Looking for a 'must have' accessory for your Canon Digital Rebel SLR? - Adding a Canon BG-E3 battery grip (also known as a 'vertical grip') is a cost effective way to make your Canon Digital Rebel or (Rebel Xti) camera even more convenient to use.
Fitting the Canon BG-E3 battery grip to your Digital Rebel XT/Xti is very straightforward and will take only a matter of minutes. You do have to remove the original battery cover to allow the battery grip to fit into place, but once this is done, it's simply a matter of sliding the grip into the original battery slot and tightening the knurled wheel to fix it. Slide in your Canon NB-2LH batteries (you can of course use just one if you prefer) and you are good to go!
The first thing you will notice when you have attached the grip is the difference it makes to the size of the camera. It makes the Canon Digital Rebel XT/Xti look so much bigger (a bit like a baby EOS1D you might think!). Not only does it look great, but the added size makes it more natural to handle. The Rebel is a fairly small digital slr camera but adding the BG-E3 gives the camera a more substantial feel which is particularly apparent if you are using longer telephoto and zoom lenses, the bigger grip making it feel a whole lot better balanced and helping to reduce camera shake when focusing.
Obviously adding an extra battery will double the battery life which is great if you are using the cameras power hungry features such as auto focus and image stabilizing lenses. With two batteries in place you can concentrate on a day's shooting rather than having to worry about running out of power. It's also worth noting that the Canon BGE3 battery grip comes complete with a cartridge to carry 6 AA type batteries which you can keep on hand as a spare. This is particularly handy if you are out and about and have no facilities to re-charge the LI-ON batteries.
Another great feature of the Canon BG-E3 battery grip is the vertical shooting buttons which are exactly the same as those already on the camera. This is a really useful feature when you need to turn the camera a full 90 degrees to frame a picture. No longer do you have to contort your wrists to grab the shot and using the camera in portrait mode is just as straightforward as it would be in 'landscape' orientation.
As you would expect with a Canon camera product, the BG-E3 battery grip is very well constructed and fits the Digital Rebel XT/Xti so well that it looks like it should always have been there! - Canon have thoughtfully added a separate on/off switch to the BG-E3, so that you need never run the risk of accidentally triggering the vertical grip shutter controls unless you want to. Tripod users should have no problems after fitting the BG-E3 to their Rebel. The battery grip comes complete with a threaded metal insert in the base, replicating the one on the camera body so that you can continue to use your tripod normally.
If you are looking for a quality accessory that complements the already very fine Canon Rebel series, you won't be disappointed with the BG-E3 battery grip. In fact, once you've fitted one to your XT/Xti you might find that you never want to take it off!
