I picked up my new Canon BG-E11 Battery Grip for my 5D Mark III yesterday, so I thought I’ve give you a quick run-down on this new piece of gear in photos.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that the BG-E11 now loads the two LP-E6 batteries via a magazine. It will take slightly longer to change batteries I imagine, but I like this design. It feels very similar to changing batteries on my 1 Series bodies.

The AA Battery Magazine has also been redesigned to load through the end of the battery grip like the LP-E2 magazine. You put four AA batteries in the top, and two in the bottom of the magazine. I loaded six Eneloop rechargeable batteries and although I only shot a few frames, the frame rate seemed comparable to what I get with the LP-E6 batteries. I rarely use this option, but Canon also provides a nice little pouch for the second magazine, so it’s certainly something to consider.

Instead of a slot to clip the battery compartment cover into, it now clips into the battery grip in the same way that it attaches to the base of the camera, then you swing it around and it clips into place against the battery grip.

Slide the LP-E6 Battery Magazine into the Battery Grip, and turn the release handle to lock it in place.

Attached to the base of the camera, the BG-E11 makes the camera feel much more substantial, especially for people with relatively large hands. Of course, you get double the battery life before you have to switch them out like this too.

The BG-E11 Battery Grip has all the controls that you use for horizontal/landscape aspect shooting available for vertical/portrait shooting, including the new M-fn button next to the shutter release button and the Multi-controller on the back of the grip.

Here’s a straight on view in horizontal mode.

And to save you cranking your neck around, here’s the vertical mode. The Multi-controller is slightly further away in vertical mode than horizontal mode

Ergonomically the BG-E11 extends the camera to make vertical shooting much more comfortable than the 5D Mark III without the grip. I usually buy the two together, and my 1 Series EOS bodies have this built in, so I haven’t used a camera without a battery grip for a long time. It was a slightly awkward couple of months waiting for this little welcome addition.

The form of the BG-E11 hugs the rounded bottom of the camera perfectly.

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BG-E11: https://mbp.ac/bge11

5D Mark III: https://mbp.ac/5d3