Pixel Vertax D12
The Pixel Vertax MB-12 costs £68 on eBay. The Nikon MB-D12 costs £380. Can this cheaper alternative possibly be any good?
.jpg "Pixel Vertax D12 on Nikon D800 back view")
I just switched from Sony (a850) to Nikon (the d800)! If you’re reading this, you probably already know the d800 specs – 36 megapixel sensor, incredible dynamic range, 51pt AF system, 1080p video recording etc. It sounds fantastic on paper, but what is the d800 like to use regularly?
In this review I’m going to talk about the upsides and downsides of 36.3mp of resolution, dynamic range, high ISO, build quality, viewfinder, autofocus, video, controls and some settings I’ve found useful. View full post »
You can upload to mediafire for free (www.mediafire.com – you just need to register) if you want to share images, although it’s not an image sharing site per se.
I prefer smugmug to flickr for uploading original files… I don’t know what flickr does to the files, but thee D800 files I tried uploading to flickr have some kind of compression artifacts.
Thanks for the review. I like it.
How do you customize the settings the way the D7000 does? I miss the latter.
[...] dynamic range, great build quality and autofocus is crazy compared to my Sony cameras. Read my full review of the Nikon D800 [...]
Thanks for a very informative and practical review ! One of the most useful (for me) reviews that I have seen….
Regarding the lack of easy access ISO adjustments, you can use the thumb wheel – see menu D7.
Hello David…. I read your review, and I was very impressed. It was so simple and very easy to understand. I was glad to hear you say that the D800 was easy to hand-hold and take pictures with. I currently have a D300, which is built like a tank, like the D800, and have been very happy with it. However, I want to go full frame, so I have been reading reviews on the D600 and D800 daily. I so liked your review, and would appreciate your honest opinion between the D600 and D800, because I am a serious amateur photographer. Also, I would like to know, if I decide on the D800, what is a good card I should purchase for it, and how many pictures could I get on a 64mb card? Thanks very much for your time and I would appreciate a reply. Out of curiosity, are you a professional photographer? Your pictures are absolutely amazing. My email address is: chrisbill@telus.net Thanks again.
Hi Bill, thanks for your comment. I haven’t used the D600 before, so I can’t really compare the two directly. I’m still impressed with my D800 and it hasn’t let me down so far, so I don’t really think you can go wrong with it. The d600 looks great but my biggest worry would be the older AF system and the cheaper construction. Thanks for your compliments but I’m not a professional – just a keen amateur like you who does occasional paid work. In the UK, the price of d600 and d800 is relatively close. Close enough for me to just get the d800 without worrying too much about it. My best advice would be to go and try both cameras – see which feels more comfortable in your hands and more intuitive to use. That’s something you can’t tell from reading reviews.
On a 64Gb card you will expect to get somewhere around 800 raw files. Personally I don’t like cards that big because if you lose or break it, you lose everything. I use 8gb cards (100 photos) for anything important and 32Gb for casual shooting. Sandisk cards are always good, but I also have cheaper Transcend CF cards that work perfectly. The only card I’ve had not work (which is fine it other cameras) is a Duracell 16Gb CF card.
About Traveling with Tripods
I know this will upset some people, but I almost never travel with a tripod and I pretty much hate using them. I find them annoying, clumsy and usually pointless.
The main reason I wrote this article is because I see a lot of rubbish written online, such as “always use a tripod” and “always keep your shutter speed more than 1/focal length”. This is perfectly fine advice if have lots of time to take your pictures and if you need the absolutely best image quality, but that advice comes at the expense of convenience, cost and portability – which is a definite negative when it comes to travel photography. Usually you want to be lightweight, quick to act and always looking for different shots.
