I picked up one of those cheap Chinese L-plate acra swiss grips for my PEN on ebay for $30, not for the L plate (which I took off) and not for the acra swiss groove along the bottom, but for the grip so that my pen would be easier to hold and handle, especially with my VF-4 and Olympus 12-40mm f2.8 attached.
This is what it looks like. Great accessory, but the grip is pretty slippery because it's completely smooth.
Well looking to solve the problem of a perfect size grip thats mega slippery, I ordered a sheet of camera leatherette with an adhesive back from www.cameraleather.com (I ordered the VH Black Pebbled Leatherette 8.25" x 11.6" sheet for $13.50). I first cut a piece of paper to the shape of the grip and then cut the leatherette sheet to the trace of the piece of paper. Then I just peeled the back, exposing the super sticky adhesive and put it on the grip.
Wow, the grip is just awesome now. Super easy to hold without fear of slipping, looks a lot better and you do not feel the cold metal when holding it in colder temperatures.
The bottom of these grips have lots of holes. Their is one hole for accessing the battery, but my grip had two additional holes in it, one under the grip part and another one to the right of the camera bottom as well as two screws, they looked pretty ugly and not nice to hold when using the camera.
Well it was super easy to cut a piece of leatherette for the bottom, completely covering those additional holes, only leaving the battery compartment hole. On my PEN the battery cover door is a bright silver plastic piece, so I covered that with leatherette as well and used a black sharpie marker to cover any other silver plastic around the door edges, viewable from the bottom of the grip. My grip bottom looks and feels 10 times better now. And adding the leatherette along the bottom does not impede its use in your tripods acra swiss clamp either.
These grips are available for a variety of PEN models and with this quick and easy mod, it completely changes the dynamics and handling of my camera. I'm now getting the equivalent handling of the E-M1! The extra mass of the grip itself allows me to not only hold my camera easier, but dampens camera vibrations even further allowing you to hold your camera at even slower shutter speeds with image stabilization.
Incidently I'm using a PEN E-PM2 and they don't make a grip for it. So I though I would try the ebay grip sold for the E-PL5, and it fits perfectly!
This is what it looks like. Great accessory, but the grip is pretty slippery because it's completely smooth.
Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
Well looking to solve the problem of a perfect size grip thats mega slippery, I ordered a sheet of camera leatherette with an adhesive back from www.cameraleather.com (I ordered the VH Black Pebbled Leatherette 8.25" x 11.6" sheet for $13.50). I first cut a piece of paper to the shape of the grip and then cut the leatherette sheet to the trace of the piece of paper. Then I just peeled the back, exposing the super sticky adhesive and put it on the grip.
Wow, the grip is just awesome now. Super easy to hold without fear of slipping, looks a lot better and you do not feel the cold metal when holding it in colder temperatures.
Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
The bottom of these grips have lots of holes. Their is one hole for accessing the battery, but my grip had two additional holes in it, one under the grip part and another one to the right of the camera bottom as well as two screws, they looked pretty ugly and not nice to hold when using the camera.
Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
Well it was super easy to cut a piece of leatherette for the bottom, completely covering those additional holes, only leaving the battery compartment hole. On my PEN the battery cover door is a bright silver plastic piece, so I covered that with leatherette as well and used a black sharpie marker to cover any other silver plastic around the door edges, viewable from the bottom of the grip. My grip bottom looks and feels 10 times better now. And adding the leatherette along the bottom does not impede its use in your tripods acra swiss clamp either.
Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
These grips are available for a variety of PEN models and with this quick and easy mod, it completely changes the dynamics and handling of my camera. I'm now getting the equivalent handling of the E-M1! The extra mass of the grip itself allows me to not only hold my camera easier, but dampens camera vibrations even further allowing you to hold your camera at even slower shutter speeds with image stabilization.
Incidently I'm using a PEN E-PM2 and they don't make a grip for it. So I though I would try the ebay grip sold for the E-PL5, and it fits perfectly!
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