stewart

[dcp5570]

Thank you both for your time. I appreciate your input.

dcp

[Confused]

Hi DCP

Bear in mind that if you purchase TWO or more batteries and keep them all fully charged, (1st inserted in the K10D body & 2nd in the grip) one option (of three available) is to specify via the instruction manual (see pp's 198-199) to set the camera to select the battery in the grip first and then revert to using the battery in the body. The advantage with choosing this mode is that if you keep a few more batteries charged-up, you can simply swap over the exhausted battery in the grip and insert a fresh one. This avoids the necessity of removing the actual grip from the K10D in order to change the battery in the body, which is potentially a PITA !!!! However in real world conditions, I have never YET reached the need to swap-out the LIon battery in the grip, because it lasts SO BL***DY LONG !!!! There are numerous sources on the internet from which to obtain cheaper batteries rather than the official Pentax-branded ones, which many users regard as being excessively over-priced, but that must remain your decision !! Check out the previous posts on this subject in the DSLR forum pages and I hope this information helps,

Best regards
Richard

P.S. Try these three links on the subject.....

https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-dslr-discussion/11641-k10d-batteries.html

https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-dslr-discussion/10912-alternative-...K10D+Batteries

PentaxUser.co.uk :: View topic - Stupid K10D battery prices

[KFrog]

I would think the only reason to leave the battery out would be to save a little weight.

[Confused]

Hi Kfrog

Not much point carrying fractionally less kilos when one of those unrepeatable photographs presents itself and your only battery has just died !!!

Best regards
Richard

---

Last edited by Confused; 09-09-2007 at 05:38 PM.