OK, I know I am not nutz, but

[jgredline]

I could swear that my K20D lost performance when I took the battery grip off... to further test this, I sat on my

trusty old couch and played with my K20D in rapid fire mode. I have no doubt I am getting over 4fps or more with

my K20D. I have said this since the beginning..UNTIL i took the grip off...

 

Since day one, I have always had the grip on my K20D. Only recently I took it off to run a small package. K20D

with DA 40f/2.8 BUT noticed that it seemed a little slow to me. I thought it was the lens, but when I got home, I

put on old reliable DA 50-135 f/2.8 and was still slow...I thought my camera was dying. But then it dawned on me

that maybe with the grip it was getting more juice and so I put it back on and sure enough...It solved the

problem...So my curious mind went to work but could not find anything in regards to Pentax and the grip, ''BUT''

I did find that the Nikons and some Canons do pick up performance with the grips. Here is one link as an example.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond700/ Take a look at the FPS with and with out the grip...

 

So has anyone else noticed this?

[miserere_mei]

Never heard of this, Javier. As I don't have my camera, I can't test it either. A question: Are both your batteries the same make? If not, do they have the same amp rating? If yes, have they both been used the same amount? Have you tried this with both batteries fully charged? Have you tried with the battery on the body depleted and the one in the grip fully charged?

[andrewg_ny]

I've never heard of this either. As far as I know, it's a design feature for those Canons/Nikons but nothing like this has never been publicized by Pentax. I imagine a more scientific test than a gut feeling could be easily orchestrated. I would imagine that such a test should probably be conducted with autofocus turned off. JPEG vs. RAW could matter, as could which memory card you're using. It goes without saying that you'd want to use a reasonably snappy shutter speed too.

[miserere_mei]

Andrew, are you questioning the wisdom of Javier's Gut...?

[jgredline]

It's not like Pentax has done a stellar job of advertising how good their cameras are. All my batteries are Pentax brand. I have 5 of them. I did a little more testing and it is better with the grip. I would encourage those with the same set up to try it and see. What can it hurt?

[andrewg_ny]

No offense intended towards Javier's gut. When writing this earlier, it occurred to me that there very well could be a moderate speed boost but perhaps not significant enough for Pentax's ever-capable marketers to use as a real selling point.

[mountainvisions]

Javier, this could be very true. I never tested the K20D with the grip. Only the K10D vs. K20D with grip off on both cameras.

 

I'm thinking maybe the dual batteries somehow boost AF and buffer throughput just enough to make it noticeable. Kinda like overclocking RAM, or a CPU or a graphics processor.

 

I'd have to agree with Javier. Pentax could produce the best camera ever and you'd barely hear about it from Pentax. Those Pentaxian ads were right to a degree (although while being self promoting in an unpentax way), in that they just aren't self promoting beyond word of mouth. If it wasn't for people like the now deceased Herbet Keppler even people like myself might have eschewed Pentax for Nikon back in the mid 1990s.

 

Keep in mind that Pentax has measured distance just like Nikon, but Nikon rebrands it's lenses as AF-D to denote "distance" measuring. It's little stuff like that that Pentax just isn't good at.

 

So if there is any boost, perhaps it's so small that Pentax chose to not "market it" or didn't factor it in. But I'd guess the boost is like the better performance of the ist series DSLR with lithiums vs. NiMH batteries.

[trw]

Two batteries in parallel can source more current than one, due to lower internal resistance.

[miserere_mei]

Andrew...do you still not know when I'm messin' with ya? ;-)

 

That's not to say Javier doesn't have a very wise Gut.

[jgredline]

Well, mis, one thing for sure, is that I have a big gut. Now to fill it with wisdom ;-)

 

I just did the same test with my K10D and while it is not as noticeable, it is there...Justin brought up a very good point....''I'd guess the boost is like the better performance of the ist series DSLR with lithiums vs. NiMH batteries.''

 

In my sons K100D super, I always have Lithium CRV-3 rechargeable's so that I get my full 6 volts in place of my 4.8.

 

Now I am not saying that the battery grip doubles the battery output, but it certainly allows it to maintain full voltage while in action...I am convinced that with one battery, voltage drops thus causing the camera to slow down. I suspect it is more noticable in the K20D because of that huge sensor and all the info it has to capture.

[cymen_vig]

Is your K20D set to use the external battery first? If so, swap the batteries and try it again with the grip

off. Batteries will vary so one may have slightly higher voltage or one may be flaking out.