Vello Battery Grip for Panasonic Lumix DC-GH5, DC-GH5S, DC-GH5 II

I have not narrowed down the specific cause/trigger, but I think the other reviewers are right. When the batter dies in the grip, it causes the camera to malfunction. Shutter goes off like mini gun. So this does not exactly extend the life of your video, or could be used for timelapses. I even find hot swapping batteries is risky. If I'm 'smooth' about it, it works. But if I push in the battery, and it springs back for whatever reason, I can shut off the camera. It wont 'reengage' the battery in the camera to keep it going. No idea why it wont work. But it can work if its a clean in, clean click, no fumbles. The only feature this might be good for is sideways shooting. But who buys m43 to do that sort of work on any regular bases? If you do a lot of portrait photography for an instance, get a full frame camera. But why oh why does the OEM grip cost so much!!!

Was a little bummed at first because it only holds one battery. After reading more about it, you put one in the body and one in the grip and that's how you get the double battery feature so now i am in love again!

Absolute garbage. I think it is an issue with Panasonic frankly, but no matter, this will cause your camera to malfunction. Videos get corrupt, and it does strange things while taking photos like the shutter activating like a machine gun until you remove the battery while the screen shows crazy things. Do not buy! Apparently many of these are also issues with the OEMs battery grip.

Bought this grip strictly for the additional battery power for video work. When I first installed the grip on my GH5S I noticed it did not seat perfectly on the right side. It was not very obvious at first, and after taking close look I could notice a small gap on that right side where the pin is located (with camera back towards me). I tried multiple methods of installing the grip, all to no avail. I also noticed the pin would stick in the camera's pin slot when trying to remove the grip, of which I had to wiggle out. I assumed the mounting screw and pin centering was off as it relates to the camera threaded slot and pin slot. But after taking a caliper and measuring centers on both the grip and camera it was about 0.2mm off (the screw has some play so I believe this was not the issue). Then I discovered the pin diameter on the grip was larger than the smaller of the two dimensions of the pin slot on the camera. I went ahead and filed the pin diameter down (a bit of hatchet job because of a lip preventing me from coming in square with the file). This worked and the grip seated well. I was careful to file down only as much as I needed so I didn't overdo it and make the pin too small. I contacted Vello customer service, they were fast to respond but they believed it was me not installing it correctly. They indicated the developer of the grip said they have the same camera and grip and it fits well for them. Not sure how this helps me. To be fair I did not ask for a replacement, I didn't want to go through the hassle of shipping it back and forth only to come to the same result. I don't plan on using this for any photography, so I have not used the features to any degree that I can comment on how well it works. I did a quick check to make sure the buttons and switch did work, and they did. The battery grip icon BG also appeared on the camera's lcd when connected, as did the battery grip setting in the menu system. I would have given this a 5 star rating if everything fit correctly. It is a nice alternative to the OEM version as a nice price, but in the end the product has to fit! I have owned another Vello grip for a Sony A7S II which fit perfectly.