Meike battery grip for 5D4 review

AVOID! After two month update, I strongly recommend people avoid this accessory.
See update inline below.

There are times I like to have a portrait grip for some of my cameras. Usually I prefer to save the bulk and weight, but if I know I am going to be shooting portrait orientation a lot, I do like to have a grip.

I did buy the Canon grip for my former 5D3, and it did what I needed, but in 3 years I only used it once. For the price, that was not such a good investment for me.

So I found myself again wishing I had the option of a grip but being unwilling to spend another $300,00 for a Canon grip I may use once or twice. So when the Meike was in stock, I ordered one.

First impressions are mixed:

- It has a REALLY weird STRONG smell. Like lysol on steroids. My whole office smells now.

- Like most modern Canon branded grips like the one this is copying, it is Waaay to fat fore and aft,. much fatter than necessary. I can't wrap my head (or hands) around why Canon started doing this with grips. The 1D portrait grips have been nothing short of perfect since the first version, this with that FAT NPE3 on-board. The older 10D and later 20D/30D/40D grip was not nearly as "beamy" ,. and those loaded the batteries front to back. 5D3 and 5D4 grips load batteries running athwart-ships, so the grips have the potential to be more like the 1D, and yet instead they got fatter with a lot more wasted space unused around the narrow battery bodies.

- The box is a real hoot. "Thick gold plate"??? "Vertical Experience", Marvelous Touch Felling" "Japanese Buttons" "Top Class Rubber" It claims loudly on all sides "Multi-Power Battery Pack" And I thought, "I don;t recall this having an AA battery option?" It doesn't. So what's the "Multi-Power" supposed to mean? Who knows?

- It feels lite/plasticky. It is clearly not as solid as the Canon 5D3 grip.

- There is definitely more play on this grip than there was with the genuine Canon on the 5D3. If I do use it on a tripod, it will be in portrait, with an L bracket, so that likely will help make it more sturdy. I would not use it in landscape on a tripod for anything critical. I'd remove the grip.

- Control layout appears to be quite good, and all the controls are working well.

- The AF point selection nubbin is a little overly sensitive, often jumping across three points when you meant to go one.

- The AF Area paddle is very good on the other hand. (well still right hand, but you get me)

- AF ON and shutter feel very much like they should, no complaints there.

- I checked "Battery Info" in the 5D4 menu and it worked perfectly, accurately telling me about the two different charges in the pair of 3rd party Wasabi batteries.

- I put some weakly charged AAA batteries in the included remote control, the LCD came on, but I could not get the thing to trigger the shutter. Might be I need to read some directions, but I thought it should just work.

If you are a "buy one and wear it all the time" sort of grip user, I would recommend just ponying up for the Canon. For someone like me that prefers to go bare 90% of the time, so far I can't see a reason not to try the affordable Meike option. time will tell if it holds up to the limited use I will have for it.

Thanks for the great review. I was looking at these for the same reasons you did but the possibility of such a strong smell has removed it from my mental shortlist.

I used the Meike version for the 5D3 for a couple of years, and it worked very well. The smell went away, and never did I have any peeling, etc. I never had any issues with performance of the grip either, and it mounted tightly to the 5D3.

I wonder if they have cut some corners along the way since the time I bought their grip 2 years ago.

However that grip was simply a replacement grip for Canon, it had no wireless remotes, or anything. If I want to trigger the 5D4, I just pull out the phone and do it.

I will say that by this morning, the smell seemed to be reduced quite a bit. I'd say that given it's been out of the box only about 16 hours, that it is likely to just go away very soon. I'll keep you posted.

At the time I ordered, there was only one other 3rd party option for 5D4 "Pixel Vertax" which I had never heard of. I might have tried it (costs about $20.00 less than the Meike) but the "Coming soon" for the Meike was up, and at last I was aware of the Meike products, and that they have been doing grips for a long time. Seemed worth the extra $20.00

Yeah, I have seen that too. I want a grip for the 5D4 for the NBA games, but for now I just keep a spare battery in my pocket, and it takes 10 sec to swap them over. I thought about the Meike, but perhaps they have cheapened them up a bit, and I could care less about the wireless remote and don't really want to pay for it.

Please post updates periodically. I might have to get that grip if no others show up over the next few months.

Pixel is a small aftermarket company. They mainly deal with cables, adapters, external flash battery packs.

How much was the Meike grip?

Had a grip for my 5D3 and when I got the 5D4, I didn't get the grip because its pricey and I didn't want the added bulk. And I barely used it when I had it on the Mark III.

1KIND wrote in post #18263779
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How much was the Meike grip?
...

