I have the official BG-E4 grip for my original 5D, and although it hasn’t let me down in three years of heavy use, it just doesn’t grab me. It flexes a bit and the little clips that hold the batteries in place have a weak grip. Meike’s product feels slightly less robust, although I’m more concerned about the rubbery grip material than the body of the grip itself. Still, it will have to break three times over before the cost of replacing it exceeds the cost of an official BG-E6.

Overall it feels and smells plastic. The moulded slot for the 5D’s battery compartment cover is too small for the cover to fit snugly, although this does not prevent the grip from attaching to the camera. The grip attaches firmly and doesn’t wobble. The fingertip control wheel has a kind of “hollow” feeling but works fine. I like the clicky shutter button. The grip communicates and works fine with the original Canon battery. It works with the 6xAA battery holder, although this makes the camera very heavy. I imagine that keeping three matched sets of six identically-charged AA batteries would be a nightmare in practice, and I sympathise with owners of the old Canon 1N and Nikon F5 and so forth.

It seems to be standard practice on eBay to throw in a pair of non-CPU OEM LP-E6 clones with these grips. The batteries have their own dedicated charger. I’m more wary of using these than using the grip, although if there had been a spate of shorted-out 5D MkIIs due to these batteries I’m sure the internet would be full of reports. The charger has an adapter that fits into a Europlug adapter that fits into a UK plug adapter and so the whole arrangement dangles from the plug socket precariously.

My theory is that the rubber covering will eventually start to peel off, in which case I’ll have to cover it with gaffer tape. My view of the resale value of this grip is that, three years from now, the official Canon BG-E6 will help to shift a used 5D MkII, but it won’t add more to the camera’s value than a brand-new OEM grip of three years’ hence.

If you’re talking about the final picture – with the three grips tumbling over – it’s worth pointing out that the Canon grip is the one in the middle. In that picture it appears to have silver-coloured pins ,whereas the others appear to have gold-coloured pins. The Zeikos grip appears to have gold-plated pins in the BH Photo and Video link at the bottom of the article.

I say “appears” a lot because it is possible that the golden colouring might not actually be gold. I don’t know.

I have not seen this grips with my own eyes. The impression I get is that they all have gold-plated pins, but the lighting makes them look silver in certain photographs.