One of our members said 'It's not for me, all it does is add weight'.

I wondered what others who had the grip thought.

I may need it for my 4/3 zoom, in the meantime I use hand strap...but I wish Olympus give us a cheaper choice of obtain the grip only....extra battery + HLD 6 will be too much for my bleeding wallet :-)

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My Gear : EM-5, E-1, EPL-1, + Lumix 20, 14; Fujinon 55; OM 35, 135; mZD 45, 12-50, 14-42, 40-150R; ZD 35, 14-54 mkI, 40-150 mkI

I'll say 'Thank goodness for the added weight and bulk! For those of us with large hands the diminutive size of the OM-D body is unbearable on its own.'

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-Dragos
Panasonic GH1 + various lenses

Love it. It is very clever, and does not add much weight or bulk (just enough in my opinion). I usually use the whole thing & keep my lone battery in the portrait grip battery compartment. Occasionally I use only the landscape grip because that configuration + the Panasonic 20mm fits in my bicycle saddle bag best.

I find the camera by itself is too fumbly for my liking. The rubber grips have lots of traction.

I'm quite impressed by how solid the grips are when attached. After all, the three-piece assembly (2 grips+camera) are only held together by two screws. But it has no creak or slack to it.

Would it be better if it were not as expensive? Of course, but not dropping my much more expensive camera & lenses is worth the extra cost to me.

Maybe for him that might be the case! but I would suggest dropping into your local camera dealer and try one on your camera.

I will also second what Bitmatt said I almost fumbled the camera myself when I unpacked it

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Sales @ Henrys Photo.

Gear: Canon 1D MarkIII, Black EM-5 with grip 12-50mm lens, 45 1.8 12mm f2 in the pipeline. Lenses: EF50 f1.8 EF 24-70 f2.8L, EF70-200 f2.8 IS, EF300 f2.8 IS. 1.4-2X extenders. Canon FD 28 f2.8,50 f1.4 SCC,100 f4 Macro C/W 50U EXT Tube, Vivitar FD 80-210 F4.5,Vivitar 28-85 f2.8 Wide Angle Macro

Question: if you are only using the front grip, can you access the battery compartment, or do you need to remove the grip to change the battery? It appears from pictures you'd need to remove the grip, but I just want to confirm.

I'm considering picking one of these up, though I don't really have a problem with the E-M5 as it is. If I got it, though, I'd probably leave the front grip on most of the time and use the portrait grip a fair bit as well (for studio or sports work), but not full time.

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Jordan Steele - http://www.jordansteele.com
Admiring Light - http://www.admiringlight.com

I really want to buy a silver OM-D E-M5 with the grip, but from what I've seen it looks like the grip has been designed for the black version, texture wise I mean. Is there another version I've missed that complements the leatherette of the silver version? Does anybody own the silver version with the grip and do you want to post some pictures?

Thanks in advance ;-)

P.S. I know it seems like a non-issue, but if I'm going to spend €1600,- (OM-D E-M5 + 12-50mm + grip), I want everything to be perfect... inside and out!

Not at all. The grip looks real nice to me on my Silver E-M5. With the camera being silver AND black having the black grip on there still goes with the color scheme. I use the grip 100% of the time and love it. I too put the battery in the grip for ease of use.

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E-M5|GF2
OLY 12-50mm | P 7-14mm f/4.0 | PL 25mm f/1.4 | PL 45mm f2.8 | P 45-200mm | flux capacitor @ 1.21 GW|

Great to hear, LVL8hacker... Would it be too much to ask if you could post some pictures of your silver E-M5 with the grip on? It would be REALLY appreciated ;-)

Forgive my phone pic's as my main weapon of choice is now the subject :)

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E-M5|GF2
OLY 12-50mm | P 7-14mm f/4.0 | PL 25mm f/1.4 | PL 45mm f2.8 | P 45-200mm | flux capacitor @ 1.21 GW|