Buy an Extra Battery or Battery Grip?

[MBP13]

Would you recommend that I buy another chargeable battery for my Nikon D5000 or buy a battery grip? If all goes well, I'm planing on doing something over the Chrisfmas holidays that would require me to take well over 1,000 pictures in one day. If I get another battery, I could have one charging and use one, etc. What are some benefits of using a battery grip?

What do you think? Thanks for your help!

[ctyhntr]

For me this is a no-brainer, get the spare battery, and if your budget allows get the battery grip later.

A battery grip with two batteries will last longer than a single battery (especially if you run the live view mode or video). If you want a left handed camera, the battery grip is the way to go (upside down, live view mode).

[mikepro]

At least on Canon cameras, the battery grip has another shutter release button, so when you are taking pictures in the other orientation, you can comfortably hold it and snap pictures.

Look at the Zeikos battery grips. Appear to be a pretty high quality knock off of the OEM grips, get great reviews on Amazon.

I've asked Santa to get me one for may Canon this year.

[Rowbear]

Another benefit of the grip is if you have medium to large hands, you will feel much more confortable holding your camera.

As previously said, Canon camera grips have the extra buttons which are very handy to make changes while in portrait orientation...I'm sure Nikon grips have them too.

[ijohn.8.80]

And yet another advantage of the battery grip is that you get faster frames per second with most cameras too! You would have to dig the net to find out exactly how much faster your camera gets and this is dependant on the transfer speed of your card also...

[= bluntman =]

Speaking from personal experience: holding your camera with a heavy lens attached in the portrait orientation without a vertical grip for an extended period of time can be quite painful.

[Prodo123]

Originally Posted by ijohn.8.80

And yet another advantage of the battery grip is that you get faster frames per second with most cameras too! You would have to dig the net to find out exactly how much faster your camera gets and this is dependant on the transfer speed of your card also...

That's only in the olden days of film, when there used to be powered motors in the grip to help with the film advance which sped up the burst rate.
Electronic battery grips have no speed benefit.

I'd get the grip, though, as it makes that cramped up D5000 so much more comfortable to hold.

A 3rd party grip and battery combo is even better; at $40 you get the best of both worlds.

[NZed]

Originally Posted by ijohn.8.80

And yet another advantage of the battery grip is that you get faster frames per second with most cameras too! You would have to dig the net to find out exactly how much faster your camera gets and this is dependant on the transfer speed of your card also...

We've past the film age Motordrives arent in grips anymore.
Only some(and by some i mean only one) of today's camera gets better fps with a grip, I believe.

D800 for example. Not in full frame though. And the D5000 definitely doesnt have that feature.

[Designer Dale]

The grip for my XSi is a Zeikos and it's well made. I don't know about the Nikon implementation of grips, but Canons is lacking in my opinion. You have to remove the battery door on the camera to install it. I looked at Pentax when I decided to spring for a dslr and they had a good grip setup. It just screwed onto the bottom of the camera and linked into the electrical system through a contact plate. Nothing to mess with if you wanted to pull it off.

Dale

[Bear]

Originally Posted by MBP13

Would you recommend that I buy another chargeable battery for my Nikon D5000 or buy a battery grip? If all goes well, I'm planing on doing something over the Chrisfmas holidays that would require me to take well over 1,000 pictures in one day. If I get another battery, I could have one charging and use one, etc. What are some benefits of using a battery grip?

What do you think? Thanks for your help!

I'm not sure how many pictures you will get on a battery charge, but you may want to consider having enough batteries for your expected shooting plus one spare battery.

Batteries do go bad. Also, are you sure you will always be able to charge a battery during the day while you're shooting?

Also, you might want to consider a second charger so you can toss 2 batteries in at night and have them both ready in the morning.

If you do decide to go with a grip, you probably want to have 2 sets of batteries for it.

[Designer Dale]

The spare charger mentioned is a good idea no matter what. I have a car charger/wall charger that's in my bag most of the time.

Dale

[MBP13]

I have another question that doesn't relate to the topic, but since you all know what you're talking about, I'll go ahead and ask anyway.

Do you think I'll be able to get past the airport's TSA with a larger Gorilla Pod in my backpack without question? Thanks.

[NZed]

Originally Posted by MBP13

I have another question that doesn't relate to the topic, but since you all know what you're talking about, I'll go ahead and ask anyway.

Do you think I'll be able to get past the airport's TSA with a larger Gorilla Pod in my backpack without question? Thanks.

Yes.

[ctyhntr]

*shucking my teeth* I would like to agree too. Just too many TSA horror stories lacking common sense like the US Senator who had his Congressional Medal of Honor confiscated because it looked like a throwing star.

Originally Posted by NZed

Yes.

[Keleko]

Originally Posted by ctyhntr

*shucking my teeth* I would like to agree too. Just too many TSA horror stories lacking common sense like the US Senator who had his Congressional Medal of Honor confiscated because it looked like a throwing star.

That's not quite the right story, if this is what you mean. It was a retired general, and while they were suspicious about it, he ended up being able to carry it with him.

http://www.snopes.com/military/medal.asp

[NZed]

Originally Posted by ctyhntr

*shucking my teeth* I would like to agree too. Just too many TSA horror stories lacking common sense like the US Senator who had his Congressional Medal of Honor confiscated because it looked like a throwing star.

I've been through the US/Canada and many other airports with the tripod carried on my shoulder many times. They go through the scan, they ask what it is, if its suspicious, they open it and probably rescan it. And after all that, its just a tripod.

[Designer Dale]

These people have seen a lot of camera equipment and tripods, but the gorilla may peak some interest due to it's ability to twist and wrap around things. I looked it up at B&H and found THIS ONE. Maybe pack it in the box if you still have or at least take the manual or sales slip.

I flew to Michigan with a bag full of gear but no tripod with no questions asked.

Dale