# Battery Grip for 7D - any suggestions?



## Forceflow (May 18, 2012)

I would really like to get a Battery Grip for my 7D. There is of course the original which I would assume has the best weather sealing. But besides that, it's only expensive with basically no other functions. There do seem to be a vast number of third party options available and some of them at least claim some additional features. (Often at a reduced price and some even come with 2 additional batteries)

So my question is, does anybody has any experiences with third party battery grips and can recommend one for me? If the features are good and the quality is sound I don't mind paying more than for the original, but in that case it must be high quality! What I would really love to have is one that also has the small joystick, but from my little research on amazon this does not appear to be a feature any of the grips have.


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## xps (May 20, 2012)

My wife tried two of them:

She owns Phottix BP-7D Batterygrip, that was about 80 € when she bought it. It works and is of quite an good quality. All features are working well, and its haptic is ok. 

That one, she tried before, was not good. It was too loose, and the release button was too weak to press. Sometimes it took some pictures by its own. It went back to Amazon.

http://www.amazon.de/PROFI-BATTERIEGRIFF-Hochformatausl%C3%B6ser-Langzeitbelichtungs-Aul%C3%B6serverz%C3%B6gerungssteuerung/dp/B003OQOG6Q/ref=pd_sxp_f_pt


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## K3nt (May 21, 2012)

I ma looking at the Polaroid battery grip for the 7D. It includes an intervalometer too which'll come in handy.


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## Forceflow (May 21, 2012)

Thanks for the info, at least it's a start  There are so many grips out there... gotta have to check if I can actually try some of them in my local camera store some time...


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## degies (May 26, 2012)

On my first slr the 500D I had a original Canon grip. Now on my 7D I got the Vello one from BnH and and I have no issue with it. It does what the Canon one does at a third the price. 

Vello Battery Grips


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## cszy67 (Jun 27, 2012)

I run the Canon BG-E7 grip and it was a simple choice for me.

Considering all of the money I had spent on the camera and a few lenses the extra few dollars were well spent. There was no doubt that everything would work perfectly, fit perfectly, and were engineered to be perfectly compatible regarding construction, fit, and finish.


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## RLPhoto (Jun 27, 2012)

I've used generic opteka or Zeikos grips. They're pretty good quality and work just fine for less $$.


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## paul13walnut5 (Jun 27, 2012)

I have the canon grip. It isn't up to the same standard of weather proofing as the 7D body as far as I can perceive.

I've had one occassion where it locked up the front input dial, which was down to a hair/dirt over one of the contact pins.

Not tried any others. To be fair despite the above, the grip performs as I would expect.


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## neuroanatomist (Jun 27, 2012)

One thing to note about the OEM grip for the 7D is the shutter button is more sensitive than the one on the camera itself - apparently some 3rd party grips are similar to the body. It takes a little getting used to, I must say. Agreed on the grip sealing comment - you'd think it would be trivial for Canon to put a little bit of foam around where the grip connects to the battery compartment, but no - easy ingress for water right at the place where there's electrical power contacts... ???


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## michi (Jun 27, 2012)

I have the original BG-E7 for the 7D. Not even sure why, every grip I have bought for all of my rebels and 20D and 5DII have been cheapos. Never had any problems with any of them. I think the original grips are overpriced for what they offer. I can't really tell a difference between the original and the knock offs unless I look really close. Unless you are a pro and beat up your machine, I think you are good to go with a knock off. My 5DII has a Zeikos grip and it's very nice.


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## alex791 (Jun 27, 2012)

I've got a really cheap one for my 7D (about 39€), which I got from Ebay and I must say I'm pretty happy with it. It feels a little bit plasticy, the buttons aren't as nice as the one of the camera itself, as already said, the shutter button is very sensitive (you've got to get accustomed to it), but all in all it gets its job done pretty good for that amount of money - and it takes 2 batteries of course.


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## cszy67 (Jun 27, 2012)

One of the strong points that caught my eye and convinced me to purchase the OEM Canon unit was the fact that the frame was made our of magnesium, exactly the same as the frame on the 7D. I know my OEM unit effectively communicates with the batteries also providing useful information. 

Does anyone know if there has been a side-by-side caparison of all the different manufactures?


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## picturesbyme (Jun 27, 2012)

I have a flashpoint/Meike. It's awesome. Has a nice thumb rest and feeels better than the Canon, but that could be just me... Also it was pretty inexpensive at adorama...
I haven't tried to hammer nails with it yet  but seems sturdy enough for what I usually use it for...


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## Rockets95 (Jun 28, 2012)

Do the knock-off grips report battery life to the camera?


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## Richard8971 (Jun 28, 2012)

I have not yet used an aftermarket one for the 7D but after using my BG-E7 I am convinced that OEM is not always the best purchase on grips. I purchased mine used off of eBay for about 70 bucks. I won't pay full price for a grip. All of my grips have been bought used for a fraction of the price of new. 

1) There is no "Canon" logo on the BG-E7 so no one would know an OEM grip from an aftermarket one without looking at it very closely.

2) The OEM shutter butter is VERY soft to the touch. If you are not really careful when you press half-way down to focus, you will find yourself cranking off about 4-6 shots before you realize what you have done. Very annoying and I understand some of the aftermarket grips have a stiffer button.

