The Taiwanese company Ownuser announced the start of the GH2 battery grip sales. Here is the official press release:
“Dear Customer
We will tell you a good news. PANASONIC GH2’s grip is already on the market in 2011/12/20. On this website, you can get more product information.
http://www.ownuser.com.tw/e_mig_pgh2.html
On this website, you can buy products through PAYPAL (online credit card page, like EBAY)
http://www.ownuser.com.tw/e_paypal_panasonic.html
MIG-PGH2 has four purchase specifications
(1) MIG-PGH2B = only BODY (B = BLACK)
(2) MIG-PGH2AB = BODY + MEB-03-c (A = external AA battery pack)
(3) [New specifications] MIG-PGH2RB =BODY + mini IR 2B & RHS (R = IR Remote, not the wired remote control)
(4) MIG-PGH2RAB = BODY + MEB-03-c + mini IR 2B & RHS
We recommend to buy (1) or (3).
Because AA batteries is not recommended as the main power supply that use on GH2 cameras.
Thanks for your business and support, wish you and your family a merry Christmas and happy New Year.
Best regards,
Sincerely,
Ownuser Customer Service”
Soon the battery grip will be on sale on eBay too ([shoplink 27770 ebay]Click here to search for Ownuser stuff on eBay[/shoplink]).
39 Responses
can see these selling really well, hopefully they’ll work on the GH3 too 😉
😉
hopefully a GH3 doesn´t need this kind of advancing the grip and battery life. If the body will be bigger, there will be enough room for bigger battery and better grip ( and handling ). Therefore I hope it will not work on a GH3 because of a modified body….
Very nice , i hope to see the Battery grip for the pen (e-pl1) soon !
🙂
Does it take only 1 or 2 batteries?
I too can see these selling really well because the GH2 is a bit small for some users and a grip will help that. Shame that it’s so ugly . . . Panny needs to design one to supplement the GH3.
Talk about a way to defeat the whole purpose of the mft system !
I’d go with a true DSLR if I needed a battery grip.
@rrr_hhhh
I think you’ll find the that journalists, wedding photographers, street shooters,hikers etc will find the battery grip useful for all day shooting and it’s still much smaller and discreet than carrying a Canikon equivalent set up with battery grip.
The IR Remote is an added bonus too 😀
Hikers? Apparently you’ve never done any, because carrying as light and as little as possible is important. The 20 seconds it takes to change batteries is hardly worth strapping a monstrosity like that thing onto your GH2.
Streetshooting is pretty much the same, with the added need for subtlety and discretion.
I visit the North Yorkshire moors a couple times a week and other nature reserves through the month….so there!
Street shooting is more about technique and live view than whether you have a larger camera because of a battery grip, I’m still able to get discreet and subtle shots when I use my battery grip with my Panasonic L10’s at weddings.
Also the battery grip will provide a nice balance if you are using the likes of the original Four Thirds Leica 25mm f1.4 and other larger lenses, as well as being useful for shooting video away from electric supplies.
@ YoudDidntDidYou Love the North Yorkshire Moors. Have a look around my stream sometime:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/oxfordshirechurches
1) A GH2 with such grip and a 100-300 lens is dwarfed by its APS-C equivalent. With everything in perspective, size does matter 😉
2) GH2 was never meant to be pocketable anyways.
3) A battery grip is an add-on. you don’t need one, don’t get one.
4) If there is a market for it, that you got a purpose right there
5) speaking of which, m43 is not a purpose, its a lens protocol. To each its own, you got a plethora of of m43 users having different use and taste.
6) There are no 6th observations.
My biggest question is why does Panasonic doesn’t make one?
You are correct. Here we go again. Micro four Thirds is supposed to represent small, high quality cameras and lenses.
The same pattern that took place for Dslr cameras over the years is back again.
I understand if you want to carry big. There is big out there. Folks like me have looked to downsize for comfort and convenience.
I guess we’ll wait and see what the future brings.
Couldn’t they have made it just a little bit uglier? 😉
It kind of defeats the point, extra expense and the size advantage of M4/3.
You still need to buy 2 batteries for the thing.
Me? I carry my second battery in a pocket.
+1 for the detractors. If you can’t find 20 seconds to change your battery, then perhaps you are not a professional. And the casual user shouldn’t need this monstrosity (or want it). Also, is it normal to bring out accessories for a camera just as it is about to be discontinued?
I have missed amazing shots while changing film, CF cards, batteries etc.
It happens.
Isn’t it the message that GH2 is gonna sell longer that some people think?
Who needs GH3?
Fittingly ugly for the currently ugliest mirrorless camera 😀
She may not be pretty, be she sure can go.
Know what I mean? Eh? Know what I mean? Say no more. wink wink nudge nudge 😉
Where is the GH2 ugly? To me all the soap box like PENs and pseudo rangefinders are the really ugly things in the camera industry. Not only that they aren’t looking really well, they also have major ergonomic flaws and technical shortcomings (multi controller, no grip, slippery and cold metal bodies, no build-in EVFs), that I would rather tolerate the DSLR design of a GH2 than accepting the compromises in handling and feel of all the PENs, GFs and G3s.