I have taken a tripod abroad with me several times before, and every single time I began to regret bringing it almost instantly. Now, I just don’t bother traveling with a tripod for many reasons:
.jpg "Hong Kong Long Exposure")
This shot of Nathan Road, Hong Kong was a 1.3s exposure. No tripod. View full post »
Interesting take. I personally prefer to take a tripod no matter where I go. I have a carbon fiber Benro that was pretty cheap and very light. I keep an L-bracket on my camera at all times. The best shots I have ever taken were only possible on a tripod, but I really value sharpness. I figure why spend thousands on nice gear only to come away with fuzzy shots.
The last point I dislike about lack of tripods is that I do not like the way polarizing filters look on wide angle lenses at all. The sky has all these crazy blue variations in it that are a dead give away. I like to stack my photos to merge them later when shooting landscape wide angles. Now, you can usually get away with handheld in the daylight, but the golden hour in the morning and evenings require a bit more exposure time.
In the end, whatever works for each person! For me, a tripod is one of the most useful tools I own.
I think it depends on your style. Personally I really like the wide angle polariser look to create some drama in the sky. But I know some people hate it! :p
Same with a tripod. I’d rather just get the shot at ISO3200, than spend time faffing with the tripod. Of course a tripod is better for image quality, but I was talking about travel here so convenience has to be a factor. Also the other things like “looking like a photographer” and not being allowed tripods in some places is also a factor depending on where you travel and what you like to shoot.
Just bought a tripod, a lightweight a small one which perfectly fits on my new bought lowpro backpack. Using it while traveling for night shots, shots with very low shutter speed, to capture movement at day and night, for my 50mm prime which has no IS and for my 70-300mm with IS but for longer shutter speed and night and zoomed stuff.
randomly found you, this is a great website, thank you for sharing!
In April I took a short city break to Budapest, Hungary. Budapest is a beautiful city with a rich history and it is becoming a popular destination now that many low-cost European airlines are flying there. I would highly recommend Budapest as a place to visit for a few days. It is cheap to visit, easy to travel around the city and has a great mixture of things to do and see. Unfortunately the weather was very grey and cloudy while I was in Budapest, but that didn’t take away from the attractiveness of the city. This trip was photographed on a Fuji X100 (click here for my hands-on review of the Fuji X100) an Nikon d90 with 85/1.8D
Budapest has an incredibly conflicting, varied and rich history. It has been settled, fought-over and occupied by many different countries, empires and kingdoms over the course of 2,000 years including the Celts, Romans, Huns, Mongols, Ottomans, Habsburgs and the Soviet Union. Hungary, and Budapest particularly, has been pivotal in many global events such as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the start of World War I and the collapse of the Soviet Union. To put it into context, modern day Hungary occupies only around 30% of its previous territory with only 40% of its previous population compared to before WW1.
The first picture is of the incredible Hungarian Parliament Building (Országház) at night, viewed from the River Danube.
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I love your photos!
The status of the soldier with sword is called “Hajdú szobor” = “The statue of the Hajduk” that is not a name but refers to the type of infantry soldier.
Brilliant, thank you very much!
Hi!
This blog is an honour to me and my home city!!! Much appreciated! One thing though: that white bridge you refer to is the Elizabeth Bridge (Erzsébet híd). The Liberty Bridge (Szabadság híd) is the green one next to it to the south. The rest is true! Loved your blog, thanks so much!!!
Cheers
Zoltan
Wow, thank you for the fantastic compliment! And thank you for the correction – I’ll amend it now! 
[...] (lots of pics) Photos of places Peru Paris Scotland Dubai part 1 part 2 Taiwan Morocco Budapest China Egypt The UK Australia about contact [...]
The Fuji X100 has been out for a while now, and I have owned mine for around 3 months. There are reviews everywhere on the Internet, so rather than post a full review with a spec-list, I’m going to give my impressions of the camera. I will talk about the real life benefits and drawbacks of the X100, and give you my tips/tricks to get the most out of the camera.
And of course, I will have full-size downloads available for you to check the image quality at a variety of settings.
