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Old 18-02-2008, 02:39 PM
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Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)
Let there be night...

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Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Hobart, TAS
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Nice new imaging control toy - battery grip & timer for DSLR

I just received a new eBay toy this arvo that I'm pretty pleased with. It's a battery grip for my DSLR, which came with two 1,000mAh lithium ion batteries the same as my camera uses.

These two batteries fit inside the unit giving me 2,000mAh of battery life to fool with - double the normal. The D40 is incredibly efficient on batteries anyway (one battery did me for 7 hours straight with the shutter open nearly the whole time a couple of months back) so this will now do a whole night.

The grip fits up side the camera's battery compartment - so replacing the internal battery.

There are a bunch of timer controls on the unit which allows me to set the countdown time, and then the exposure time before opening and shutting the shutter in bulb mode for me. To repeat, just hit the button and it counts down again. The unit uses an infra-red port on the front of body to communicate with the camera - just as the normal remote does. No wires. Can't wait to use this thing for my next astro photo session, instead of me setting off an external timer and standing there with the remote. This thing does it all for you.

There is also a vertical shutter release button on the side - for when you are in terrestrial portrait mode.

The unit also came with the side hand strap. All up it adds bulk to the body - making it more akin in size to the D2/D3. It doesn't add much weight though, which is cool.

I have the AC adapter as well, which in Nikon's case is a battery-shaped unit which replaces the normal battery and plugs in externally. I've just tried the new battery grip with the AC power unit being used rather than the Li batteries and it works. The internal battery holder is wired in parallel, so this is obviously OK for it. So now I have an AC unit with the timer for all-night imaging.

Very nice. AU$129 landed in 6 days. Available for most modern DSLRs I believe.

I don't think I mentioned another important feature: it comes with a 6xAA battery holder too - letting you go to AA's as a last resort if you're no where near power, and your Lithium batteries run out..... very handy
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Last edited by Omaroo; 19-02-2008 at 05:03 PM.
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Old 19-02-2008, 05:50 PM
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joshman (Josh)
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Location: Coffs Harbour, Australia
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looks very akin to teh BG-E3 battery grip for the canon 300D/350D/400D range of DSLR's. it's most certainly an invaluable piece of hardware.


though i wish my grip had the fancy timer controls!
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