Tue Nov 17, 2020 5:31 pm
Several post above I mentioned about the Vello battery grip for the pocket 4/6K. It's now available on B&H and I went ahead a purchased one. I have tried it out and like to share my experiences in case it is interesting to some of you. But first, let me explain my need for it.
Like many of you, my P6K is on a cage. The cage gives me the ability to protect and rig the camera, which I usually have it all rigged up with V-mount batts, etc. when I am using it on a production shoot. I do have 2 scenarios that I use the P6K: (1) On production shoot (as said) and (2) Walk-about or fun/personal shoot. I don't know about you folks but for just walk-about, I want a strip down and easy to grab and shoot, and not to bring any attention from the public (or worse in some parts of South Cali) approached by the permit patrol which happened to me a few times. So I want just the camera and lens if at all possible. However the battery issue needed to be addressed and I just don't want to hang an external battery with wires and franken-look if you know what I mean. I need a couple of hours worth of power at least too. So a battery grip that integrates seamlessly and have the look and feel of one single device is important to my #2 need.
The BMD grip was not interesting to me because it is so pricy and uses Sony L batts. I have a lot of LP-E6 laying around that I can use.
There has been a few knock-off battery grips on Ebay lately but they were poorly constructed and no warranty or manufacturer to back them up. So they were a passed.
I have Vello battery grips for my Canon and Panasonic still cams and they are well constructed and pretty much just as nice and good as the OEM that's 3 or 4 times the price. So I was comfortable buying their product.
Their Blackmagic P4/6K grip, as a first impression I thought that they just got one of the knock-offs sold on Ebay and repackaged it because the grip just looks exactly as the ones on ebay. I had my doubts. But since they are selling it via B&H and have a 1 year warranty on their product, I can order it from B&H and if I don't like it, I could return it within 30days. With that I bite the bullet.
So... yes the battery grip came looking like the one on e-bay. However, it is more polished, meaning well constructed, and its construction felt like a better QC'd product. It's still plastic but it is hard and solid feeling. It mounted seamlessly on the P6K (and should be the same for the P4K too). It took 3 LP-E6 batteries (also can use the LP-E6N). The batteries are not use all at the same time and cycles through using one at a time. The manufacturer said you'll get 3 hours but with my setting, using BRAW and my display brightness turned up all the way, I get about 2.10 hours with 3rd party batts I already owned (namely Watson 7.2v 2000mah brand) and bought from Amazon a long time ago. Not bad at all. So when I'm not on production and want to use the camera, I take it off the cage, put the batt grip and lens... and off I go. Very convenient and incognito.
Then there are things that I had to deal with it, a bit of inconvenience that I could live with and I thought I'd share.
1. The mounting hole is a bit off-centered. When putting it on a tripod, the camera is not dead-center to the tripod vertical axis. You either just have to get use to or get a cheese plate and mount it below so you can get a center hole. Again, for me, the least I add to rig it, the better for #2 so I just learn to live with it and not have a cheese plate.
2. I suggest draining all the batteries first then charge them fully. You can put all 3 batteries into the grip and use the included usb-c power charger to charge the batteries. Make sure all of the batteries are equally charged before using it.
3. Make certain the camera switch is powered off before sliding in the grip. Also check that the battery grip switch is off too. Then when the grip is mounted, always turn on the battery grip switch on, then the camera switch. This is just precautionary so it won't create issues with your camera. This are minor inconveniences because I have to think of it each time.
4. DO NOT CHARGE THE BATTERY GRIP using the USB-C charger while it is mounted to the camera. You should always remove the grip from the camera to charge it with the included usb-c charger. I spoke to a Vello tech and he said you can damage the camera doing so. Beats me but I'd rather take that advice than screw-up my cam.
5. The battery grip is very light it feels weird when mounted to the camera with the batts. But once you put in the batt, the added weight makes it feel right.
Overall, this is a good solution for me. For $70, with B&H 30 day return policy, one year Vello warranty, it was a no brainer for me. It's a good buy compared to the BMD grip (price and type of battery solution not having to have two kinds). I don't like recommending product but if you are looking for a batt grip, I suggest you give this a consideration, particularly if you already have the LP-E6 batts.
Last edited by
Ellory Yu on Sat Nov 21, 2020 12:52 am, edited 2 times in total.
URSA Mini Pro 4.6K G2, Blackmagic Design Pocket Cinema Camera 6K, Panasonic GH5
PC Workstation Core I7 64Gb, 2 x AMD R9 390X 8Gb, Blackmagic Design DeckLink 4K Mini Monitor, Windows 10 Pro 64-bit, Resolve Studio 18, BM Micro Panel & Speed Editor