Vertical Grip for Sony alpha 100?

[Jian]

I've seen the Dicain VG-1, the Optekas, and such.

All seem to come from South Korea, China, or Malaysia.

In fact, I've never seen one by Sony yet (but read hints Sigma makes one,) and they widely range in price, some for the same model : $50-$350.

...and mostly for the a700, a200, etc, not specifying the a100.

So, my main resource seems to be eBay, from far East countries, and I've heard about 'positive feedback' mills and such that make 'power sellers' not that great.

Is there any place (after pages and pages of google searching, and site referrals,) where I can find one? Adorama, KEH, and other reputable places don't seem to carry them.

Are any of these far East companies (My Buddy Club, Link Delight, Digital Rev, Roxen,) legit? They all sound shady to me. Plus, if any are good, how long would shipping time be? A week? Two months?

I'm thinking there really is no Sony a100 vertical grip.

Any help?

[David Kilpatrick]

Digital Rev is 100 per cent solid, so is Link Delight. Link Delight have I think a better method for dealing with problems (Digital Rev rely heavily on local agents in cities like London - fine if you happen to be in London). Dicain madeone for the A100. We have one Chinese grip here for the A100 which has an interval timer and all sorts of extras, the makers gave it us to test. It does not work so testing it was never possible - fails to fire the camera entirely from the second shutter release.

David

[Jian]

^^^ Whoa, wait, the Diacain one didn't work, or just one that came from somewhere other than Link Delight and/or Digital Rev?

The Diacain one is the one I'm looking into!

[David Kilpatrick]

I believe the Dicain one works. The one I was given came from a third party original maker whose name I forget, since the item is also unbranded! I was given it at a trade show. It is missing its release connector, which is supposed to go from a socket on the grip, to the remote input of the camera. It appears to have provision for a remote wireless trigger but that was never supplied either.

If you want this grip, you can have it, maybe you can make it work. Cost - post and packing only.

David

[harveyzone]

I believe the Dicain one works. The one I was given came from a third party original maker whose name I forget, since the item is also unbranded!

I believe this is made by Jenis (http://www.hkjenis.com/).

There are basically three 3rd party grips available for the A100... The Dicain one, the ownuser one (a very generic one that uses AAs and has to connect via the power socket, also sold under other brand names), and the Jenis one (also seen unbranded, and available in three variants, grip only, grip with shutter release, and grip with all the ad-ons as you describe). Having seen all three of them the Dicain one seems the better made, most ergonomic, and best looking. In my opinion it is the one to get unless you need the added features of the Jenis, or the ability to use AA batteries.

[David Kilpatrick]

Yup, that's the company. They exhibited at Focus on Imaging. I can't get the grip to turn on on accept that it has batteries installed.

David

[Jian]

(see http://www.photoclubalpha.com/forum/vie ... f=32&t=586 )