[Ed n Georgia]

I recently purchased the Canon 5D Mk2 from Adorama.com. I purchased one of their bundles which included a "knock-off" vertical grip.

Even though I thought the Grip would be satisfactory, I decided that I wanted a genuine Canon grip and put out a 'WTB" feeler on another forum.

I got a couple of responses and decided to purchase the best deal.

When I received the grip, it was in a box with the Canon logo on it and initially looked to be the real thing. As I got to looking at it, and the one that came with the bundle, I couldn't tell that there was any difference in the grips. I made a post on that forum to see if anyone thought the Canon grip was made by the same people who make the cheap grips.

Someone posted this link in response to my query.

PhotoGraphian Singapore - Fake Canon Battery Grip BG-E6

After looking over the information on the link, I decided that the grip I had bought was, indeed, a counterfit.

I sent the member from whom I purchased the grip a message with the link. He responded a while later and seemed quite surprised about the information in the link. He immediately refunded my money and asked me to return the grip as he thought it to be the genuine article.

Happy ending to my story of course.. But, I can't help but wonder how many people by these grips on e-bay believing that they are the genuine thing?

I was fortunate that I was dealing with, I believe, a person who had bought the grip in good faith and sold it to me believing it to be genuine and was willing to take it back without my having to file PayPal Claim.

[dgaies]

I recently purchased the Canon 5D Mk2 from Adorama.com. I purchased one of their bundles which included a "knock-off" vertical grip.

Even though I thought the Grip would be satisfactory, I decided that I wanted a genuine Canon grip and put out a 'WTB" feeler on another forum.

I got a couple of responses and decided to purchase the best deal.

When I received the grip, it was in a box with the Canon logo on it and initially looked to be the real thing. As I got to looking at it, and the one that came with the bundle, I couldn't tell that there was any difference in the grips. I made a post on that forum to see if anyone thought the Canon grip was made by the same people who make the cheap grips.

Someone posted this link in response to my query.

PhotoGraphian Singapore - Fake Canon Battery Grip BG-E6

After looking over the information on the link, I decided that the grip I had bought was, indeed, a counterfit.

I sent the member from whom I purchased the grip a message with the link. He responded a while later and seemed quite surprised about the information in the link. He immediately refunded my money and asked me to return the grip as he thought it to be the genuine article.

Happy ending to my story of course.. But, I can't help but wonder how many people by these grips on e-bay believing that they are the genuine thing?

I was fortunate that I was dealing with, I believe, a person who had bought the grip in good faith and sold it to me believing it to be genuine and was willing to take it back without my having to file PayPal Claim.

Thanks Ed. There was a similar thread on FM the other day in regards to the Nikon MB-D10 (the grip for the D300/D700). I guess there are some pretty good counterfeits out there that are becoming more and more difficult to differentiate from the originals (even the packaging has gotten pretty close).

[bkpix]

Here's an advantage to a using a boutique system: No one will ever bother to counterfeit Pentax gear!

[Clicker]

Mine better be real i bought it from a local canon authorized store. I'll add photos here later but i tossed my boxes awhile ago, i don't like keeping boxes around (i don't sell my gear either)

[Ed n Georgia]

I ordered one from B&H which I'm pretty sure will be genuine.

[rawr]

Here's an advantage to a using a boutique system: No one will ever bother to counterfeit Pentax gear!

Where there is money, there are counterfeits. There are many counterfeit Pentax grips. Several are featured in this thread, including a very good Pentax DBG4 battery grip that matches almost exactly the Pentax version.

[dgaies]

Where there is money, there are counterfeits. There are many counterfeit Pentax grips. Several are featured in this thread, including a very good Pentax DBG4 battery grip that matches almost exactly the Pentax version.

I would consider those third-party grips, not counterfeit grips. Nothing wrong with a less expensive alternative to the OEM grip so long as the seller doesn't try to pass their grip off as the actual OEM grip.

What Ed is describing are grips that are being sold as if they were the original grip, but are in fact knock-offs. The boxes, cosmetics and ads suggest you are getting the real deal, but in fact you are getting a third-pary grip. Those are the ones that are considered counterfeits and the ones that people should be wary of. Not so much because they work less well than other third-pary grips, but because they are being sold as if they were originals (which they are not).

[Ed n Georgia]

I would consider those third-party grips, not counterfeit grips. Nothing wrong with a less expensive alternative to the OEM grip so long as the seller doesn't try to pass their grip off as the actual OEM grip.

What Ed is describing are grips that are being sold as if they were the original grip, but are in fact knock-offs. The boxes, cosmetics and ads suggest you are getting the real deal, but in fact you are getting a third-pary grip. Those are the ones that are considered counterfeits and the ones that people should be wary of. Not so much because they work less well than other third-pary grips, but because they are being sold as if they were originals (which they are not).

Daniel is correct. If you looked at the link, these knock offs actually have the Canon Logo on them. They come in a box that very closely resembles the OEM box. All of this leading the buyer to believe that they have purchased the real thing.

Had I not already had one of the inexpensively made, third party grips, I might not have given the issue a second thought. but when I compared the two, I wondered why a Canon grip would be identical to a really inexpensive knock off.

I posted my query on the Fred Miranda Forum and one of the members posted the link that is in my original post.

I've looked through e-bay and there are Canon grips featuring the same identical box being sold from $65 to $175. They sell a lot of them.

I'm really amazed that Canon hasn't taken the people on and put a stop to it.

Ed

[borno]

I got a couple "canon" E1 hand straps from ebay and they were maked and packaged like the real thing, but at $7.50 each I wouldn't count on it. I knew that though, and they look pretty nice actually. I would never get a memory card from ebay (or amazon) and when I needed a spare battery for my 1diii I got it from KEH. You really do have to be careful about knock-offs.