I know it's not a grip for the 7D but my wife has a Zeikos grip for her 5D2. It's of very nice quality and feels very solid (not quite as "heavy" as the OEM but for the savings, I can overlook that). I wouldn't hesitate buying one again if the need arose. The buttons are smooth and everything works perfect.

D


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## michi (Jun 28, 2012)

Rockets95 said:


> Do the knock-off grips report battery life to the camera?



All the ones I have had do.


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## nicku (Jun 28, 2012)

i had a non canon battery grip some years ago on a 400D. after 6 months and around 6-7k of images it starting to have some problems with the shutter button ( delays in shooting time and others).
On my 40D i have the original BG-E2N and after around 50K not even a minor problem. For my 7D i will definitely buy a original grip.


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## drummstikk (Jun 28, 2012)

My 7D was purchased under "emergency" conditions as my 40D shutter chose midway though day 1 of a three-day job to throw itself a Viking funeral. The job required two bodies, so to get back in business, I just purchased the basics without the niceties, body only and one spare battery. Going back a month or so later to "finish" the purchase by getting the grip (mostly out of habit), I was shocked how much higher the price of the 7D grip was than what I had paid for the 40D grip. 

So, I delayed the purchase. I am now into year three of the delay still do not miss the grip to any great degree. Being gripless has no downside to me, and in fact has one upside in that my Stroboframe flash bracket is easier to attach and use on a gripless body. Everybody's use case is different and I don't advocate either way, but the bottom line as I see it is that photographs are taken with cameras, lenses and light, natural or otherwise. Ancillary accessories like grips might *look* a little more "professional," but pretty much never make or break a shot. 

If the idea of spending less money on a grip is appealing to you, take a minute to imagine how exciting it would be to spend NO money.


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## Forceflow (Jun 28, 2012)

drummstikk said:


> If the idea of spending less money on a grip is appealing to you, take a minute to imagine how exciting it would be to spend NO money.



That is a valid point, but I found that having no grip hurts my hands when I do a lot of portrait shooting. (With the 100-400 often at 300mm or something like that) I just have to bend my hand and arm very uncomfortably to hold the camera vertically and often I do not level it right resulting in slightly tilted images. (Yes that can be fixed in PS quite easily, but still it is annoying)
I've been photographing for 10+ years without one and I think it's finally time to get a grip and test that. My usual camera store has their own brand of grips at a somewhat cheaper price than the original. Since they also currently have a 15% discount offer on it I might get it on Saturday after all. We'll see.

@all: Thanks for the input and suggestions! Very helpful an informative as always


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## nicku (Jun 28, 2012)

drummstikk said:


> My 7D was purchased under "emergency" conditions as my 40D shutter chose midway though day 1 of a three-day job to throw itself a Viking funeral. The job required two bodies, so to get back in business, I just purchased the basics without the niceties, body only and one spare battery. Going back a month or so later to "finish" the purchase by getting the grip (mostly out of habit), I was shocked how much higher the price of the 7D grip was than what I had paid for the 40D grip.
> 
> So, I delayed the purchase. I am now into year three of the delay still do not miss the grip to any great degree. Being gripless has no downside to me, and in fact has one upside in that my Stroboframe flash bracket is easier to attach and use on a gripless body. Everybody's use case is different and I don't advocate either way, but the bottom line as I see it is that photographs are taken with cameras, lenses and light, natural or otherwise. Ancillary accessories like grips might *look* a little more "professional," but pretty much never make or break a shot.
> 
> If the idea of spending less money on a grip is appealing to you, take a minute to imagine how exciting it would be to spend NO money.



All my Digital SLR's cameras were gripped; for one and only reason: the superior camera grip and hand possition when shooting vertically. the other big advantage (extra battery life) is not so important in my case.


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## boracayangels (Jun 28, 2012)

OEM grip for the very similar feel to the shutter release pressure.

There should be plenty of used BG in the market now as of 7Ds.

Had mine since the launch and still pass off as 9/10.

For that amount more and get the same OEM feel. Definitely. Why should your 7D feel like OEM on Landscape and [email protected]#%$ on Potrait.


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## DavidRiesenberg (Jun 28, 2012)

It depends. The buttons are somewhat more mushy than the body buttons, but I wouldn't call them crap.


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## Greengecko (Jul 19, 2012)

I saw this thread and had to register, cause I just found a pretty nice grip for my 7D. It's available on eBay and Amazon. It's called a Vertax, manufactured by Pixel (www.pixelhk.com). It is much better than the original BG-E7 in two ways: (1) They followed the design of the BG-E9 grip for the Canon 60D, in which the batteries load from the side, not the back, allowing for a much nicer, tapered area for your fingers to hold on. The BG-E7, on the other hand, is very square and blocky, and is uncomfortable to hold. (2) The power button is a slider button accessible with your thumb without releasing the camera. This is a nice improvement over the original, which forces you to hold the camera in your left hand and pinch the button with your right hand.

The down side: The only thing they failed to do is add some curvature on the left side of the grip to be flush with the 7D camera body. They have other models that do this; why they didn't do it on this model defies logic. So on right, where you hold it, it looks fine, like the original. But to the left, it looks like it's sitting on a flat shelf.

Overall, though, I still recommend it, just because of the improved ergonomics. It's also quite light.


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