BG-E2N grip broken?

Having had the grip work it's way loose several times on the 30D, I thought I'd put it on the 50D as this has replaced the 30 as my main body now.
Easier said than done - the thing really didn't want to come off that easily & the last turn on the thread was all that was stopping it.
I applied a small amount of pressure & it came off no problem.

I now notice that by turning the securing wheel that it doesn't hardly want to turn & the thread itself (if I hold it) offers no resistance.
I guess that it's off to the repair shop, as I think the bottom wheel has perhaps stripped its grip on the thread itself.

Typical it's out of warranty. grrrrrrrr!!

Anyone else had any probs with grips?

That sounds like something that a fair number of people have experienced. Most of them, however, seem to have found themselves unable to remove the grip when the internal gears stripped.

Thanks Jon.
It must have been failing for some time as I've quite often had to retighten it - maybe that was the start of it's demise then.

At least I managed to get it off with no damage to the internal thread of the 30.

Vulcan58 wrote in post #7997727
Thanks Jon.
It must have been failing for some time as I've quite often had to retighten it - maybe that was the start of it's demise then.

At least I managed to get it off with no damage to the internal thread of the 30.

Count your blessings-the usual method for most folks involves a hacksaw blade and a messed up body. I could never figure out why Canon didn't just spend a touch more and use a metal wheel versus plastic; you would figure with all of the ancedotal evidence piling up that they would at least do a long term test with these grips to confirm it.

Oh wait...that makes sense..my bad:p

They don't use a solid metal assembly for a very simple reason...to keep you from overtightening the grip and damaging the camera body. The assembly only needs to be snug and yet several people turn their pet gorillas loose on the assembly and then freak when they strip the thread from the interior of the plastic wheel. If you are really having extreme issues with your grip coming loose, a single drop of Loctite® Threadlocker 222™ will solve your problems and yet still allow easy removal of the grip. You can find it at virtually any auto parts supply store.

Woolburr wrote in post #7998843
They don't use a solid metal assembly for a very simple reason...to keep you from overtightening the grip and damaging the camera body. The assembly only needs to be snug and yet several people turn their pet gorillas loose on the assembly and then freak when they strip the thread from the interior of the plastic wheel. If you are really having extreme issues with your grip coming loose, a single drop of Loctite® Threadlocker 222™ will solve your problems and yet still allow easy removal of the grip. You can find it at virtually any auto parts supply store.

Thank you!

Reason #2 for plastic gears that will break is that over time the constant over-tightening of the screw would cause it to stress and break. Imagine the screw breaking as you bring that 50D and 300 f/2.8 up to your eye leaving you with the grip in your hand as the camera/lens smashes onto the concrete.

Cheers for the replies so far.
I'll let you know the repair cost (UK) in due time.
Meanwhile it feels strange to not have the grip on - funny how you get used to things, but both cameras feel so small without it now.

DDCSD wrote in post #7998873
Thank you!

Reason #2 for plastic gears that will break is that over time the constant over-tightening of the screw would cause it to stress and break. Imagine the screw breaking as you bring that 50D and 300 f/2.8 up to your eye leaving you with the grip in your hand as the camera/lens smashes onto the concrete.

I hope you don't hold your camera and 300 2.8 only by the grip! You really want to have your left hand under the lens doing most, if not all, of the support work for best results. Just use the grip to steer it.

Jon wrote in post #7999217
I hope you don't hold your camera and 300 2.8 only by the grip! You really want to have your left hand under the lens doing most, if not all, of the support work for best results. Just use the grip to steer it.

I don't have a grip for my 20D, and its built-in on the MkIIn.

Oh, and I don't have a 300 2.8......yet.

But I don't mean you should hold it with only the grip, but there are moments when handling the camera that you would have a majority of the weight on the grip. It only takes a split second, and you may not be able to hang on with your left hand since you aren't expecting it to just flop off.