I’m a Nikon D40 owner. I originally bought the camera because of it’s affordable price, and size. I wanted to be able to have some money for good glass too. Apparently beyond Nikon’s belief, I rarely take the camera out of A(perture) or M(anual) modes. I say this, because there aren’t many accessories available to D40 owners that you would find with other models. One that I’ve been long awaiting, is a vertical battery grip with shutter control.
A few grips came out early on, most with built in battery, but no shutter release. Following these first entries were a few that utilized IR, much like the remote. Which meant that while you could technically use the vertical shutter release, you had to have the camera in IR mode. A few tests with the IR remote however, show me that if I depress the shutter release, I don’t get half press focus, full press fire. The other thing that lacks is any control over aperture and focus and exposure lock.
I’ve been watching this market since I got the D40, since I knew eventually it was an upgrade ‘d be interested in. When I spotted a grip from Targus, I got excited for two reasons… First it was at least a company making the grip I had heard of before. The second was the fact that the photo (on walmart.com above) clearly showed the grip had controls, and control pins that would act to directly control the camera!
WRONG!
I excitedly ordered the grip from Adorama, who had the same photo as above on their site. As I anxiously awaited it’s arrival I also found it on Walmart.com (as shown above). When it arrived however, it was clearly a different product then pictured.
This is what arrived. I quickly took a photo and put it on flickr in order to show the folks at Adorama they had sent me the wrong thing. I then ordered it from Walmart.com while planning to return the one from Adorama.
The next morning, I awoke to find a note from a person calling themselves an Adorama Customer Support Ambassador had contacted me through flickr. With some back and forth, she put me in direct contact with a sales person at Adorama who tried to help me out the best they could.
Admittedly, with a little more back-and-forth then should have been necessary, I received a return label to send the grip back. Today, I received my order from Walmart… SAME DARN THING! Now from what the Ambasedor told me, it seems Targus is issuing the wrong photo for online retailers!
So this, not to be mistaken for complaining, though I am aggravated, but rather a plea to Nikon to buck up and give us a grip. There are contacts clearly available in the battery compartment, and the battery cover easily comes off. So what’s up Nikon?!
Of course its also is a bit of a WTH? at Targus. If your selling something for visually oriented people, I’d suggest getting the photo right.