Introducing the Fuji X100
Just a comment about the rear dial on the Fujifilm X100. There is the OK button, the circular spinning dial, and then the plastic outer ring with the nomenclature silkscreened on it for macro, WB, flash, and Drive. That plastic piece bothers me a lot and indicates that Fuji made last minute adjustments to it.
Notice that the preproduction photographs at dpreview and a few other web sites show the plastic piece in the correct orientation. This is how it was originally intended to be. Now, for the shipping models, the piece has a weird concave shape in order to allow the finger to better feel the spinning dial. To me, the reversed plastic piece looks wrong and suggests a last minute production Band-Aid to fix a poor design. You will not see a concave shape like that on any other camera.
Thanks for your comment David. Well spotted – I hadn’t actually compared my X100 to any of the early pre-production models. But it such a shame that they put cheap plasticy dials on a £1000 camera which is otherwise excellently built!
I also heard that the battery charger is from another camera, and rather than make another charger for the X100, Fuji just stuck in the little plastic piece. Very cheap of them!
The most interesting and comprehensive review of the X100 that I have read! I will certainly bookmark your site, thank you.
All the best,
Ken Schwerin.
Thank you Ken. Much appreciated!
Just got mine yesterday. Going through the learning curve now. Your review helps. Thanks.
Thanks aiyo – you’re welcome. If you have any questions about anything in the review, just ask
Good review. I’ve had mine for a year now. I like it a lot… but it’s not getting much love anymore now that I have the X-Pro1 and its 35mm lens. You think the IQ was good with the X100, but that new sensor in the X-Pro1 is phenomenal. Usability is much much improved too. Still slow to focus, but a beautiful camera by Fuji again.
The Xpro-1 looks great, but damn it’s expensive! I just couldn’t justify it. Plus, what I said earlier about the “buying into a system” thing. I’m not sure I want to spend £2000 on a system with only three lenses right now.
Understandable. I treated myself with the XPro-1, birthday present. Lots of mounts coming up though(I’ve seen about 12 types online already), people using it with Voigtlander lenses and Canon lenses online, the M-mount is coming soon, etc. I’m looking forward a fast, 35mm equiv lens for the XPro-1. And on that note I’m going to spend the rest of the afternoon on the street with the X100, thanks for reminding me it’s such a nice (but quirky) camera.
Update: I had not used my X100 in a while, and definitely not using the focus trick that was discovered on the XPro-1 a few weeks ago and works on the X100 too (don’t half-press & wait for focus confirmation, just press the shutter all the way in one step). With a fast 95MB/s SD card, shooting in JPEG mode (like I do on the X-Pro1), it is noticeably faster to focus (and so much quieter). There is still that annoying lag that makes moving subjects hard to track, but it’s faster nonetheless.
That is a neat trick, and so unintuitive for anybody who is used to focus then shoot from a dSLR! The X100 definitely feels like it focuses quicker using that method, but I’m not sure. It might just be the reduced shutter lag between achieving focus and shutter activation. The thing I miss the most with the X100 is the ability to take multiple shots after getting focus without having to re-focus like you can with a dSLR.
thanks for the review, Ive had mine for a few months, just wondering if it will be the best camera for my trip to UK in a few months time. Not keen on taking 5DII and lenses although maybe take a small DSLR with a 100 macro lens and use the X100 for anything else
Hi Julie,
That sounds like a good idea. If you’ve seen the Scotland and Budapest travel photos, they were done mostly with the X100. I really can’t complain about any aspect of the image quality. The “macro” function of the X100 isn’t true 1:1 macro, but it does focus surprisingly close and provide reasonable magnification. I’ve also seen an add-on macro converter to improve the magnification. I’m sure it won’t be as good as a dSLR and dedicated macro lens, but it might work for travel and “hobby” macro!
Great review, thanks David. I bought my X100 yesterday and am enjoying it very much after a full day of playing with it. My wife and I will be touring Austria and Czech in September, do you think I could risk just taking the X100 and leaving the 7D and L lenses at home?
