OM SYSTEM OLYMPUS HLD-7 Camera Grip for Olympus E-M1 Compact System Cameras

Let's get price out of the way:As with most vertical grip options, it's at a price we'd rather not have to fork over. However, when you consider that the E-M1 is actually over-priced in some ways this accessory is actually competitively priced for the most part. I happened to have credit points built up with Amazon that were automatically applied to this item when I ordered it so I got it for about $35 less. However, when I added it to my cart I thought I was paying full price and would have.The price is also relatively good when you consider that Nikons, for example, (yes it's a larger camera, but the teach is the same) average $260 or so for OEM grips in their higher line. And the D800's grip is still an absurd $350! Even Fuji's featureless metal grip for the X-E1/2 that also happens to block the battery/SD door is nearly $100. It's just a piece of metal with a screw into the camera.Now we come to a WEATHER SEALED vertical grip that's lightweight, has a storage space for the rubber stopper that you remove from the bottom of the camera, holds an extra battery, gives you both command dials from the standard orientation and a pair of customizable function buttons. Many OEM grips don't offer this much, esp. weathersealing. I've had several grips over the years with Canon and Nikon (Fuji doesn't offer them as of now) and this is the most feature-rich, namely because of the incorporated dials.Size and Build:The size is rather small for a grip, as you'd expect paired with a smallish m43 body. The construction is good as well. Not heavy duty feeling like a magnesium Nikon grip, etc., but it's is a lot smaller and competently solid feeling. The contact points and connection are solid and I feel, at least as of now, that this will hold up well.Features:It's loaded. You get all the stuff I mentioned above - two function buttons, two control dials, shutter release, vertical lock switch, extra battery and weather sealing. Some mention wanting an SD card slot area and honestly, this is a feature that the $1400 camera should have. Most grips with an extra SD slot (Pentax for example) serves only as storage and doesn't actually communicate with the body. A communication SD slot would be nice for sure, but it should really have been built into the E-M1. The only "feature" I wish it had was a double-sided locking screw. The dial to "screw" the grip to the camera is on the back only. On other brands, like Nikon, the wheel goes through the grip to the front side as well. This really helps in locking it down as you can grip the wheel from both sides - like tightening the lid on a jar. The back-only orientation isn't bad, but I do prefer the through wheel design offered by other vendors - despite it being somewhat unsightly.Performance:Very good and usable without adding too much bulk to the camera. You buy m43 because it's small and transforming it into a D4 kind of defeats the purpose. This is right where it should be in size and it works very well. My only quibble is that the function buttons, though properly located, are a bit low for my thumb reach. This ONLY stands out to me because it's the only thing I've noticed not being completely fluid. And, obviously, hands are all different so this won't bother many. It's certainly not a reason for me to ding the rating as Fn buttons aren't used on EVERY shot. Hint: I find setting the B-Fn 1 button to "zoom in" so you can check focus is very quick and handy. I set the top Fn on the camera to this as well.Conclusion:If you spent $1400 on the E-M1 then $200 for a fully-featured, weather sealed grip really shouldn't be that big of a deal. You'll get more function out of it than you'll likely miss that $200. At least that's the case for me. It's actually somewhat of a value in an over-priced OEM grip market and if you're someone who shoots a lot of portraits - or any vertical orientation - you can consider it a luxury item as it greatly increases extended shooting comfort. Pick up some Wasabi batteries off Amazon and throw one in the grip for double the run time and you're good to go. The tight function buttons and non-thru wheel locking mechanism that I mentioned earlier are simply personal preferences and really don't inhibit true functionality all that much. It's a 5 star in my book.A solid accessory that will make you shooting life easier. If you are a grip-type shooter, go for it.

The battery grip works very well on my olympus om-d e-m1.

