[Silus001]

I am a current K100d owner and will be getting a K10d if not tomorrow later this week. I was wondering if the grip is really worth getting and how useful you guys really find it (apart from the fact that it looks freakn awesome). Is having to carry the extra bulk of the grip worth the actual use of it?

[RussellW]

The short answer is YES, for me it just feels right.
However make sure that you turn off the grip, when you are in horizontal view.

[pw-pix]

RussellW,
can you explain a bit about what you mean and why?

[christinelandon]

Silus001,

Also a new K10D owner with the grip, I like the feel of it horizontally and vertically, like the duplicate controls on the grip, and love the second battery, which keeps me goin' and goin' like a certain pink bunny with a big drum...I've also got the Remote F stuck in there for use when the beast is on its tripod. (Speaking of which, I use the Kirk camera plate built for the D-BG2 grip to tie into my QR on the ballhead–a solid mount and exquisitely built! Highly recommended!)

[ycl]

Hello --

From what I have read, most people who have the grip love it.

However, I bought one and within 30 minutes of putting it on the camera, I put it in the box and returned it. I felt that the grip made the camera too heavy and too large -- certainly not worth the benefit of an extra battery. And I didn't like the feel of the grip, either -- it seemedmore cheaply made than the rest of the camera.

That's simply my personal experience. The large majority of people, as I said, seem to love the grip. I think there's only one way to tell -- try it and see how it feels to you.

Sorry if not more helpful!

[Chako]

the grip is worth it to people who have very large hands, or for those who tend to use very large lenses.

A side benefit to the grip is that you can store your remote control and an extra memory card in it, a rather handy feature.

Not to mention that the grip molds itself to the camera. Once you place it on, it feels like it belongs there. My battery grip on my Canon 20D feels like a cheap add on with a fit and finish that most definitely does not match the camera. The Pentax grip is far better in this department.

What I do not like about the grip is the way the batteries are used. I know this is why the grip feels so good on the camera, but couldn't there have been a way to put two batteries in the grip instead of the one? It is a minor inconvenience to take the grip off to recharge the other batter that is in the camera.

The grip stays on my cameras all the time.

[Alefone]

At first I wasn't really crazy about it but after keeping it on my camera for a longer period ,I love the grip,fits my hands perfectly and I never take it off

[egordon99]

I LOVE the grip. Doing vertical shots with a hotshoe flash is so much easier with the vertical grip. Extra battery is nice, but the vertical shutter release makes it worth it for me as I do alot of indoor event work. With my *ist DS, it was very awkward to do portrait shots. Sure, the K10D/Grip/540 flash/DA* 50-135mm package is VERY heavy, but it's fairly ergonomic. I took the grip off, and it's hard to get a good "grip" on the camera as my hand slips underneath the body.

[pentkon52]

I picked up a grip for my D200, the 70-210 balances well. I plan on getting a grip for my K10D, for the 60-250 or Tamron 70-200 which ever comes out first.
The bigger body, like my D2H, D1H etc compensates for the length and weight of the lens, were in the D200 felt a little off. Its fine now, so yea i would recomend a grip.

Dave

[davek]

My grip is fairly new to me, but I really like it. It hasn't been off the camera since I got it. As with others, the vertical shutter release is the major benefit for me.

I'd be interested in why RussellW says to turn it off when shooting horizontal, mine stays on most of the time.

[pop4]

I think the reason that RussellW says to turn off the grip when shooting horizontal, is to avoid accidentally pressing the shutter release on the grip with your bottom of your right hand...which can be quite confusing at first if you don't realise you've done it.

Personally, I enjoy having the grip on my camera, since it just feels so much better. However, when traveling light, I take if off to save space and weight

[WMBP]

I started a thread on this same topic some time ago and got some very good input. You can find that thread by clicking here.

I ended up buying the grip and I'm very glad that I did. The grip has several advantages.

First, the camera feels better with the grip, at least for someone with big hands like me. I also have an *ist DS, which has no grip and is a smaller body than the K10D to start with. I appreciate the smaller form factor of the *ist DS in certain situations -- when I'm just carrying the camera with me to the post office or on a walk in the neighborhood. But most of the time, I much prefer the feel of the K10D with grip.

Second, the grip makes shooting in portrait orientation (in other words, where you've turned the camera sideways) much easier, in two ways. The grip itself gives you something to, um, grip, on what is now the right side of the device (normally the bottom). And the grip provides a shutter button and e-dials at the top right of the camera so you can adjust exposure settings without having to turn the camera back to normal orientation to use the controls.

Third, the grip is a very useful storage drawer. I use it to store an extra SD card and also the remote for the camera. And it's easier to pull the battery out of the grip to replace it than it is to get the batteries out of the bottom of the camera.

Not sure I would buy a camera these days without a grip. When I pressed my old Nikon N65 film SLR back into now-and-then service a couple of months ago, I was delighted to discover that I could buy the grip for it -- for under $10! I wish the grip for the K10D had been so inexpensive, but still, it's worth the money, in my opinion.

Will

[stewart_photo]

(snip) I was wondering if the grip is really worth getting and how useful you guys really find it (snip)

I'll add my vote in favor of the grip. On the negative side, the grip adds both weight and bulk to the camera, obvious considerations for those who have to tote the thing around for any length of time or have limited space in a bag. But, on the positive side, by orienting the most important controls to a vertical shooting position, the grip is a real convenience for those who like to shoot verticals often. And, since roughly 50% of my shots are vertical (portraits, models, or print advertising), that certainly describes me.

Moving on to the other comments here. To avoid accidently changing settings by bumping against the buttons on the grip, I agree in principle with the suggestion by "RussellW" to turn the grip's buttons off when not needed (a suggestion, not a rule). By the way, the power switch on the grip applies only to the controls (buttons & knobs) on the grip. That switch does not turn the camera on or off (only the switch on the camera will do that) and the battery within the grip is entirely unaffected by the grip's on/off switch.

Since someone mentioned the Pentax Remote Control F, let me add that the Pentax Remote Control E will also fit into the grip. The primary switch on both remotes work exactly the same, meaning the "E" version provides the same functionality as the "F" version. Of course, the tiny zoom button on the "E" version (intended for P&S cameras with built-in lenses with electronic zooming) serves no purpose with a DLSR, but the remotes are otherwise physically and cosmetically identical.

One person suggested the grip seems "more cheaply made than the rest of the camera." The grip is made of the exact same fiber-reinforced polycarbonate materials as the camera, complete with weather-sealing. The only thing missing is an internal metal frame, with the reduced weight perhaps providing an inaccurate impression.

Finally, another said it was inconvenient "to take the grip off to recharge the other battery that is in the camera." In my case, this was resolved by simply moving the camera's battery to the grip, using only one battery at a time. Replacing the battery in the grip is far quicker and easier than removing the entire grip to exchange a battery inside the camera.

And, yes, the camera and grip do indeed look nice ("freakn awesome") together.

stewart

[WMBP]

By the way, since someone here mentioned the grip's ability to hold a second battery, I thought I might mention that I do NOT use the grip to hold a second battery. I own two batteries, but I use them one at a time, and the one in use is in the grip. The battery cavity in the body, in other words, remains empty. I do this because it's a bit of a pain to take the grip off to get to the in-body battery. With just one battery in use at a time and that one in the grip, it's easy to open the grip's tray and change out the batteries. I've shot events where I took 1000+ shots in a day, and I've never yet run out of power at a shoot with the K10D.

Will

[Gregory]

I find it's worth the money..