Photowyzard
Senior Member
Nikon MB-D12 General Design Review
More follow up based on my hands on use for the last few weeks:
I complained in the past that the grip design for the D800 was A POOR DESIGN! IT IS COMPLETELY ILL CONCEIVED! Let me explain why I feel this way:
1) I recanted on this a while back. I now go back to my original thinking. Let me explain. The Nikon D800 grip is designed to take:
1 EN-EL15 battery in the grip
1 EN-EL15 battery stays in the camera
it takes a full tray of 8 AA batteries in the grip
and
1 EN-EL15 battery in the camera
or
it takes
1 EN-EL15 battery in the camera and...
1 EN-EL18 in the grip which has extended charge capability
Most likely, they designed this grip for pros who will use the EN-EL18 battery in the grip at a massive cost for this battery pleasure ... $220
This whole design, in my opinion is a pain in the behind!
2) This poor design forces you to remove the grip and recharge the battery inside the camera. I find this a complete pain, now that I have a grip and actually experienced it.
3) I said before, the D90 grip was superb because you could remove 1 or both batteries as you saw fit, recharge and replace without have to remove the grip. Brilliant. I still say this was the BEST design. In the two years I owned the D90, I removed the grip once... when I just recently sold the camera. Otherwise, it went on new and stayed there the whole time I owned it, working flawlessly, the only items to remove were the batteries, which I swapped on a regular basis, so I always had charged batteries. A dream design.
Surely, the brilliant minds in the Nikon Think Tank could have done better than this for $600 + in the asking for grip and battery.
I am glad I never bought the expensive grip as I find this battery swap thing a complete pain!
This is not a complaint per say against the Meike, but my general observation on the whole design mechanics of the D800 grip. Even if you go with the more expensive and longer lasting battery, you will eventually have to remove the grip to recharge the battery inside the camera.
If you need more juice, the best solution for the D800 is to simply buy 1 or 2 extra EN-EL15 batteries and keep them charged. It is simple, you have the charger and it will give you what you need at a fraction of the price without the stupid fiddling involved with a grip!
The only drawback is you don't get the portrait orientation the grip gives you. I think I can live with that, the D800 has a nice feel with or without the grip. The grip on my D90 was a major improvement in feel. The D800 has a different feel all its own and the grip is not a major improvement in feel, just functionality.
I am a bit of a stickler for design elegance. So, now that I actually have a month or two of actual hands on experience with the camera and some shoot time with a grip, I can honestly say, from an elegant design point of view, the Nikon D800 grip is a ....
FAIL
More follow up based on my hands on use for the last few weeks:
I complained in the past that the grip design for the D800 was A POOR DESIGN! IT IS COMPLETELY ILL CONCEIVED! Let me explain why I feel this way:
1) I recanted on this a while back. I now go back to my original thinking. Let me explain. The Nikon D800 grip is designed to take:
1 EN-EL15 battery in the grip
1 EN-EL15 battery stays in the camera
it takes a full tray of 8 AA batteries in the grip
and
1 EN-EL15 battery in the camera
or
it takes
1 EN-EL15 battery in the camera and...
1 EN-EL18 in the grip which has extended charge capability
Most likely, they designed this grip for pros who will use the EN-EL18 battery in the grip at a massive cost for this battery pleasure ... $220
This whole design, in my opinion is a pain in the behind!
2) This poor design forces you to remove the grip and recharge the battery inside the camera. I find this a complete pain, now that I have a grip and actually experienced it.
3) I said before, the D90 grip was superb because you could remove 1 or both batteries as you saw fit, recharge and replace without have to remove the grip. Brilliant. I still say this was the BEST design. In the two years I owned the D90, I removed the grip once... when I just recently sold the camera. Otherwise, it went on new and stayed there the whole time I owned it, working flawlessly, the only items to remove were the batteries, which I swapped on a regular basis, so I always had charged batteries. A dream design.
Surely, the brilliant minds in the Nikon Think Tank could have done better than this for $600 + in the asking for grip and battery.
I am glad I never bought the expensive grip as I find this battery swap thing a complete pain!
This is not a complaint per say against the Meike, but my general observation on the whole design mechanics of the D800 grip. Even if you go with the more expensive and longer lasting battery, you will eventually have to remove the grip to recharge the battery inside the camera.
If you need more juice, the best solution for the D800 is to simply buy 1 or 2 extra EN-EL15 batteries and keep them charged. It is simple, you have the charger and it will give you what you need at a fraction of the price without the stupid fiddling involved with a grip!
The only drawback is you don't get the portrait orientation the grip gives you. I think I can live with that, the D800 has a nice feel with or without the grip. The grip on my D90 was a major improvement in feel. The D800 has a different feel all its own and the grip is not a major improvement in feel, just functionality.
I am a bit of a stickler for design elegance. So, now that I actually have a month or two of actual hands on experience with the camera and some shoot time with a grip, I can honestly say, from an elegant design point of view, the Nikon D800 grip is a ....
FAIL
but seriously, I have bought the grip for almost every camera body I have owned, and every time it ends up off the camera and in my bag, never to be used again. for vertically framed shots it is a no brainer, but I am able to rotate the camera with my shutter hand up and shoot no problem for the few protrait style shots I do. In the end it adds too much bulk for most of time, if I were in the studio doing portriats i would definitely have one though. Thanks for the updates Wyzard, I am at this point still talking myself out of one.