Congrats on your new X100! 
For travel it really depends what you want to shoot. For cities, street shooting, people, insides of museums, landscapes etc the X100 is brilliant. If you are really into macro, birds or you need the burst rate and continuous autofocus of the 7D, the X100 probably won’t satisfy you.
I shot my travels to Scotland and Budapest mostly on the X100 and didn’t miss a dSLR at all for the type of shooting I like. It really comes down to whether you are happy shooting everything at 24mm! I know that Austria has a lot of beautiful scenery and architecture similar to Budapest, so maybe those pics can help you make up your mind!
Fantastic Review! I’ve been on the fence about getting one of these, and now I am sold. Just need to wait a bit to gather up the funds…
Haha, great to hear that Ben. I have to admit that my love affair with the Fuji X100 is still going strong. The main thing that impresses me is the colour and white balance. As you can see from my gear list, I’ve had expensive full frame cameras and Zeiss glass, but I’ve never had a camera before which can produce colours which are as natural and lifelike as the X100. The X100 price dropped recently too – they were £1000, and now they are £699 new!
I wish they dropped here in the US – They are still sitting at $1200 USD here. I am thinking about a used one. I still love my 5D and prime lenses, but my “take everywhere” camera is an older Panasonic LX-3 point and shoot, and the files are just nowwhere near what I’ve seen from the X100. I *think* if I sell a couple of lenses, the wife won’t be too mad.
[...] take away from the attractiveness of the city. This trip was photographed on a Fuji X100 (click here for my hands-on review of the Fuji X100) an Nikon d90 with [...]
Great review, thanks for taking the time to write it. Have read the creative review from Zach, and not the tech from you. Perfect.
Thanks!
I use MF and AFL button achieve focus, like a dsrl, it’s accurate and faster. The shutter keeps separated so I can recompose.
Nice idea – I’ll check it out as an alternative was of focusing
David – bought it yesterday, can’t believe how good the tone and colour is. I take the jpgs into lightroom and find I do NOTHING to them at all.
Also, I tried the MF and AFL focusing – that’s pretty good in the right situation too.
Wonderful camera, it really is!
Nice one! I find that I hardly need to re-touch any files at all, as long as I got the exposure right! Enjoy!
Hello 無意間看到你拍的照片，裡面照片都拍的很有質感~~~很漂亮~~
我是用x10，也很愛fuji的發色，真的很美~~~
另外可否請教一下，照片中有一隻咬著網球的狗，請問您知道那是什麼品種的狗嗎？
因為看了照片後覺得超可愛的~~~
Great post! So much detailed information about your experiences with the X1000. I’m thinking of buying this camera to use it for streetphotography, due to its small and silent appearance.
This would be a great addition to my gear. Using a Canon 1000D, 50mm prime f/1.8, 70-300mm f/4-5.6 at the moment, which is kinda heavy and big.
Hope to share my photos made with the X100 very soon!
Keep it up.
I am curious as to what settings you use on your x100. I’ve had one since November 2011 and had only mixed success. Your pictures are great and thanks for the review.
Hi Jay,
I pretty much run a standard setup:
Jpeg mode (since RAW is super slow to write, and I love the Fuji jpegs anyway)
Sharpening – medium hard
Everything else on MID or STD
Auto-ISO on. 1/100s minimum allowed shutter speed. ISO200 as the baseline
I set the Fn button to be film modes, so I can change between provia, astia and velvia
I set the RAW button to ND filter toggle for when I want to shoot at f2 in daylight
I’ve left dynamic range on DR100. I haven’t played with this as much as I should do, but the X100 does such a good job, I haven’t really felt the need to fiddle with it.
And I shoot about 50:50 with the OVF or EVF, with all the information on (histogram, grid lines etc – accessed by pressing “view mode” while looking through the viewfinder)
I also turned all beeps, fake shutter sounds etc OFF. I want the camera to be as discreet as possible.