To make my biases clear first, I'm a huge fan of battery grips. I have reasonably large hands, and I really appreciate the more square profile of a gripped camera. I shot with a gripped EOS 20D for five or six years, and then from there moved over to Olympus for smaller and lighter cameras and lenses. I started with the E-P5, but when I had the money I decided to get the E-M1 to have something a little bigger in the bag too. Naturally, I wanted to get the grip too. First, the pros of battery grips in general:1. First and foremost, it lets you hold and operate the camera naturally in vertical orientation. No more craning your arm around awkwardly when you want to shoot in portrait, which is something that's hard to go back from once you've gotten used to it.2. Extended battery life. That's pretty well expected, right? Two batteries = twice the battery life. This is especially nice with battery-hungry mirrorless cameras, since they always have the sensor on for live view.3. Adds a little heft to the camera to help balance out longer lenses. Some people don't really like that aspect, but I do. When shooting hand-held with the 40-150/2.8, this makes it feel a little more natural.Now, the pros of this particular battery grip:1. Well constructed, matches the build of the E-M1.2. Weather sealed.3. Also adds an extra programmable function button and a port to connect an AC adapter.4. You can tell the camera which battery it should draw from first in the settings.5. The grip has two wheels. I'm used to Canon cameras, which have the large rear wheel that's not replicated on grips and can be hard to reach from the vertical position, so this is a nice addition to the grip. Although it comes at a cost, which you'll see later.Unfortunately, there's a few drawbacks to this grip that have left me less than completely satisfied with it:1. Unlike battery grips I've seen for DSLRs, which have a stem that sticks up into the battery compartment and give you two easily accessible battery slots on the grip, this grip screws onto the camera underneath the camera's closed battery door. That means in order to get to the battery that's in the camera, you have to remove the grip. After all those years using a battery grip that I literally never had to remove from my camera, this has been a bit of a pain. Especially because apparently if you leave the camera without any battery in it for too long (e.g. while charging them) it will reset the time. Now, if you don't usually fully wear down a battery you _could_ just use and recharge the battery in the grip itself, but then you're going to get uneven wear and tear on your batteries. So here's what I do to keep the batteries charge and wear them down consistently.- I set the camera to use the battery in the camera first.- After shooting, I take the (usually still full) battery out of the grip and put it in the camera, then put the battery in the camera on the charger, then replace the grip on the camera.- After that battery charges I'll put it back in the grip, so the two batteries rotate positions every time.If I'm out shooting for long enough that the battery in the grip also gets used, then I just have to leave the grip off the camera while the first battery charges. On the whole, things would just be a lot simpler if this worked more like DSLR grips.2. The rear wheel on this grip is very touchy if you're carrying the camera on a strap. I never ever used the lock switch on my old camera's battery grip, but on this one I have to keep the controls locked except for when I'm using them. Otherwise I'll pick up the camera, take a shot, and then realize that oh, hey, my exposure comp is set to +2 2/3, how did that get there?For those reasons, I'm not really thrilled with this grip. It still works, and it's still definitely better than using the camera ungripped, though, so if you've got an E-M1 I recommend buying it regardless.Edit - After further use with the 40-150/2.8 and the 300/4, I'm now finding that it's not uncommon to hear some disconcerting groaning and clicking from the plastic if I pick the camera up by the battery grip with a long lens on the end. Not supporting the lens solely for extended periods of time mind you, just letting it hang from my side in one hand, or bringing the camera up to my eye before my other hand comes up under the lens to support it. I'm starting to really worry that at some point in the future this thing is going to either (a) break open in the field and leave me with messed up equipment that I have to carry for miles back to the car (I don't normally take a bag with me on long walks, I just wear my cameras on belt holsters), or (b) flex in some way that compromises the weather sealing and ruins the grip, the extra battery, or God forbid even the camera itself.Given my new concerns with the build quality, I'm dropping another star off. It's simply unacceptable for Olympus' flagship camera not to have a battery grip that can mate securely with it and stand up to reasonably heavy usage within a normal range of activity. Here's hoping they come up with a decent grip for the mark II :/

Quick shipping, grip is perfect.