Accessory Corner: A Tale of Two SmallRig A7C II Wood Grips.
With the acquisition of my small village of small digital cameras I stopped trying to make my A7C II into an X100VI alternative. It is small for a full frame camera, but it is a brick of a thing compared to an X100VI.
Originally I bought a base SmallRig base plate. I like the way it looks and courtesy of my beef mitts it gave my pinky a place to perch.
But, I really liked the SmallRig wood grip, but I avoided it to keep the camera’s size in check. Now that I no longer care I ordered a SmallRig wood grip from B&H. And then it spent a ridiculous amount of time traveling around in the USPS system in NC bouncing between the wrong town and back to the main distribution center four times. Originally slated to arrive 04/30 it instead arrived Monday this week 05/11. While waiting I lost patience,set my Bezos aversions aside, and ordered one from Amazon on Saturday. And it arrived… Monday this week 05/11. You cannot make this stuff up.
Intending to return the one from B&H for making me wait I opened the one from Amazon first. All is well, right? Then I had a thought.
Wood grain has variations. What if I like the wood grain pattern on the one from B&H better?
So I opened it. And I did like the wood grain better.
And the finish. The Amazon copy was more open pore and the B&H copy was more polished and seemingly better suited to continue looking like new.
Then I noticed other differences.
The Amazon copy had a ridge at the top of the grip, below the front dial while the B&H copy tapered.
The Amazon copy has a lever at the bottom that has be moved to open the battery compartment while the B&H copy has a wider opening that does away with this extra step.
The Amazon copy has a slightly thicker base plate than the B&H copy. And as a result the B&H additional tripod mount points pass all the way through the base plate.
In all cases I prefer the B&H copy so I am glad I opened it.
All comparison pics at the link below.
Thoughts.
In related news I saw a SmallRig eye up for the A7C II also that I decided to try out. I am the one person that never had an issue with the A7C II viewfinder, but I do like it… and I think it looks cool. WIll not use it for casual pics as I like still being able to see aroundj the viewfinder so I do not miss anything, but I will definitely be using it for “real” work. With teh grip it is a perfect alternative to a standard A7 SLR-ish shaped body while retaining the the faux rangefinder form factor that I really like.
What is odd is that the SmallRig grip pictured in the Amazon listing is the same as the B&H one I received.
So it goes back to Bezos.
Lastly I learned a lesson. Again. Patience.
I fought back an urge to get upset with B&H… with DHL who was tasked with delivering the package… to the USPS who was tasked with handling the last part of the delivery. Pointless. People are just doing their jobs. There was no conspiracy afoot to irk me. Stuff happens. And with all that is going on in the world where do I come off getting bent about a bit of commerce gone a bit sideways?
So I chose not to.
Anyhoo. That was a nice distraction from madness.
Happy capturing.
-ELW
Eric L. Woods 