When Nikon first released the MB-D12 battery grip for the Nikon D800 it cost a staggering $615. Since then the price has fallen to a still ridiculous $429. We have been waiting patiently for an affordable 3rd party version and today I got an email from a reader that they were available on ebay. The "Pixel MB-D12" is a much more affordable $109.00. I just purchased one and once it shows up from Japan (at least 30 days) I'll review it. I'm hoping this grip is as good as the last fake I got.
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Shipped from Japan, but I wonder if it's made there. Not to say that point of origin determines quality, I'm just curious. If it's made in Japan and still that price AND works well, why would Nikon's be so pricey? Just because it has "NIKON" written on it?
For what it's worth (Not $420, that's for sure), the Nikon grip is weather-sealed and made with the same magnesium alloy material as the camera. This knock-off is plastic.
I'm pretty sure the knock off for the D7000 felt exactly the same as the Nikon one.
Not even close. I bought one, tried it out and sent it back the same day.
I don't think you had the same one I did. Mine felt almost exactly the same.
The Nikon version costs more because Nikon invested in the engineering and development of the product, provides a warranty, and in my experience has better build quality. The knockoff is cheaper because all they had to do is rip off an existing design and manufacture it.
http://www.strobist.blogspot.com/2012/06/so-lets-talk-about-knockoffs-in... still can't believe you guys post this stuff.
Posted in January: http://fstoppers.com/how-china-changed-the-american-lighting-industry
Hey Chad, I'm not sure I agree with you in this case. Nikon makes grips for all of their major DSLRs so engineering and development doesn't really apply here. It's simply a battery pack with some buttons on it. When another company creates their own grip (and does not steal the exact design but makes their own) and can sell it for 25% or in some cases 10% of the cost and still make money, it means that Nikon is making a killing on the grips.
To me this is the same as a Lens cap. A Nikon cap is $15 but another company could make a similar cap and sell it for $1 and still make a profit. This doesn't mean they are stealing from Nikon, they just made a cheaper cap. It's up to the consumer in this situation to decide what they want to buy.
Just a battery pack with buttons?
They need build the whole circuit board in it, run the test that makes sure it can last as long as a nikon should (which, alone, can take several weeks of testing), than have a plant that can produces them and pay for the quality checks to ensure Nikon standards.
Cheap knockoffs: Look at the product, measure a few things, retroengineer the circuit (read "copy without thinking and cheaping on things you don't know"), produce and sell.
No engineering, no testing, no quality guaranteed, no need for test facilities or knowledge...
Comparing an electronic product with a lens cap.... come on.
any chance that the company that makes the boards for Nikon just sells them under the table to the rip offs? The stuff that happens overseas never ceases to amaze me.
Not exactly. what is MOST probable and what you are inffering, is that they don't toss out the rejects from Nikon quality controls.
They put it in the cheap copies. Most manufactures in China do business like this and Companies accept this because the labor cost is soooo low that they (china) can dictate the rules of the games.
Like those home brand cookies that are the same than the National brand, they are just overstock that can't be sold under the same name for risk of depreciating the product.
Yeah, I probably shouldn't try to stick up for Nikon. My MB-D11 quit working right after the warranty expired. Still, when one company makes a direct copy of another company's product it just seems wrong to me.
Knowing when it's a copy, or left over from a big company is the tough part....
What stuck to my mind with that blog post was the ironic fact that we photographers who are sensitive to copyrights and intellectual properties when it comes to our work could be so insesitive to the copyrights of the manufacturers of the tools we use.
asdf
its ridiculous what they charge us, for sometimes the exact same thing... i dropped my old canon grip., and found a knock off on ebay.. ordered it.. the grip, 2 batteries, and a portable car charger was $55 canadian, shipped. Arrived in 2 weeks and worked exactly the same as my old cannon one... for less than the price of 1 battery. Wow Canon!
In my line of work these plastic knock-offs aren't durable enough. If you baby your camera they might work fine, but with heavy use you'll be buying another one in no time at all.
I doubt that $109 grip could take abuse like this and still work:
Agreed. Nikon prices these grips for those that need them, working professionals that use (and abuse) their gear on a daily basis and require a grip for vertical shots/extra battery. Buttons and dials are weathersealed, rubber grip won't wear out as easily, and the unit as a whole will last as long as your main body. Sure there are cheap knock offs, and a day's review comparing the two doesn't really justify the end result of years of use. A photographer who earns his living with his camera won't have a problem paying the premium.
We pay a premium for anything with a brand name on it. When it comes to performance that simply cannot fail - optics, strobes and the body - sure, the premium is worth it. However, I'm not one for extortion and this MB-D12 is currently the poster child for wallet rape.
At the end of the day, I'd MUCH rather have the Nikon grip. For $250 I'd pick one up. I have one for my old D700. However, I can get through a shoot WITHOUT it. I'd be gambling my $110 on the nice possibility that it would work out unexpectedly well.
One could purchase FOUR of these for the price of the D12. Now, I wouldn't do that. If the third party adapter failed, I'd likely call it quits and hope that by that time Nikon had sufficiently enjoyed it's 1000% markup and knocked the price down to the low $300s or upper $200s - where they'd still turn a healthy profit.
I'm often willing to fork out the extra money for better equipment and I'm for companies making money, but in some cases, sanity must prevail. If this grip did something that was groundbreaking - i.e. had built in GPS, WiFi, an extra card slot; anything to JUSTIFY the markup - I could possibly talk myself into it. That's not currently the case.
Look forward to hearing your opinion on this product!
You guys go on about high prices of equipment - in the UK the
MB-D12 is about £368 or about $580 !!!