I hope that helps, but let me know if you find any interesting tweaks or quirks – I’m sure the X100 is full of them!
Such a detail review about the x100… This camera remain one of my dream camera. Since DSLR is my working camera I’m currently using Olympus E-PL2 with Panasonic 14mm and 20mm lens as my walk around and weekend camera. I wanted to invest in more µ4/3 system such as tele lens and EVF but have to agree with you about the x100 philosophy.. This is a camera that you have everything in it… I’m ok with the 35mm focal length but some of your bad point really make me thinking maybe I should wait for x100 replacement
It’s a fantastic camera, and the downsides are absolutely fine as long as you are aware of the limitations. For most shooting, and particularly travel (which is the focus of this blog), the X100 is great. But if you want a tele lens, continuous AF or shooting moving subjects, you should look elsewhere!
謝謝你的回應！
照片中的小狗是拉薩犬，拍照的時候他只有三四個月大。很可愛也很活潑！
******
Comment:
Hello, I came across your pictures and I think they look very nice.
I have a x10, and I do love the Fuji colour. It’s really beautiful!
By the way, the dog with a volleyball was super cute. Do you know what breed it is?
Reply:
Thanks for your comments. She’s a Lhasa Apso puppy! The picture was taken when she’s about three or four months old.
Great to read this! I got mine yesterday and it’s been driving me crazy that I can’t work out how to change the focal point from the centre focal point. I can focus anything manually, but if I expect others to take a shot of me in a far off location I need to know that I can set the focus point and ask them to ‘put the green cross on my face’ and it will work out. Am I missing something here?
Hi Cath,
Well, there’s two ways. You can move the AF point by pressing and holding the “AF” button on the left, then moving the point with the circular wheel.
Or you can focus, then recompose the image. Neither method is particularly easy for a non-photographer to deal with unfortunately!
Well, to be honest; I am impressed by this review. It is very clear that the review is better than the X100 itself. For the money you pay for a camera with this much enoying shortcommings it is hard to believe that anyone would still consider buying one . . like I (still) do. Maybe I should wait for an update in about a year or so. When the camera not only looks great, but feels and works as great too. Thanx for an excellent overview.
Sincerely,
Erik
Excellent review – thanks. Was hopelessly waiting for a miracle along the lines of David Riesenberg’s concept but was disappointed with the new Canon EOS-M. X100 is the closest affordable thing to what I’m looking for but the shortcomings are a deal-breaker. I’ll wait for the purported X200, or even X110!
I have just bought a used Fuji X100 camera from Ebay. I should receive it next week. I read a lot of reviews about this camera before making the choice of actually buying one. Reading your review was extremely useful for me. Having read about all the drawbacks in many other reviews I realised I made a good choice reading again about all the positive aspects of this camera which you summarized so well in such a professional way also thanks to the well selected sample images.
Thanks a lot for taking the time of writing this review. I am looking forward to getting my camera and start using it.
Just want to say thank you for an excellent review. Thorough, helpful, informative, with great samples. One of the best reviews of any camera I’ve ever read (and I’ve read a lot).
Cheers,
Patrik
Excellent review! I read from other source saying that x100 can only sync up to 1/500 if you shoot wide open. Is it true? Is high flash sync only allow at smaller aperture?
Hello
1st of all This is by far the best review of the x100 that i have ever read your review is very precise. im a person who’s kind of travel and climb mountains often and i carry my heavy dslr. i’m planning to get the x100 very soon cause i have already given up on the weight of a dslr 
i’m just kind of skeptical about it regarding the issue that some certain batch or specific serial no. have the issue of sab is that true? how can i avoid that
thank you so much…
Hi king, I haven’t had the sticky aperture blades problem so I can’t comment I’m afraid. If you buy the camera new, it should be covered under warranty. At least, it would be in the UK!
