2007 September 15 Archive at CameraDork

I picked up this grip on ebay for roughly $100. The grip provides two useful functions:

Shooting in portrait mode (sideways) — the unit contains shutter release buttons for each direction

Extended battery capacity. The unit connects to the AC input of the A100. With the unit turned off (it has its own dedicated on/off switch and power light indicator) your camera is powered by its own Sony battery. Turn the unit on, and your camera is now powered by two more Sony batteries which you insert into compartments in the grip. This means you can take an extended outing with just the camera (grip attached) around your neck, and have three batteries worth of power without having to physically change them.

Installation

The grip is simple to install. Line up the screw with your tripod mount port, and turn the knob. Connect the power and shutter release cables to the AC input port and remote shutter port, respectively, on your A100.

Operation

Equally simple. Just by nature of being attached, you can use the shutter release buttons. It also has its own cable release port and tripod mount, so you don’t need to detach it to use those accessories. You also don’t need to turn it on unless you wish to use the extended battery capacity.

Fit, Finish and Feel

The grip feels ergonomically correct for my (large) hands. The shutter release buttons are in the correct location, it feels natural to use it. It’s mostly plastic, with sticky rubber for the grip portion which fairly closely matches the A100 grip area.

The rubber grip cover portion was not attached perfectly, and seems to want to peel at the edges. So far I’ve been able to push it back into place with my fingertips, but I wonder if at some point I will need to use some sort of glue to keep it in place.

At various points on the grip, there are small rubber seals — four which seal screws in the grip plastic itself, and one which covers the DC in port. Oh, by the way, this unit does have a DC in port. It’s not Sony-standard, and the power supply does not come with the unit, you have to order it separately. I decided I don’t need it that bad. Anyway, the seals at these five points are not attached anywhere in the way that the seals on the A100 are attached (meaning that when you open them, they’re still connected somewhere on the A100). On this grip, if you take off the seal, and you don’t want to lose it, you better damn well put it somewhere safe, because it’s not staying on the grip. I found that to be annoying, but as I stated, I don’t plan on using the DC in port, so I don’t plan on removing the seal.

The battery compartments themselves are designed to be modular. Mine came with a pair of Sony-proprietary battery compartments, and a pair of compartments for some other sort of Li-ion battery that I don’t recognize. You can also buy, as an accessory, compartments for standard AA batteries. I could see that being useful if you’re too cheap to buy Sony’s NP batteries.

Compatibility: Nope. This works on the A100 period. There’s a remote possibility that it will work on the A700 which will be released later this month, but I have my doubts, as we’re told the A700 has a slightly different footprint, and this is designed to fit snugly against the bottom of the A100.

I don’t recommend using this in connection with long lenses if you tend to be like me and set your camera down on tables. The lens weighs the camera down in a way that I would worry about stressing the mount.

Overall, I like it and use it regularly. I would recommend it despite its fit and finish flaws. Especially for the price.

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Daily Archive for September 15th, 2007

Review: Ownuser DX-FBH Vertical Grip for Sony A100

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