Ready to purchase: Grip vs spare batteries

I have a wedding that snuk up in me next week, I have a feeling that I will need additional battery support. To purchase a grip is running between 150-200 depending on where purchased, and backup battery about $90. Im gonna have to not pay one bill to afford either, but is the grip gonna be worth the rent?!

Also where might one rent a light meter from?

This is very much a question of personal preference. Some people can't live without a grip and some, like me, would actually prefer not to use one. I'd say that you shouldn't buy one without at least trying one first.

Backup batteries can be even cheaper if you go to Sterlingtek for them (see the sticky at the top of the forum about aftermarket batteries).

so maybe hit the camara store and give one a test run in the store? I think I have time for that!

Even in "rip-off" Britain a pair of BP511 equivalents are only £10 plus delivery. There's no way I'd pay $90 (£45ish) for a single battery. I've had mine since last September and no problem whatsoever.

A grip has the advantage of better handling, portrait oriented controls and the option to attach a handstrap which might not be possible without the grip. If you use heavy glass then I think you'll find the grip adds to the ease of handling as there is more to grab hold of to counter the weight of the lens.

Yes good suggestion, try out the battery grip at a store. Get the feel, and weight down and then go from there. It is useful when a heavy lens is attached. So I hear, mine should be here anytime today.

Sterlingtek is a brilliant place to buy batteries, very inexpensive and work just as well (in my experience they have lasted longer than the Canon brand batteries). Im currently trying to run the Sterlingtek one down, its on its last bar and i went out yesterday and shot a couple hundred photos and its still goin.

And don't forget, if you purchase the grip you will still need to purchase an additional battery if you want the extra power.

-Ryan

On to light meters now

rdricks, that dawned on me later yesterday also! LOL
So I did go to the local camara store and was reminded why I didnt shop there. He was rude and completly clueless. He had no idea how many recharge cycles the battery he carried had (which was NOT a Canon brand) He had only one digital SLR which was the new XTi, reasonalbly priced, and only one film SLR which was the Canon rebel also. But he couldnt answer my qusetions which made me very MAD! Dont be exclusive on the brand you sell unless you are completly cohernt in its function. And worse of all, a customer of mine from my day photog job was in there debating the purchase of the one and only XTi on the shelf. And that was pretty much the only thing he had on the shelf for anything else. For being a "Camara Store" he didnt have much. So I will try to oder a spare battery for now and hope if gets here b4 the wedding next sat and maybe in 2 weeks when I finally have a day off Ill go check out the grip.


I just ordered a spare from SterlingTek. Hope it works!
I also did a search on this forum for the light meters and see that the consesus is a Sekonic 358. However that is out of my price range for now. I read that many of you say go big and you wont reget, however if $$ only allows somthing lower priced for now and when the jobs start flowing upgrade later, is there really any harm in that?

Non OEM batteries are fine - Almost as good as the OEM itself!

Regards meter the Sekonik 308 does the same thing as the L358 but has slightly less features than the 358.

I have the 30D battery grip. it's very convenient, and makes the camera look like a 1d series.

definitely recommend it!

- RE

I agree, I have both third party and canon batteries and both sets work fine.