Customer Reviews

Opteka Battery Pack Grip / Vertical Shutter Release with Charger, 2 LP-E5 Batteries (3600 mAh Total), Wireless Remote, Cleaning Kit, & Mini Tripod for Canon EOS Digital Rebel T1i & XSi

5 star:		(40)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

As everyone else has said, the battery grip fits great. I actually prefer the shutter release on this to the one on my T1i Camera. The camera feels so much better in hand with this on as well, it gives a place for my pinky finger to rest and with a larger lens (like my 18-200 or 70-300) it evens out the weight a bit more. The Batteries just last, over 1000 photos with average flash usage so far. I have not yet run them all the way down before charging. Love having Two Chargers now so I can charge both batteries at once. Have used the car adapter with this one a couple of times even to make sure my spare battery was topped off. The Remote works as expected, gives you more distance than a Cable Release, but you have to be within angular range of the sensor.

I was a bit skeptical about the price of this package, but I am very glad I took the leap of faith. This would have been a huge expense if I had purchased a higher name brand individually. I have run all of the components through testing and they all pass with flying colors!

I bought the Battery Pack to use for a wedding. Really wanting to be able to shoot a lot of vertical shots. The battery pack looks professional, I got lots of compliments. Easy to put on the camera and take off. I found some issues with taking time to refresh after I had been shooting for about 4 hours solid. Not as great as I wanted. Overall I recommend this product even with it's limitations. The pricing and delivery were great.

Equipment: Canon Rebel T1i

Overall, this package was a great deal for the money. The branded Canon grip alone costs more than the whole package. I was most excited about the grip, the extra batteries and the battery charger. The remote was more of a bonus for me and I considered the cleaning kit to be junk.

The good:
Grip fits perfectly and provides storage for the battery cover which needs to be removed. The grip accommodates two knock off Canon batteries or four AA batteries. The shutter button and wheel on the grip can be enabled or disabled. I would be aware that the grip considerably increases the height of the camera. It barely fit into my Lowepro bag with the 18-55mm lens on, and did not fit with the 55-250mm lens on.

Two provided batteries and battery charger work very well. I was in Europe for two weeks and the two batteries lasted the whole time in the grip. I also left the camera on a few times in my bag, but Canon's power management took care of that. I charged all the batteries before my trip with the included charger. It worked with no problems. The charger also comes with a car adapter. I didn't try it out, but it would be convenient in case charging was necessary on the road.

The not-so-good:
The remote control works with the T1i. All buttons just seem to trigger the shutter, but nothing else. No instructions are provided, but it worked out of the box. Would be nice to set a timer with the remote control, and to trigger multiple shots, but none of this is possible from what I can see.

The bad:
The tripod is useless. Any serious DSLR will cause it to collapse. I think it would collapse under the weight of my point and shoot. The cleaning kit was basic and almost as useless, but these things are the "extras".

The package I received had a sealed grip and batteries. The cleaning kit, remote, and tripod looked as if they had been previously opened and re-boxed, though. The instructions said to remove the plastic battery protector for the remote and it was not present. The cleaning kit box was a little "worn" despite the perfect condition of the other packages in the box. Double check that what you need is in good condition and works well, and you should be okay.

Reviewer "2oakes" was correct about these grips being made wrong. I took my battery tray apart just like he said and sure enough the circuit strips were touching! I carefully put electrical tape in between two of them to prevent a short circuit because a $900 dollar camera blowing up for a 70 dollar grip isn't worth it. It takes a bit of patience to get the tape in just right but I feel safer now that I did. This is only for the Li-ion battery tray. THANK YOU 2oakes!!!!! (his review link http://www.amazon.com/review/RUZ9KDFCLA2RE/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm )

Other then that the grip works great. Makes the camera a bit heavier but for me it makes my hold it better and more accurately. Taking vertical shots is very comfortable and super easy with the additional trigger button. The extra batteries and charger that also has a car charger attachment works well. I can charge 2 batteries at the same time using the charger the camera came with and this new one so i'm ready to go with batteries at the same time and don't have to wait.

Its a great accessory but just really be careful that you checkout the Li-Ion tray for the overlapping circuit strips.

DO NOT buy the Canon part and batteries, unless you really like spending the money on the Canon label.

This unit works fantastic. The battery life is almost inexhaustable. I took well over 1500 photos across 2-3 days without running out of juice. With previous cameras, maintaining a regime each night in the hotel of charging batteries was crucial. That is over with this. The high MaH batteries last so much longer than Canon's own and cost a fraction of what Canon charges. And the fact that I can simply swap in AA batteries in an emergency means I will never have to worry about battery life in my camera. I went on a twelve day vacation and battery was never an issue. I took almost 6,000 photos. I only charged batteries 3-4 of the nights and battery indicator only reduced from full when I skipped charging for two nights in a row.

