Grip craepped out.

So i have been shooting my 30D with a nonname grip for about 8 months no issues, Suddenly in the middle of a game it just stopped working. Though no problem switched to a canon grip off a friends camera and it did not work.. Here i started to freak out thinking my body died..

Yanked off the grip and slide a battery in and it works fine.. take the battery out and put the grip in nothing. Wiggle it alround alittle and get some life.

Seems i have to put the grip in and twist it every so little to make contacts for it to work ( with both grips).

Noticed that the pad the grip contacts too has little indentations on it from the grips connections and i am wondering is it possible that the pads contacts are bad? I cleaned all the contacts with an eraser and still the same issue.

Anyone else have this issue i really dont want to send the body in for repair this time of year.

Hi,

Search the Internet... there are some web pages about this. There were some problems early on with the grip on the 20D (which you are probably aware is the same as the 30D's). Canon revised their grip to correct the problem. Third party grips might not have.

There is info on Canon's site about the problem with the Canon grip, but I doubt that would help you.

Anyway, there's a fix for the Canon grip shown on some web sites. Perhaps the same would work for your third party grip. I don't have the URL, though, so you'll have to Google for it, unless someone else has it and jumps in here.

Quickest "fix" would be to get one of the later Canon BG-E2. You might find one used. Canon's site shows how to identify the later ones, and, if I recall correctly, the fix they made.

it makes no sense it worked fine for 8 months, just started this with no reason to.. but i will see if i can find what you are talking about.

Just called my buddy the canon grip he was using was the BG-E2 ( $340 canadian) now i know why i bought the $69 one off ebay

Does not seem to be a grip issue more a issue somthing with the body

The BG-E2 is a POS in my opinion, I've had two, one of the older ones, and a so-called 'improved/modified' one, they both give false battery indications and can cause my 20D to loose power for no reason.
I now only use it if I'm taking a lot of portrait orientation type shots to save my poor aging wrist.

I'm not sure if the new BG-E2N is any better?

Maybe the answer is a 1D MkIII...

kevin_c wrote in post #5757497
I'm not sure if the new BG-E2N is any better?

Nope

Not defending the quality of the grip or arguing that it's "all it could be". The new BG-E2N is even more expensive, with the only change being a couple little dust seals that I could have stuck onto my BG-E2s for a few pennies apiece.

The issue is the fit between camera and grip, that gets loose or flexes, allowing the electrical contacts between the two to fail to connect.

It gets worse over time, or may not show up at all until the grip and camera have some mileage and wear and tear on them.

The fix is some shimming to keep the grip electrical contacts in solid touch with their counterparts in the camera. Wish I had the URLs showing how some folks have fixed theirs. I hope you can find those sites, because it didn't seem all that difficult.

I think Canon just retooled to manufacture their grips to closer tolerances, which seems to have helped a lot but still doesn't mean you won't eventually have a problem.

kevin_c wrote in post #5757497
The BG-E2 is a POS in my opinion, I've had two, one of the older ones, and a so-called 'improved/modified' one, they both give false battery indications and can cause my 20D to loose power for no reason.
I now only use it if I'm taking a lot of portrait orientation type shots to save my poor aging wrist.

I'm not sure if the new BG-E2N is any better?

Maybe the answer is a 1D MkIII...

I bought one of the earliest pre-recall BG-E2 grips for my 20d and had no problems with it. Since it fell withing the recalled serial numbers, I sent it back. Since it was returned, I have had no issues with it at all.

I'm wondering if the problems people are experiencing with them are due to them being removed and replaced a lot. I have left mine on the camera since the day I bought it. I just got a 40D this week and I ordered the BG-E2N with it. It will also stay on the camera 24/7...

BG-E2 is only $150 or so in the marketplace.

My beef with the BG-E2 is that the locking wheel does come loose, and you tend to always check to make sure it is tight. It also doesn't give accurate battery info. But you know you won't use up two batteries in one day of shooting ever.