Nikon MB-D15 Battery Grip

oshb5

Senior Member
Hi I hope this is the right section for this question.
I am just about to order a D7200 and was looking at these extra battery grips. Now even from HDEW they are arount the £200 mark. And I know there is some on Ebay from Shangi that are sub £20 but you can see some buttons and flaps missing. So odviousy cheap and nasty. But a site iv used a few times over in Europe has it and its £42 and £50 all in inc shipping. Now iv looked at all the photos and its exactly same as the £200 ones.It does say it used to be £149. Now to company has always got good feedback and I bought my Nikon Monach bins from them a few weeks back and I got a great saving with those over £130 less than at Birdfair. And in time past iv had a couple of lenses and they have been fine.
So wondered if anyone else has the MB-D15 Grip and if its OK and is it worth it?. Id have it not so much for the extra battery but for the vertical sutter button and rotart switch which would be nice with my sausage fingers :)LOL. Plus I dont mind £50 but £200 is a massive stretch to far :confused:

Thank you OS
 

jay_dean

Senior Member
I always find that grips balance the camera better, and make them easier to handle. Thats my opinion, others aren't so keen. They're a bit marmite really
 

Catherder

Senior Member
I got the Vivitar grip for my D810 $40.00
And The Pixel Vertex for my D500 $72.00
They both work very well. Probably more plastic involved but its not an issue. The money saved got me another lens.
 

Danino

Senior Member
I got the DSTE MB15 for the D7200, also plastic but the rubberised covering is fitted well and of similar texture and feel to what Nikon use. The grip is slightly larger and is not perfect for my thumb on the back button focus. Still overall, for the price, I can say I am very happy with the purchase.
 
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captain birdseye

Senior Member
I would steer well clear of the cheaper third party grips as, if you are unlucky the wheel that is used to tighten the grip to the camera body can break which makes the grip impossible to remove meaning you cannot access the battery inside the camera body.
 

Danino

Senior Member
On later newer models the mechanism is attached and secured with metal screws as opposed to melted plastic studs on old which eliminates this issue of which I heard of only once (probably watched the same Youtube video). I agree you can't expext the same quality for a few tens of $ as opposed to $2-300.
 

Gobae

Senior Member
I purchased the Vello BG-N1 for my D7200 and so far it's been quite good. The couple of quirks it has are (after reading the MB-D15 reviews) apparently not unique to the Vello version.

First, the tripod screw on the D7200 is so off center (to the left) that the battery grip doesn't seat totally tight on the right side. This leads to some movement and squishy feel when using the grip in portrait orientation.

Second, unlike some Nikon grips for other models this one only houses the second battery. So if you need to charge both batteries you've got to remove the grip.

Third, if you remove just the grip battery to charge it and continue to use the camera with just the in-body battery it may not recognize the grip and extra battery when the battery is put back in. To remedy this you need to remove the grip and re-install it.
 

Danino

Senior Member
Most of those points are even true to the Nikon grip, so the D7200 may not be the ideal receipient for a grip unless a second battery is paramount.
 
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