As to the grip: no reason to assume that this is against the purpose of m4/3, which is not (by far!) only about body size. If someone needs this accessory (!), – why not? It certainly would help to hold even a camera like the GH2 more stable, when using the 100-300mm lens.
+1
Just because I don’t need one and I don’t find it pretty (both statements are are true) does not mean its useless for everyone else.
@Mar : I stand with Mahler on that one. To me, EPs and GFs range from ugly to ordinary. But its personal. Ergonomically wise, I find the GH2 better than any of those soap box shaped camera I tried so far (GF1, EP2). Again, its personal. Thing is, thats already two persons that does not share your personal opinion which you sometimes give the impression of confusing it with a scientifically demonstrated truth.
My daughter describes it as “clunky,” now that we have one. If we could ever get Olympus and Panasonic to design one together with their respective strengths joined in perfect harmony, we’d have an awesome m43 camera.
Looks like an afterthought.
I have some questions about this grip, perhaps someone knows the answers.
1. Are there two or more GH2 batteries in the Grip or is it some other battery?
2. If some other lithium battery is in the grip, what is its capacity?
3. If there are two GH2 batteries in the grip, (as it appears in the brochure,), are they electrically connected in parallel ? (better flash recharge time and longer run time)
4. Are AA batteries an option for the grip or is it an external battery pack option only?
5. Do 8 Nickel Metal Hydride AA batteries resolve the power delivery issue expressed by the note saying special operating procedures should be used with AA batteries?
6. Would it be recommended that the NMH be the non low self discharge type for better energy delivery due to the lower internal resistance? (This sacrifices the ability of the battery to hold a charge over time).
7. I assume there is not battery status indicator. Is that correct?
A set of NMH in series would last somewhat more than two times as long as the 1.2 amp hour GH2 battery.
Thanks
Your questions raises an issue.
This battery grip adds extra power from AA batteries and an extra grip. Lets ignore the aesthetic concerns raised thus far, it could be good enough for some.
If Panasonic made one, I’d expect more, much more:
-extra controls, not just a shutter.
-direct plug-in, not a dangling cord.
-extra memory storage
-new firmware that take advantage of the extra power (some cameras have boosted ISO with the battery grip)
Wow, what a bunch of bitchy little whiners you guys are. 🙂
If anyone buys this, can you post a review and whether the bottom has either a 3/8 or 1/4 screw mount? I can’t find an image of the bottom. Also, i would be good to know how far away from the camera it can be mounted, i.e., some battery grips can be attached to tripod legs.
Thanks, Kevin
&- and seriously, except for Jules, you guys are a bunch of posers
Sorry dude but I agree with them. This makes no sense
Whether it makes sense depends in part on the answers to snowflake’s questions.
+1 on those.
I think I stick with my 9.5 hour battery pack thankyou its cheaper @ £30
chris
are you the guy on you tube that made your own battery pack using an rc battery?
Design straight out of hell… Tasteless and obsolete too
Welcome to China! 😉
LOL! China will have the last laugh. Most consumer electronics are made in China already.
Anyone who thinks the GH2 is about to be obsolete really is ….. let’s be polite and just say ‘wrong’.
As they say, to each their own, but for me, kind of defeats the purpose of m4/3, even tho the GH isn’t a small body camera, but having a couple of extra batteries seems to make more sense for me. What I especially don’t like about it is the design doesn’t flow and I hate to give up the one input there is.
A no go for me.
Let’s face it. There are better options for small stills cameras than the Gh2. So many of the comments made by detractors here are moot. For video though, the camera really is hard to top. Added battery life is a huge blessing for documentary video work. Don’t know if I’ll pick one up, but if I do I doubt I’ll care about aesthetics if it gets the job done. I already use those ugly kippon assigned anyway.
in my opinion the grip is a good thing to have,expecially for tele shooters,200-300mm and above. more gear we get its better. 🙂
The most interesting thing I finally discerned from the Engrish in the information they provide is that there’s an A/B battery switch. You don’t pull power from both batteries at the same time. If you _did_ then the draw would be lower on each battery and (per my 20 years of broadcast TV experience) the batteries would last longer with a lower draw. So a 1 hr battery could last 1:20. Using two batteries, you have now gone from 1 hr to 2:40 between battery changes. But not here. It still only pulls from one battery at a time.
OTOH, it does talk about passing battery info from the grip to the camera- which is very cool. I would have expected it wouldn’t (and if it pulled from both batteries, it couldn’t.)
As for those who ask if it uses AA batteries… click through & RTFM.
For those why don’t see the point… don’t buy it.
I think it’s a great idea and not only does it let the user worry less about the battery dying in an hour, it gives a portrait shutter, and for landscape, makes the grip taller which makes the camera easier to hold. For those who like it, there’s lots of different reasons to like it. If you don’t like it, close this window and move on with your life. 🙂
Do you also go to argue construction workers that sledgehammers are ugly and obsolete?
I sure do hope that so that they will give you firm percussive maintenance smack to head with that slegde and remove one idiot from burdening this planet’s ecosystems.
If you can’t see camera as tool and demand every single one of them to be made unergonomically small and with limited controls/features then you are no different from Bin Laden&Co and all the various religious lunatics.