Customer Reviews
Extra power at a great price.
Bought this obviously for the Canon EOS 450D. You do not need to buy an extra Battery Pack (Canon LP-E5) as this unit will function with just one but can take two, extending your shooting capabillity. What I didn't know was that it also comes with an extra battery tray which enables you to use 6 AA (Walkman tm) Battery's great if you loose power or cannot get to a power point. Something that happened to me at the Volcano in St Lucia, sure enough the gift shop sold AA's so all was not lost. As for build and quality, similar to the EOS and once easily fitted looks like one unit. It does add quite a bit of weight to the Camera but this is to be expected, though Canon have thought of this and there is a hand strap available . A nice feature is the unit has an extra set of zoom buttons, AV +/- buttons, a scroll wheel and also an extra shutter release button, great when using the camera in the vertical position as this enables control over them using your right thumb and forefinger. These can be switched on/off with....er the on/off button on the unit. In summary a great piece of kit, with the added usabillity of over the counter battery's widely available across the develpoed and not so developed World.
Torn between 4 and 5
I am torn between a 4 and 5 rating as it has one bad point and one huge plus for me.
First the bad point. It attaches to the camera via a screw which is on a wheel. While this is the best method to do this it does very slightly move even when fully tightened which when you are out in the countryside can be distracting as it feels like something is loose and I find myself checking that the lens is on correctly. It also seems to loosen itself over time.
Now for the good points. I like the extra power provided, not sure I would ever need it but there is nothing worse than being out and running out of battery or memory when the pictures are flowing. It also has the benefit of making the 450D more gripable (not really a word I know) in my man hands. Without the grip I felt the camera was a bit small but now I love the size. It is easy to rest on one hand and shoot with the other.
A secondary button and controls on the grip sway me to give it a 5 star.
Canon BG-E5 Battery Grip For EOS 500D
The grip attaches firmly to the Canon 500D with a single screw, and once in place seems like it's part of the original camera; the finish of the 500D and the grip are identical.
I find that the combination is much more comfortable than the camera alone.
One bonus is that many of the camera controls are duplicated on the grip, making vertical shots that much easier.
The ability of the battery grip to also take readily-available 'AA' batteries (rather than the standard Canon LP-E5 -- or equivalent) could prove useful in an emergency.
