Vertical grip for Z5, Z6, Z7

camvention

During lockdown in the UK, my employer put me on a 4 day week to save the business cash. I used my extra time off to work on a design for a add on shutter release button for MB-N10.

Really interested to get people's feedback on the design, before I decide whether to try and manufacture it.


More info on my blog camvention.co.uk
Also posting on instagram https://instagram.com/camvention/

I'll try and respond to any questions / suggestions people have on here I am uk based though so bear with me.

PB_PM

Looks like a cool project, the only real downside is the external wire. Is that for power or to the wired shutter release? I don't have a Z camera, so I don't know what that port is for.

Pistnbroke

Looks good but I would extend the base moulding to the end to give a flat bottom and protect the wire as well as let it sit on a tripod base.. Only problem I see is the Z7s will have a proper grip so sales to Z7 owners will be limited. All my cameras have grips but I never move my hand,it takes too long I just twist my wrist. Important to be able to disable the release as it gets knocked.Could incorporate an arca swiss mount but I guess the plastic is too weak. Great Job

camvention

PB_PM said:

Looks like a cool project, the only real downside is the external wire. Is that for power or to the wired shutter release? I don't have a Z camera, so I don't know what that port is for.

External wire is unfortunately necessary in order to get the shutter button signal to the camera. I did look at using bluetooth or wifi connection, but as you will know if you have used snapbridge the responsiveness is just not good enough and cost to manufacture would be way higher.

mhedges

External wire for shutter release is common on the 3rd party grips for cameras that don't have grip contacts. I've mostly seen them for the lower end DX cameras (5xxx series specifically).

camvention

Pistnbroke said:

Looks good but I would extend the base moulding to the end to give a flat bottom and protect the wire as well as let it sit on a tripod base.. Only problem I see is the Z7s will have a proper grip so sales to Z7 owners will be limited. All my cameras have grips but I never move my hand,it takes too long I just twist my wrist. Important to be able to disable the release as it gets knocked.Could incorporate an arca swiss mount but I guess the plastic is too weak. Great Job

Will try out your suggestion to protect the wire, was initially trying to avoid making the parts too large as it increased my tooling cost. The change you are suggesting may have little impact.

Incorporating an arca swiss mount is challenging as the MB-N10 is already quite chunky and it will affect the ergonomics unless done very carefully.

Pistnbroke

If you lengthened your moulding and put a recess in it centred on the screw you could fit a short (50mm) arca swiss plate which would clamp and re-enforce your unit.

camvention

Pistnbroke said:

If you lengthened your moulding and put a recess in it centred on the screw you could fit a short (50mm) arca swiss plate which would clamp and re-enforce your unit.

Nice thinking. I have been working on a slightly different design which uses a metal plate on the base. Inspired by suggestions here I re-worked the design today to incorporate a Arca Swiss mount;

Pistnbroke

hope you got the patent sorted or sell a 3D printed kit to self finish. Some people even sell the programme to print your own .....