Why can a battery grip increase a camera’s burst rate or responsiveness?
Asked 8/3/2017
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Some DSLR and mirrorless cameras are advertised as gaining higher frame rates or slightly better responsiveness when a battery grip is attached. Technically, why would adding a grip and extra battery improve performance rather than only extend battery life? What is different about a camera compared with devices like phones or laptops, where adding external power usually doesn’t make them faster?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
8y ago
2 Answers
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Two batteries in parallel at the same voltage can supply more current than one of them alone can. If we were talking about car or truck engines we would say we have twice as much torque (current) at the same RPM (voltage). Therefore the same load will not cause the same drop in voltage when two of the same batteries are in parallel. This also means a greater load can be put on the two batteries before the voltage will drop by the same amount as a lesser load will cause the single battery's voltage to drop.
Nikon markets it more, but as voltages in the system drops as the batteries use their capacity other camera makers' cameras do the same thing - certain performance parameters are reduced. If you read detailed specs and performance parameters (as compared to marketing numbers) for many high performance bodies carefully you will see that maximum frame rates usually are qualified with something like "... with batteries at 75% or more of capacity."
In the case of Nikon it seems to be the case that they also use the number of batteries and their level of charge to 'throttle' the frame rate via firmware. Only when there are two batteries in the grip and both are above a certain level will the camera use the increased frame rate.
Canon doesn't market the fact, but their cameras' advertised max burst rate is only possible when a single battery has about 75-80% of full capacity. With a grip one can get the same performance as a single full battery when both batteries are at least 50% or higher. Based on the way Canon often handles public relations and reveals information, it's my opinion that they fear what many of their customers would do if they realized the camera slowed down slightly when the battery is below 75%.
Originally by user15871. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user15871
8y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
A battery grip can improve performance when it effectively increases the camera’s available current supply, not just its runtime. If the grip uses two matching batteries in parallel, the voltage stays the same, but the combined pack can deliver higher current with less voltage sag under heavy load.
That matters because cameras draw short, high loads when driving shutters, mirrors, autofocus, image processing, and continuous shooting. With only one battery, those peak demands can cause the battery voltage to dip, especially as the battery discharges. To keep operation stable, some cameras reduce certain performance limits as voltage drops. Using two batteries can reduce that drop and let the camera maintain higher burst rates or responsiveness.
So the benefit is not that “more batteries makes electronics inherently faster,” but that the camera may be designed to allow higher performance when its power source can sustain the required load more easily.
Also, not every camera gains speed from a grip. In many cases a grip mainly adds runtime and better handling, especially with large lenses or vertical shooting.
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