Just phenomenal.

The battery pack grip and the two extra batteries will leave you set to do any gig. It is a must. The T1i is really light and sometimes it is harder to be stable when you take pictures...this pack gives the necessary weight to the camera.

I used this product for 8 months. And this is what my experience is -

Good points:
1. The grip is quite good. Fits nicely to the hand.
2. The remote works wonderfully.
3. Charger and batteries are quite good. Never had any problems with those.

Now Bad points;

1. The 6 small screws that bind the metal plate connecting the battery pack to the camera are not strong enough. They lost their threads and one by one they fell apart, and now battery pack is not usable. And I only used the battery pack probably half a dozen times. Anyways, I contacted 47th street, and they asked me to ship it back to asses if it is eligible for "LIMITED WARRANTY". I will see how that goes and update this review.
2. The soft rubber grip is glued to the plastic, so, obviously it came off and I had to glue it back.
3. The tripod is good for nothing. It's so tiny, you won't trust this tripod to use with your camera.

Final words:

When you are using the battery pack with a heavy camera, it got to be strong. My verdict is -- Product is cheapy. I wasted $80 on a bad quality product. :(
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Update -1: Sent the defective product to 47th street on January 26, 2010. Tracking shows they received on 31st January. I waited for another 2 weeks and then contacted 47th street. Emailed them twice but no reply. Then tried to contact AMAZON. Amazon representative said they can't help me with this because 'A to Z guarantee' is valid within 30 days, not even if the manufacturer does not entertain the warranty.

I wonder how so many people have rated 47th street so highly.

Thanks for reading my review.
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Bought this Opteka Battery Grip kit for my Canon EOS Rebel t1i. I read online elsewhere that Opteka had great grips with similar materials used in Canon's grips. But, it was out of stock when I was ready to order. I fought off the urge to buy a similarly priced grip and am so glad I did.

Package included: Grip, Two large batteries, single battery charger, wireless remote, lens cleaning kit and a joke of a tripod.

I also saw the same Opteka Grip on Amazon for a few dollars less without all the bundled items, but the batteries alone are worth the extra few bucks.

What this grip can do for you:
1. Instant credibility with its weight and size. This grip will make your t1i look like a professional camera and not the entry level camera that it really is.
2. Balances out your bigger lenses. Once you move on from your kit lens to something with heavier glass, you'll need a bigger body to counter that weight, this will help you there.
3. Gives you an additional shutter button when shooting in portrait. Meaning, that when you are shooting your subject such that you want to rotate your camera 90 degrees to the left, instead of holding your camera in a contorted, awkward manner, you can hold it more naturally.
4. Extra battery life. When I first put on the grip with the two included batteries, I didn't have to charge the batteries for 3 weeks. And even then, there was still 50% life in them according to the battery indicator.

The grip looks great, I've had it for several months now and I've had no problems with any of the rubber material coming lose from the rest of the grip.

The two things that I've found that represent any sort of product flaw in the battery grip are:

1. The scroll wheel is not nearly as good as on the t1i body itself. They are both made of hard plastic, but the grip's "treads" feel slippery because they are not as large nor as deep as on the t1i's scroll wheel.
2. When I put on my 24-70mm 2.8 L lens and when I'm shooting in the vertical position, I can feel just the slightest amount of misalignment between the grip and the camera body. Now, this is a very, very heavy lens. But I haven't tried the Canon battery grip and don't know if the same issue happens with the Canon model. I've tried tightening the Opteka grip as far as I can to the camera body and I still sometimes feel the grip shift ever so slightly from the body.

In summary, the benefits of this grip heavily outweigh the 2 issues that I've come across. If you own a t1i and are looking for any type of accessory, first, get this grip, second, get a lens hood for your kit lenses, third get a 50mm Canon Prime (means a fixed or non-zoom) Lens.

Great investment. Got this for my 1st DSLR Canon T1i and have only had one glitch. Literally one time out of around 5000, none of the functions worked on the grip. Powered down the camera and grip and it's been fine ever since. The Opteka after market line is "less expensive" and you shouldn't expect anything from this company to be supremely first class but so far my experience with their products have been pleasantly surprisingly good. Thanks Opteka for filling a nitch. Good enough that as my passion for the art increases (recently purchased 7D) I just bought the grip for the 7D. I'll post a review for that in a few months after some 5000 shots or so.