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Battery Grips

About Battery Grips

A battery grip is a physical extension that provides extra functionality for cameras. Unlike regular camera grips, battery grips have many features and functionalities. The most obvious one among them being the additional battery life that they give.

The earliest models of cameras used to have a winding spring mechanism that powered the movement of the film roll and also the shutter control. But when batteries became small enough to fit inside a camera body, they became the standard. However, at that time, a single battery powered camera would only let you take around a hundred pictures before you need to replace the batteries. Over the decades, this increased to around a thousand shots per battery. But even that is not enough for professional work. If you are somebody who takes a lot of pictures or shoots hours of footage at one stretch, you should consider buying a battery grip for the camera.

Pros and Cons of using battery grips

One way to be able to do more with your camera is to carry multiple fully charged batteries with you whenever you go for a shoot. However, then you will need to charge those batteries and switch them when they run out. While this might not be a big deal for a casual user, it might be a chore for a professional photographer. That’s when a battery grip can come in handy. Below is a list of the pros and cons of using them. This will help you decide whether or not you should get one. Moreover, you can use the tips from this article to help you buy the right type of grip.

Better ergonomics

If you hold your camera for a long time with one hand, your fingers will start to hurt. This is not a problem that only people with large hands face. However, a battery grip can be a solution to this problem. The battery grip increases the area where the right hand rests, providing you with more space to hold the camera comfortably. This gives you a more ergonomic grip with a wider body for resting your palm and gripping with your fingertips. This is the reason why most professional cameras, like Canon 1 Dx, come with a wider, square-shaped body.

Better battery life

As you can probably understand from the name, battery grips effectively extend the battery life of the camera. Most grips will, essentially, double the battery life of the camera! While most DSLRs let you take more than a thousand shots with a single battery, you can shoot more than two or three thousand pictures if you have a battery grip. This is a huge advantage for those who do video work. This can help to film an all-day event without a lot of downtimes or let you capture longer time-lapse videos with your camera.

Camera becomes heavier

This is one downside of using a battery grip. Increased weight of the camera is the biggest problem of battery grips. The Canon 6D Mark II with one battery weight about 1.7 lbs. If you swap the battery for a battery grip, this becomes about 2.7 lbs. That’s almost a 60 per cent weight increase without a lens! With handheld shooting over a long period of time, this can be a huge issue. However, if you are using a tripod for the major portion of the shooting, you won’t feel like this is a problem.

Larger size

We already talked about how a bigger camera body is easier to hold. But the large size can also have some negative effects. When the body gets bigger, you will need a bigger camera bag as well. That means you will also have to get a new camera bag. Most battery grips will add a height of 1.7 inches to the camera. Also, you might no longer be able to put your camera on a gimbal designed for normal DSLRs as the bigger body needs more clearance between the rotating parts of the gimbal. That being said, you can use the normal batteries when using a grip becomes inconvenient.

Tips on how to buy Battery Grips Online

Shopping for battery grips online can be quite an overwhelming experience. It can be difficult to pick the right type of grip out of many different models. This is especially true if you are just starting out your journey as a photographer or a cinematographer. However, it can be easier if you know what criteria to consider in them. Here are some tips that you can keep in your mind while you are shopping for battery grips online in the UAE.

  • Compatibility – This is the first thing you should consider while buying a battery grip. Battery specifications vary between camera models. This changes even between cameras from the same manufacturer. Usually, all brands have certain names for their camera batteries. The easiest way to make sure that you are getting the right grip is by using the battery name.
  • Manufacturer – Most people go for the grip from the same manufacturer as that of the camera body. While this is always a safe bet, you might be able to find cheaper options from certain third-party brands. Not all third-party grips are terrible either.
  • Charge capacity – Look at how much charge can the grip hold in the battery. This will give you a rough idea about how many pictures you will get with one full charge or how many minutes of footage you can shoot. If you can, go for the option that offers a higher charge capacity for the least money.
  • Warranty – An OEM battery grip can cost you around five hundred dirhams. To make sure that you get the run for your money, always buy a grip that comes with at least one year of warranty. It is better to stay away from cheaper models that do not offer a warranty. While they might cost you less initially, you might end up spending more in the long run.

There are many accessories you can buy for your camera apart from battery grips. These include lens filters, camera body protective cases, tripods, camera bags, external flash, camera cleaning kit, and many more. You can find any of these easily using our shopping search engine. Also, it will also let you compare the prices and features of different products and pick the best one among them. So, don’t forget to check out all the amazing products from the Multimedia category.

Question & Answer

Should I buy a battery grip?

This is something everybody should ask before getting a camera battery grip. To be honest, not everyone needs it. For the vast majority of people using cameras as a hobby, the default battery will work just fine. But there are some camera models, especially mirrorless cameras with smaller bodies, that only let you take two to three hundred pictures on a single charge. In that case, you might want to get a battery grip. However, regular DSLR users, don’t need a battery grip unless they are shooting more than a thousand pictures on a single charge.

How does a battery grip work?

A battery grip is basically a case that goes underneath the camera body that can hold two regular camera batteries. The leads of the grip will go inside the battery compartment of the camera. And instead, the wide part of the grip will have space to accommodate two batteries. So, using it means you can effectively double your camera’s battery life. But this also increases the form factor of the camera and makes it more square like a high-end professional DSLR. These grips will also have some dedicated control buttons for turning the camera on and off.

Where to buy battery grips online in the UAE?

If you are somebody who uses the camera a lot, then a battery grip is going to be really helpful for you. If you are a photographer, it will help you get more pictures, and if you are more into video, it will help you get more footage. But you have to make sure that you are getting a good quality grip. Cheap grips can sometimes damage the camera. Luckily, you can find good quality camera grips in Shops.ae. Our retail search engine makes it incredibly easy to search and find them. Also, Shops.ae will help you find the best deals for them.

There are more than 500 shops and brands offering camera supplies online on Shops.ae. Explore them from shops around the world. These shops offer products from popular brands like Meike, Neewer, Jupio, Vivitar, Canon, and Nikon.

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