About $99.00 on amazon if memory serves, but it's already coming down.
I think the Pixel was $89.00...looks like it is coming down now that the two are competing.

I bought the Vello branded grip for my 5D3 and it has been utterly reliable; I guess they haven't come up with one for the mk IV yet. It was about $20 more than the cheaper variants but came with a AA battery tray, a leatherette bag and some very solid-feeling buttons. Maybe they'll update their catalog soon?

Another option: https://www.adorama.co​m/gxbge20.html

TeamSpeed wrote in post #18264120
Another option: https://www.adorama.co​m/gxbge20.html

Damn, I could have saved another $20!
I bet this is like "Flashpoint" and it's the same grip.

Well, 10 days later and;

+ The smell is gone! lol (might have had more to do with packaging than manufacture?)

+ No discernible battery drainage, however it IS "swapping" charge. The battery that was at 52% is now 49%, and the one that was 28% is now 30%.. I assume this is normal-ish
But the real point is that with lens mounted, and the grip still turned to on (Camera off) we don't have drained batteries. This is a concern with grips on occasion.

+ Still going strong (I hope, it's only been 10 days!)

= I feel I might have over stated the difference in feel vs. the Canon 5D3 grip, keep in mind the Canon OEM MKIII grip is magnesium not plastic. This is my first 3rd party grip.

- It's in the same place on the Canon OEM, but the placement of the AF eraser head is just a weird choice. There is a wonderful empty space on the grip right exactly where your thumb would find the eraser head on the camera body, that is strangely devoid of any controller. The eraser head is down pretty much exactly the same distance (or 3/4 the way) as the AF AREA/Zone selector is on the body, ie two thumb widths away from AF-ON,. which of course pushes the grips AF AREA/Zone selector 3 thumb widths away.. this is VERY hard to get to without removing the camera from your eye, and looking for it. I wish the 3rd parties would not copy Canon's mistakes*


Not really a Meike bullet point but;

- I am still really trying to understand how Canon came to put the batteries end to end, and yet make the front to back girth longer instead of narrower. Loading from the side via a cartridge makes the entire process of swapping batteries take about 3 times as long, you can no longer do one at a time, and it makes no sense that the grip did not get more comfortable in this re-design. The ONLY plus I can imagine from the end loaded tray, is less area to weather seal. I have a few older Canon grips to compare, including going all the way back to the 1VHS, (also end loaded with the HUGE NP-E2 battery!) and that grip is less fat and more comfortable (again, essentially the built in 1D grip is a mirror of this old add on.) I am no giant, but I'm no elf either, I don't have tiny Trump sized hands, just your average Jake size,. so I just don't get it. * With the huge amount of extra wasted space within, I can't seem to grasp any reason why Canon would have moved the grips AF point selector eraser head so far away either. It can't be due to lack of space. There's room to hide several "doobies" in there!

Just a thought but does your grip take AA cells?

I was never a fan of battery grips, oem or non oem, until I tried the BG-E16 for my 7D2. Finally a grip that wasn't a wobblemonster! It is actually reasonably rigid!

The reason I ask mention AA cells is that my 7D2 works ridiculously well with old (5 years+) Sanyo Eneloop batteries, not the newer higher capacity ones.

When I use my Ex Pro, Dot Foto or Canon Lithium cells I seem to be re-charging after a day's shooting. With the Sanyo Eneloops I charge when I feel like it. They always report a full charge but this cannot be true as they are only 1900Mah! As opposed to two batteries of similar capacity and voltage = not logical to say the least!

Now I am regretting buying spare Lp-E6 packs for my 7D2 as the, theoretically inferior, AA Sanyos cells are so much better!

I hope your grip will accept AA cells, they should be rubbish but they are NOT!

The Meike does not come with an AA tray. I am not sure if one is available for it or the OEM BGE20, but the 5D3 grip did come with one.

I recently order a Kastar branded one with 4 aftermarket LP-E6 decoded batteries and AC/DC charger for $72. Should be here next week.

Pics in the Amazon ad seem to be identical to the ones used in the Pixel branded ad.

Another update,.

Bad news I'm afraid.

It's been a busy two months (almost to the day) and since the last time I updated, I have not had reason to use the 5D4, (been bringing my little Fuji with me everywhere)

The 5D4 with grip and two batteries installed has been in it's bag.
Yesterday I picked it up for the first time, and the batteries were dead.
Well two months, no big deal really, not unexpected, however, having put both batteries in to charge in the OEM Canon charger, they do not appear to be taking a charge.

I believe the Meike grip just killed two LP-E6 batteries permanently. (I will update if this changes)


Knowing this, I will still keep it for the occasions where I will use the portrait grip, but I will always remove the grip after those times to prevent killing more batteries.