Beautifully designed - but not an impulse buy

The MB-D100 is a beautifully designed adjunct to the Nikon D100 professional digital camera. But at more than £200, it's not an impulse buy.

What the MB-D100 offers is four features which will appeal to professionals and to the very, very serious amateur.

First off, the hand grip adds a duplicate set of controls for shooting in vertical mode. This may seem a bit of a luxury, but if you do a lot of portrait work you find that the main shutter release is in exactly the wrong place.

Secondly, the pack allows you to run two Nikon EN-EL3 rechargeables at the same time, which of course doubles your battery life. Crucially, though, it also allows you to put in a set of regular alkaline batteries. There's no advantage to doing this in terms of battery life - alkalines have nowhere near the capacity of the rechargeables. But it does mean that you can quickly nip into the shops if you suddenly run out at a key moment.

Third, the MB-D100 has voice recording features. You can put a one to twenty second note on each image. The audio quality is nothing to write home about, though it's substantially better than my Palm Pilot's recording. If you've ever stood notebook in hand trying to capture the names of streams of political candidates or school children, you will recognise the usefulness at once.

Finally, the unit gives access to Nikon's multi-function 9 pin cables for automated photography and all kinds of other goodies. Personally I feel I am unlikely to ever use this feature, as Nikon Capture Control offers me more functionality through USB.

The MB-D100 is a lovely piece of design. To use it you have to remove the clip on the regular battery holder and also remove the rubber cover. I winced when I realised this the first time, until I read the manual and discovered that Nikon have actually created holders for those items inside the MB-D100. As an addition it's surprisingly light, although it does help a little to balance out a long lens. It adds nicely to the overall height of the camera, though, which is a real bonus if you are shooting with a long lens in portait mode.

So, is this worth buying?

Well, if you can see the attraction of at least two of the four features, it's probably worth the money. If you want three of them, then it's a relatively easy choice. If you want all four - well, just ask yourself, did you want the features _before_ you saw the specifications, or are you a sucker for marketing?

For myself, I'm delighted. (Or was that just the marketing? ... hmm ...).

wonderful body, BUT

don't buy it anymore at this price! The new D300 which comes out this month has better specs for a much lower price (announced +/- 1900 which should work out to about 1300£)...

The essential accessory to a Coolpix 5700

There isn't a great deal to explain about what this accessory does as its function is quite simple but extremely useful - it ’ s a bolt on battery pack to the Coolpix 5700. Why would I need one of those? Well, the Coolpix 5700 has the aspirations of a digital SLR camera in the proportions of its compact design; the problem is that the design is a little too compact for its own good. If you want a more substantial feel to using the camera - it lacks the weight and mass of the larger SLR format. By adding this battery 'grip' which screws onto the tripod thread on the base of the camera you gain the benefit of increased size and weight which adds substantially to its ergonomics. You can fit the battery pack by removing the hinged battery cover on the bottom of the camera, as well as removing a small plastic cover that protects some tiny connections. If you know the piece of plastic I'm talking about, then it means you have already tried removing it, wondering what on earth its purpose is. Conveniently the battery ‘ grip ’ is so well designed that this little item along with the original battery door needn't be lying around just waiting to be lost, they can both slot safely into purposely designed recesses in the MBE5700, so that you will never lose them. The battery grip takes 6 AA batteries for extended shooting. I use 6 2000 milliamp NiMH rechargeable batteries that give approximately 4 hours battery life. On top of this it adds shutter release and zoom control in a vertical position for portrait shooting. The batteries are fitted by placing them in a side-loading tray, which means you can change batteries without taking the camera off the tripod – try doing that with the standard EN-EL1 batteries!

I gave it four stars as opposed to five as I think its a bit expensive but once you have got an MBE5700 you'll be asking your Coolpix owning friends"who wants to buy my spare EN-EL1 batteries?" as you ’ ll never want to be using them ever again.

Perfect for the job

Nikon cameras are definitely high-end, but most of them have one thing in common: they eat batteries for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And they always want seconds.
If you're going to be taking a lot of photos around the same place, then you're going to wear out your EN-EL1s before long (especially if you use the built-in Speedlight of your camera too). This adapter is the solution to that. It has a generous cable (most of 3 metres long) and eliminates all battery problems.
I've rated this at only 4 stars because the cable can be a bit awkward. On my Coolpix 5700, it plugs in near the back of the lens, and can get in the way of the flip-out LCD screen. A minor niggle, however, for an affordable and useful product.