Nice review and great shots. Did you try to shoot flowers or plants in macro mode. I am disappointed with the macro ability in this camera. I get images with a lot of noise. I have tried macro in f4 and f8, iso 250 and all the way up to 1600. All my shots were indoor with fluorescent lighting.
Thanks again,
Lee
Here are photos from two visits to Egypt – one in 1996 and one in 1999. In one trip, we did a cruise of the River Nile from Cairo in the North to Aswan in the South. In the second trip, we cruised Lake Nasser which is to the South of Aswan and the Aswan Dam. These photos were shot on film and scanned in, then tweaked in Adobe Lightroom.
First, the infamous Abu Simbel on the bank of Lake Nasser. I think the cruise ship docked next to Abu Simbel and the people standing in front of the temple shows the scale of it quite well – it is absolutely massive. Even more impressively, they were made 1300 years BC. And even more amazing than that, this is not the original location of the temple. The entire temple was moved in 1968 to avoid flooding from the Aswan Dam. The actual temple location would be beneath the water in the photo below. The is also an interesting solar phenomenon with Abu Simbel where on two days of the year (Feb 21st and Oct 21st) the sun can shine in through the entrance to the temple and illuminate statues in the back of the temple. These two dates lie exactly 61 days before and 61 days after the Winter Solstice and all statues are lit by the sun apart from Ptah, the god of the underworld.
Ok and u did it perfectly plus pictures is a perfect touch
I discovered this blog today and I’m so jealous. I would love to lead a life like this!
This is your only life, and it’s short. Just do it. You probably wouldn’t regret it.
Uluru, Australia shot on Fuji Velvia film
Taken from a very bumpy 4-seater plane ride over Ayers Rock in between bouts of vomiting. The rising heat currents from the ground below shake the plane in a very scary way! I think the picture was worth it though – you can even see The Olgas in the distance.
Lobby of Burj al Arab. It’s amazing. Fountains at the front, huge fish tanks alongside the elevators to the main lobby, and the amazing golden arches and painted ceiling of each floor in the lobby.View full post »
Fascinating story and stunning photography. Thanks for sharing!
Three people standing, waiting for condors to fly overhead at Colca Canyon, Peru. To see 50 more pictures from Peru, click here.
Thank you for this post! I’ve ordered a Pixel from Amazon…
[...] review might be longer if I haven’t seen another review of the same product. It covers a lot more details than I was planning to post here so you should [...]
Great write up the the Vertax D12. I just got mine two days ago and as you stated, ‘I can’t complain’. I paid about $105 on eBay and don’t regret it at all. Your points are spot on and there is no way the MBD12 is $400 better than the vertax D12. That’s what this comes down to. Thanks for the review.
Thanks Noel. The Nikon grip may be better, but I doubt it’s 4-6x better!
Thanks.
I’m glad it’s a good alternative to the horribly overpriced Nikon grip and I’m glad I live in Hong Kong and can walk into a “photo” mall and buy one.
an excellent review and matches my experience with my pixel grip, one question though, do you know what the USB socket is for on the front of the grip (under the runner pixel logo)?
Hi Darren, I think the USB port is for firmware updates. It’s well hidden and isn’t mentioned in the user manual that comes with the grip. I suspect it’s there in case Nikon release some sort of d800 grip which stops 3rd party grips from working. Then Pixel can issue an update themselves and tell people about the USB port.
I would have never purchased a third party grip. Always beating the drum for OEM Nikon accessories, the price of the OEM grip made me think otherwise. I purchase a MB-D 12 grip and returned it because I could not justify the price.
I have learned to go “gripless” and I love it. For three uears my D700 had a MB-D10 attached with a 24-70. Today I travel lite with the 28mm f1.8 and 85mm f1.8 and enjoy the mobility. I do not miss the grip at all, I thought I would. But if I need a grip i will more than likely purchase a Pixel! Thanks David, I appreciated your answers to questions found on the web!
