Review 20D\30D grip by YXTM mini review

Steep

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The YXTM is a generic Chinese made grip which is less than half the price of the genuine Canon BGE2. I bought mine from HKSupplies in Hong Kong on eBay for £36 plus £12 delivery (3 days from purchase to it arriving at my door).

The grip comes in a bright yellow/red box with all the same parts as the BGE2 including the seperate AA battery adaptor tray.

box.jpg




The rubberised finish on the grip is identical to that on the camera making a good match. This picture shows the front right quarter with the shutter release, selector wheel and grip on/off switch, this switch controls only the grip to prevent accidental triggering of the shutter when not using it in portrait orientation.

front.jpg



Build quality is very high, I have a geniune Canon BGE1 for my 300D and cannot tell the difference in quality between them. To the rear of the shutter/selector buttons are AE lock/FE lock and AF point selection controls mirroring those on the camera itself.

back.jpg



The battery compartment lid which you must remove for the grip to fit onto the camera goes into a slot on the grip and is held in place inside the battery compartment while in use.

detached.jpg


The 30d Is a very sturdy feeling camera in it's own right but the addition of the grip makes it feel very solid indeed. It's a big item suitable for those with big mitts but perhaps not so good for someone with smaller hands.

Please forgive the poor grainy shots, I forgot to take the 300D back to 100iso from 1600 after shooting the eclipse ahem :shake:
 
Oooooooooo nice review Steep - I was looking at getting one of these myself but was put off because I noticed it wasn't an original canon peice of kit.

Having read this - I think I'll reconsider and get one.

As an aside, did you know that if you buy the original BG-E2 you have to buy the battery tray separately - talk about rip off! :D

Thanks!

Matt
 
Great review Steep - I've always thought the same as SBB re genuine canon stuff, but that grip looks good! If i decide on one for the 30d I'll take your advice on this. Cheers (y)
 
Sweet. I can feel my credit card flexing...
 
As an aside, did you know that if you buy the original BG-E2 you have to buy the battery tray separately - talk about rip off! :D

Thanks!

Matt

I bought the BG-E2 last week and it came with the tray - its inside the grip itself, you remove it if you want to use canon batteries and use it if you want to use AAs.
 
I bought the BG-E2 last week and it came with the tray - its inside the grip itself, you remove it if you want to use canon batteries and use it if you want to use AAs.

Ditto, perhaps he means when it came out originally?
 
Nooooooo - perhaps it was a false assumption by me!:embarrassed: :bang:

I've seen them for sale separately and assumed you had to buy them separately!

:wacky:
 
ahhh maybe so then.

To be honest though, I got it out of the box and thought "where the hell is my AA battery tray?" then I opened the battery case and saw it there.
 
ahhh maybe so then.

To be honest though, I got it out of the box and thought "where the hell is my AA battery tray?" then I opened the battery case and saw it there.

both grips i bought shipped with the AA tray inside......
 
The 350d grip had a tray for the canon batteries as well as the AA one and the one for the canons was in the grip when I bought it (I'm sure it was)
 
Which reminds me, I'd best change my signature because I don't own that stuff anymore, I own some other stuff too :D
 
I should add that this grip has two trays, one for the AA batts and one for a pair of BP511s.

Thanks for the nice replies doods :)
 
Nice review. Think I might save myself a few quid and go for this instead :).
 
I have just recieved mine and its Ace! Fit is good, feels well built, All the buttons work well and feel smooth in their operation. the whole feel of the camera has changed (for the better) i don't know how i lived without for so long!

All for less than £50 delivered!
 
Good review - i had a bad experiance with a new 20d and a new canon grip, both went back to canon a number of times (but not resolved) and resulted in me selling both on fleebay, and resolving never to buy another add-on grip.

This is a typical item that Canon (and Nikon) make loads of money on and the 3rd party items are just as good as this review shows
 
Good review-might consider one for 40D

Thanks for this :)
 
Canon really need to sort out the pricing on the grips, just under a 1/3 of the 40D body price (after cashback) for what is basically a lump of plastic is a little bit cheeky methinks.
 
I've been put off buying a grip because I really can't justify the Canon prices. Might have to reconsider the grip for the 5D as I do use it a lot for portraits.

How easy is it to remove the grip for those occasions you don't want to use it Steep.
(I'm one of those small handed people you refer to!)
 
Ali, you just unscrew it, you can see the thread in the bottom picture and the battery compartment door in it's storage slot. The battery compartment door just clips back into place.
 
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Ah ha! I was put off by the fact that I don't want a permanent fixture. I like my 5D just the way it is but on occasion doing studio shots I'd like the ability to switch to portrait and keep it all straight. (I don't do too badly at the mo) and for the occasional wedding the extra battery power would be handy.

Thanks a bunch Steep.
 
Good review - one question, how do you know if it's a YXTM from ebay? If you search for it there isn't anything come up, but some of the unbranded ones I presume I made by this company?
 
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