I was waiting for this, I do understand Nikon's logic - wanting to compete more with the cameras and make the extra bucks on the paraphernalia. But as a consumer I still want to at least have more features if I'm picking the main brand one, such as WiFi or something, if all I get is extra battery time and more grip, then I'll get my
MB-D12 for less.
Lee Morris laughed at me when I bought a fake grip for my D300. Just saying.
Well dude, he said himself he couldn't tell the difference until he tried switching the battery sockets between the two grips.
yeah I laughed at him for that, seems fair.
Your D300 grip was a terrible reproduction. I'm hoping this one will be better made.
I think it really comes down to the build quality on these and if the tray is interchangeable with the D7000 grip. If they feel cheap and plasticy then maybe the Nikon will be warranted. If it's similar to the ripoff one Lee got off Amazon then it will probably be a great deal if it's 1/4th the price.
Okay, when the MB-D10 was introduced, that was something special (described here: http://imaging.nikon.com/history/scenes/21/), because they had the good sense to copy Pentax's design and and get rid of that stupid smokestack. It was expensive at over $200, but well designed and well built. The MB-D12 however, offers nothing we haven't seen before and I personally was very disappointed to see that it even existed. There is no practical reason why the D800 bottom plate could not have been designed to fit the MB-D10 (I was actually looking forward to that). This is pure price gouging - charging an amount that could buy a fully functional camera for a battery pack with electrical contacts and buttons - no justification whatsoever!
I prefer not to use a cheap knock-off battery or battery grip on my expensive camera.
it looks a bit plasticky doesn't it?
My Nikon Original grip for the D200 is quite plastic like.
Seeing as I don't use it very often a plastic equivalent of MB-D12 would be just fine as long as it works the same.
Pixel seem to be a good make for making non-brand accessories - probably a good alternative.
I'm finding it difficult to find 2rd party versions of the EN-EL15 in the UK.
Wonder why - batteries are usually a common thing to reproduce. Not like it's new either as it's used by the D7000As others - I find the thought of having to spend £50-70 on a battery unappealing.Of course there will be some poor copies, but should be some good ones too. I choose carefully.
While I agree that the price is ridiculous and borderline extortion, I just wonder how many of us that are complaining about it are also the same ones that charge $50 for a $2 print or $220 for a $17 print?
You're kidding right? Are you charging for the print or the printed content?
No he is right! Thats the right cost for a print!
Lee, I for one am waiting on your verdict. And hurry, or I might get carpel tunnel from holding my gripless D800 in portrait mode.
On a camera a nice as a D800. I would not even blink about paying 425.oo for a VG. The VG for the canon 5DmkIII is 360.oo. Using an after market stuff is great for lower end stuff but, not for the high end line of cameras. I have seen VG's cause camera bodys to act up weird things. Pay the extra now or later, and later always cost more. Been there done that, didn't even get a t-shirt.
The REAL question at hand here comes down to this : Would you balance 3000$ over the ground held by a piece of plastic made by the cheapest provider of parts in Asia, or would you balance it over the ground on a piece engineered by people, tested, and made from premium quality materials like metal?Sure, it's expensive, but the prices will drop over time. If you can't afford one, save up but don't buy the knockoff. Buy cheap, buy twice is what my grandmother always said.
With the D200's grip I was sourely dissapointed however, and this was entirely Nikon's fault. I paid 180$ I believe for the official Nikon version and it was a plastic piece of shit. The stack that went into the battery holder broke when I set the D200 down to hard once. I then bought an aftermarket version of it for 40$ and it worked so much better!
I did buy the Nikon MB-D10 for my D300S with the fear of having the same problem, but I was glad to be reassured since it was made of metal. Worked like a champ ever since.
I will pass on this and wait for a 3rd party grip that has more features than the Nikon one.
weight is same like in original grip. Is it plastic or metal?
I have always used Meike battery grips and they work wonderfully at about 1/4 of the price of retail. Im a full time photographer and I make my living off of photography.
Lee is the one you bought the Pixtrl-Vertax one , that can also use two(2) EL15 in the grip. I really want to see that work. And if it is durable.
Even my D700 Nikon grip would sometimes stop working on a long sports shoot, and I had to take it off and screw back on. The connection needs to be solid.
Also, interested at how the D800 will read the power left on two EL15 when normally it has only one?
For me, having the ability to run 3 EL15 , one in the D800 two in the grip. is a big plus that I cannot look away. :)
1. Factory release date for this grip is tomorrow 6th July, so nobody has this product at this moment.
2. Maybe you can find someone who has tested Meike model, I heard that they already shipped their version. If you look at the photos there are two different products : Meike version has different shape for the back rubber piece. And looks much "cheaper" in the photos.
3. There is NO grip to run 3 EN-EL15 batteries. Pixel Vertax D12 run on one battery and the second one will be in the camera as all of the grips on the market.
Maria, Thank you for the reply.
Bummer, NO two EL15 "in" the GRIP.
Guess now my questions to those that get it first are:
1) The Build Quality how tight to the D800 is the GRIP?
2) Is the Pin Metal , basically the same as the D800 grip?
3) Does it read the Nikon Battery levels well
4) Can you configure to have it use the Grip EL15 first
5) Does it do 6fps
As a side question. Will 8 AAA at 2300mAh be equel to , How many EL15 ? shot count
I was always bad at math. :)
You are welcome. Your questions will get answer soon as first grip will reach the destination, mine shipped yesterday so it will take about two weeks to arrive.
1. From what I know is plastic but high quality one. And it"s not weather sealed
Here is a highly-detailed review of the Pixel Vertax D12 for the D800
http://www.frescoglobe.com/2012/07/17/pixel-vertax-d12-grip-for-nikon-d800/
Build quality seems good
The pin is metal
It reads Nikon battery levels the same as the camera
Yes you can set to use grip battery first
Yes it gets 6fps in DX mode with 8xAA batteries in the grip