Thanks Jeff. I was the same, but I figured for the price vs the price of the Nikon grip, why not! The reason I bought the grip is because I found the d800 quite uncomfortable to hold, particularly with big lenses. It’s a bit blocky feeling and I feel like I’m “pinching” onto it, rather than “gripping” it. The grip gives me something a bit more substantial to hold onto.
Nice review. Picked up this Vertax grip from Amazon (prime) and am very happy with it. Much better than the Meike offering. Vertax did a very good job matching the finish of the d800. The texture in both the molded plastic and rubber is just spot-on. The price tag on the Nikon OEM is just a huge slap in the face. Never even considered buying one at $400.
Regarding the use of mini USB port, someone in the Hong Kong forum confirmed with PIXEL, it is for firmware update. It should be more or less the same as your estimation.
Amount the 3 3rd party D12, PIXEL should be the most popular at this moment.
“Can the camera be powered by only the grip? Yes. The camera works fine if you only have batteries in the grip and not in the camera. That works with both the Nikon battery and with 8xAA batteries. No problems at all.”
Can it work if you only have batteries in the camera and not in the grip?
Hi Tim, Yup it works great! Though you won’t get 6fps in DX mode without batteries in the grip, everything else is normal.
A very well written detailed review of the Pixel Vertax D12. Its simply Nikon’s policy to charge the earth for the MB-D12 battery grip which is also almost equivalent to an entry level DSLR. I’ve heard that many of their accessories are outsourced and branded Nikon and price it according to their own free will making suckers out of us. I’ve just ordered the Pixel Vertax D12 at eBay. It cost me about $123[US] in India. Heaps of thanks to you.
How does the rubber grip feel vs the Nikon?
Are the command dials on the grip rubber or hard plastic?
Did you see this issue?
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1021&message=42137971&changemode=1
Sorry I don’t have the Nikon on hand to make a direct comparison. The command dials are hard plastic.
I haven’t noticed this issue when using the grip.
Can you try this test with your command dials on the D12.
Hold down ISO button. Spin the command dial slowly. Each click should register.
Now spin the command dial quickly. It registered 2 clicks when I did about 5.
Almost like there’s a timer on the dial?
I had an issue batteries in the camera and not in the grip. It works, but put a flash on the D800. Set it to manual zoom but use a zoom lens. Now go shoot. Every now and then you’ll notice the camera has rebooted. Also, the zoom on the SB900 has gone backto auto zoom. There’s a 0.5s delay as the system reboots.
Hi Tim,
The dials on my grip work perfectly – or at least as well as the ones on the camera. I haven’t noticed them jumping or missing clicks, so it sounds like yours has a problem.
Same for the battery issue – I haven’t noticed any unusual behaviour. I don’t have a flash so I can’t replicate the exact circumstances you mentioned, sorry! It does sound like your grip has a problem – you can probably return it!
Thanks again David! I really like the Pixil Grip. Your review is right on! My first unit was defective (the AE/AF lock when the shutter is pressed half-way did not work but the AE/AF button did work) and the company replaced it in four days (reordered and defective unit sent back to them). This is worth the “Benjamin!”
Great info & review.
I am also looking for a good grip but can not see going for the Nikon version.
Best detail images I seen…
al
So after several months of using this grip how is it taking the use?
Grip seems to be handling use fine. Admittedly I haven’t used it as much as I thought I would, and I mostly use the d800 without a grip at all. The only thing is that I left the grip on a desk which was in direct sunlight for half a day and the rubber has faded to a pale-ish grey. That was a mistake on my part, but I was surprised how much it faded in such a short time. All the buttons and scroll wheels still work absolutely fine.
My verdict would be that it’s fine to use. Build quality is solid enough to last for hobbyists and people who simply want a more comfortable camera. But if you’re a dedicated grip-using shooter, maybe investing in the Nikon one would be better.