E-P5 Wood Grip By J.B. Camera Designs

[drd1135]

I'm astonished at how much turmoil this simple posting of an Amazon link to give Amin some revenue for this website has caused. Come on people, get a grip. (pun intended...)

It just goes against the grain.

 

[OzRay]

Just stick it to them.

 

[Ross the fiddler]

I'm astonished at how much turmoil this simple posting of an Amazon link to give Amin some revenue for this website has caused. Come on people, get a grip. (pun intended...)

Maybe I wood if it woodn't break! But then, I woodn't want to be seen with one of those on my camera. :tongue:

BTW, that timber looks great for my toilet seat.

 

[scott2hot]

I cant handle this!...your all walnuts!

 

[scott2hot]

:tongue::evilsmile:If JB wants to give me a (Nice) grip for my E M10 (gratis)...I would begrudgingly accept in payment for all the interest in his wooden grips...it would seem our bellyaching has put his product up somewhat on amazon.

 

[Uncle Frank]

:tongue::evilsmile:If JB wants to give me a (Nice) grip for my E M10 (gratis)...I would begrudgingly accept in payment for all the interest in his wooden grips...

Olympus already offers a terrific add-on grip for the em10. I don't think JB could compete with it.

it would seem our bellyaching has put his product up somewhat on amazon.

It was probably my order.

 

[Uncle Frank]

My concern is the unfortunate property with wood/timber is that it can crack & the plate (shelf) might crack at the wrong time with a heavy lens on it because of the leverage from the 'broomstick'. I don't know how strong the Peruvian Walnut timber is that he is using, but with all timbers there are some widely varying properties. I would feel more comfortable if there was an inset metal plate in the base of the 'shelf' that the 'broomstick' attached to via the internal rod, but it only has a cap of that rod system, with the cut-out for the battery access adding to that weakness. That's just my thoughts on it anyhow.

That might be an issue for folks shooting with f/2.8 zooms, but my fast primes are lightweight, as is the camera. At any rate, I always use a wrist strap.

 

[scott2hot]

Olympus already offers a terrific add-on grip for the em10. I don't think JB could compete with it.



It was probably my order.

Yeah I think I will have to go with oly version...just being a tight wad..I suppose 54 quid is better than the 200 quid originally for E M5 version!
I hope the grip feels good on your E P5....sorry frank still think it spoils the look though!

 

[MajorMagee]

Not to get too crazy stalker or anything but I've checked the amazon sales rank # on it every so often and over the last few days it's gone from hovering around ~12000 to ~8000-~9000 to ~2500 now

How does one do that? Is it a service you pay for or does Amazon publish it somewhere?

 

[piggsy]

There are tracking services you can pay for but I did it a simple way - I had a variety of tabs on it open from when I was about to buy it with the wrong amazon digital account (have to use a fake US shipping address to get them to give you digital keys), when I bought it, when I had opened tabs on all the JB grips, and from a few days later after I thought to check because of this thread. It's pretty fickle, sometimes it just stops showing up for some products if there is lots of movement (up or down - could be with the flash sales they ran it crashed out entirely after hitting ~1300). But at any rate all of them seem to have moved up rather a lot from what I remember of checking the others, the E-M5 plastic grip is currently showing rank #35 in Camera & Photo > Accessories > Digital Camera Accessories > Battery Grips
-

http://www.amazon.com/Grip-Base-Oly...=sr_1_2?s=photo&ie=UTF8&qid=1403440892&sr=1-2

 

[Uncle Frank]

The Woodie arrived today. The standard shipping mode was USPS, and it only took 4 days to get here. It's a pleasant surprise... ergonomically excellent... and the wood is much darker than advertised. Despite the high price, I have absolutely no buyer's remorse. I'll post a few pictures tomorrow.

 

[piggsy]

Mine's simply saying it's in 'australia' which probably means it'll sit in sydney airport for another day or three

Got a response back from JB about making a PM2 grip too -

Hi Jim,

I've not had an E-PM2 in hand to make a grip. I'll definitely consider it. BTW, I love the E-P5 grip - my favorite!

Thanks!
J.B.

 

[Uncle Frank]

Here's my ep5 with the woodie.

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It's a delight to have a decent grip again. The "broomstick" is perfectly positioned for a fingertip hold, and the additional height lets me press the pinkie finger on my right hand to the front of the camera instead of underneath it. The wood is very dark, and over time the oils from my skin will darken it further. The assembly is surprisingly small and light, and the grip doesn't hide the beauty of the camera, which I felt a half case did. And there's no problem accessing the sd card or battery through the port in the bottom of the grip. Here's what it looks like in use.

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It's a pricey bit of kit, but imho well worth it.

 

[piggsy]

I don't have a nice curved product shot background, I just have red demoman and some bulbs -

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it's pretty good though. I don't know about $80us good. But it is good nonetheless. The wood texture of it is actually the best part, I think - just having something that isn't halfway to slick as soon as there is one nanolitre of moisture or oil anywhere near your palm is a big plus. The other concern I had with it was how the handle would hold up if that was the only thing supporting the camera (not something I would do deliberately but you can see it happening eventually) - it seems fine holding up the oly 60mm and pen and grip by itself. I don't know if I would swing it around at 10g all day like that but it's solid enough not to feel risky at all.

 

[MajorMagee]

I always use the VF-4 and I'm finding the wood smell is right in my nose and a bit overpowering. Hopefully it will fade with time.

 

[Uncle Frank]

I spent all day shooting the 4th of July festivities using my ep5 and 25/1.8. My funky wooden grip was worth every penny I spent on it. Over 400 shots, and no hand fatigue, and numerous compliments from fellow photographers on the rig. It looks terrific in person.

 

[piggsy]

Yep, really liking mine as well. Got stopped by the police using it though (not even for taking photos or using it, just, *tyre screech* "you have a camera! explain yourself!") , which never happened using the P5 by itself. Maybe it does look a little too much like a dodgy panelvan

Same experience with other people liking it too - I think maybe the constant "it looks like a mop" line on this thread got to me, everyone I've showed it to so far in person seems to think it's actually pretty cool

 

[OzRay]

Yep, really liking mine as well. Got stopped by the police using it though (not even for taking photos or using it, just, *tyre screech* "you have a camera! explain yourself!") , which never happened using the P5 by itself. Maybe it does look a little too much like a dodgy panelvan

Police in Australia stopped because you had a camera?

 

[Ross the fiddler]

Police in Australia stopped because you had a camera?

Yeah, things are different up there where they bend bananas.

 

[piggsy]

Police in Australia stopped because you had a camera?

Yuup. Had not even been seen taking any photos of anything, nor did they have any interest in seeing anything I had actually taken on the camera when offered. Just - having a camera 2 blocks from your own house in broad daylight is enough for a good 5-10 minute pigging. Don't you know there is a school and a daycare centre in this suburb? :/