D5300 Battery Grips

Does **anyone** make a battery grip for the D5000 series cameras that doesn't use the idiotic external cable? I'm pretty sure this is used for powering the camera, since none of them appears to have electrical contacts on the stem that goes up inside the camera's battery compartment. The external cable is a ****monumentally**** dumb idea. It's going to snag on things, get pulled out and probably broken, and possibly break the camera in the process. It requires me to remove the external covering over the ports on the left side of the body, and the two I've held in my hand have both reeked of "cheap plastic junk from China".

I called Nikon and expressed my discontent that they seem to think that "amateurs" who buy the D5000 series cameras don't need, want, or deserve a factory battery grip. I beg to disagree with them, and lacking such, I'm strongly considering a move back to my old Canon equipment that does have them available to we mere mortals. I don't feel like I should have to spend six times as much on a camera body to be able to avail myself of such a basic accessory as a battery grip. Canon doesn't think I should either.

Anyone have any suggestions??

Tks!

B

I wasn't able to find any back when I was looking.

I don't think the cable is actually used for power ... the battery compartment door needs to be removed so I believe power is being applied through there. The cable is for the remote shutter release ... basically the shutter button on the grip itself to be able to trigger the shutter. Without having the contacts on the underside of the camera body as the D7100 does, the aftermarket makers of grips for the D5300 had to signal the shutter some how ... so that cable was the only way out.

Yup, my 3100 had the cable as well. Most of the time I didn't use the shutter release on the grip so I just left the cable off unless I was going to use the remote.

FYI, connecting the shutter cable is optional on these external battery grips. It's a mere convenience when you shift to portrait mode so you don't have to contort so much to fire the shutter. Too, if you get one of these, they hold two Nikon 27126 EN-EL 14A batteries. You can use an aftermarket battery BUT must put the OEM battery in first so that the camera "recognizes" - or an error message pops up.
- longjnsilver -