Phottix Grip vs. Canon BG-E2

August 18th, 2008  |  Published in Photography  |  2 Comments

I did some research and didn’t find anything too negative towards getting this Phottix BP-40D vs a Canon BG-E2/BG-E2N as a grip for my 30D other than the make. The pro-point is that its only $75 shipped from Hong Kong to San Francisco. It has the same features as its Canon counterpart but for less. Here are some points from the eBay seller, etefore (aka. HK Supplies), of whom I got it from:

  • The Vertical Grip/Battery Holder adds a vertical shutter release, and is compatible with up to two BP-511, BP-511A Lithium-ion battery packs, or six AA batteries with included battery holder. It provides additional shutter release, main dial, AE lock/FE lock and AF point selection controls for easier vertical shooting.
  • The battery holder works with one or two BP-511/BP-511A batteries.
  • Battery Holder for six AA batteries
  • Instruction in Chinese/English/Netherlands/French/Germany/Italian/Spanish
  • It also has a tripod socket.
  • The battery grip and the batteries are NOT Canon made.
  • These high quality product with big discount from the original one.
  • Made of top quality materials and the best quality you can find in the market.

To add to that, based on Phottix’ website, the grip can be used on the following dSLR bodies:

  • Canon 300D, 350D/XT, 400D/XTi, 10D, 20D, 30D, 40D, and 5D
  • Nikon D200, D70s, D80, D40, and D40x

Here’s some photos of it (by Flickrite presspix):

Meanwhile, I’m hoping to receive it by either later this week, or early next week. I’ve bought from etefore before and they ship pretty fast. I’ll update when I have received it and have given it a test run.

The New Canon 30D

February 21st, 2006  |  Published in Photography

Canon 30D

As I was doing my late-night news roundup, I stumbled upon some interesting new Web 2.0 apps. The top two that are on my list to beta-test are Foldera and Flyspy. I can’t wait to see how Foldera works, it seems that it’ll be useful at work and at home. As for Flyspy, this thing should make it easier for those of us “remotely” working from home. I hope it saves me a ton of cash so I may have some left for some other goodies later this year. Not to mention, a couple of expenses during my big trips (Hawaii, Japan and P.I.).

Anyways, a little birdie that a new toy has just been unveiled, Canon’s 30D. It seems that it is using the same sensor as the 20D. But a couple of more intriguing changes can be highlighted as stated by Rob Gailbraith:

a 2.5-inch (diagonal) rear LCD, increased burst depth, Picture Styles, a shutter with a higher duty cycle rating and a long list of other camera usability changes.

A couple of things that I did like with the new 30D features are:

  • Canon’s more flexible Picture Style menu, which replaces the Parameters menu of the 20D
  • ISO 100-1600 is now selectable in 1/3 stop increments
  • Increased burst depth: 11 frames for RAW CR2 shooting, 30 for Large Fine JPEG and 9 for RAW+JPEG
  • Switchable High-Speed Continuous (5 fps) and Low-Speed Continuous (3 fps) frame rate settings are now included
  • An Auto setting in the Long Exposure Noise Reduction Custom Function
  • The ability, like several more-pricey Canon digital SLRs, to simultaneously apply long exposure noise processing to one picture while capturing another
  • The addition of a 3.5% spot metering mode
  • A more-precise 4-increment battery charge indicator
  • No more new folders created every 100 photos; in the 30D, a folder can hold 9999 photos (this one is a 50/50 like/dislike to me)
  • During playback, the image+shooting data screen will display either an RGB or Brightness histogram, file size and will optionally display AF markings
  • The Jump feature during image playback can now leap back and forth 10 pictures at a time, 100 pictures at a time or by the date shot

So yah, “nothin’ serious.” It looks like it’ll be shipping mid-March (US) with an MSRP of $1399. $1399? That was how much I got my 20D for back in December through Costco.com. Oh well, you can’t beat a rebate of $300 for it. Anyways, I might have to take Costco up on their 100% return/warranty policy later this year. Good times.