Up next in 10
Sony GP-VPT3 3-in-1 Bluetooth Grip Review Now With Removable Remote
430 views
May 20, 2025
Photographer Dustin Abbott shares a review of the newest Sony GP-VPT3/B Bluetooth Shooting Grip - now with wireless remote control! | Purchase the Sony GP-VPT3 at B&H Photo: Check out the DA Merch here: https://bit.ly/TWIMerch | Become a Patron: https://www.patreon.com/dustinabbott | On the Web: http://dustinabbott.net/ | Sign up for my Newsletter: http://bit.ly/1RHvUNp | Instagram: http://bit.ly/DLAinsta | Facebook: http://on.fb.me/1nuUUeH | Flickr: http://bit.ly/1UcnC0B | 500px: http://bit.ly/1Sy2Ngu Follow Craig @ https://www.instagram.com/craigstoffersen/ Want to support this channel? Use these affiliate links to shop at: B&H Photo: http://bhpho.to/1TA0Xge Adorama: https://howl.link/nt4zdz1goa7ql Camera Canada: http://bit.ly/DLACameraCan Sony Canada: https://www.thesonyshop.ca/?ref=abbott Amazon: https://amzn.to/3HrY64d Amazon Canada: https://amzn.to/3qG1p18 Ebay: http://bit.ly/DustineBay Into the AM Clothing: https://bit.ly/intotheAMda and use code DUSTIN10 for 10% off Fioboc Clothing: https://tinyurl.com/FiobocDA20 and us code DUSTIN20 for 20% off Make a donation via Paypal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/dustinTWI ============================= Table of Contents: ============================= 0:00 - Intro
View Video Transcript
0:00
[Music]
0:08
[Music]
0:10
hi I'm Dustin Abbott and I'm here today
0:12
to give you a look at Sony's newest
0:14
combo grip slash
0:18
remote/ttop tripod I looked back today
0:22
and watched my review of the previous
0:24
version of this handle that goes back
0:26
about 5 years ago First thing I noticed
0:29
my hair was really dark Then I don't
0:31
know what's happened But my biggest
0:33
takeaway at that point particularly as
0:36
third-party alternatives begin to come
0:38
on the market 5 years ago a Bluetooth
0:40
grip was still a fairly novel thing
0:42
Bluetoothing cameras was less common now
0:45
much more ubiquitous And as other
0:47
thirdparty things begin to arrive what I
0:50
noticed is that their biggest advantage
0:52
is that often you could remove the
0:54
remote and use that separately And so
0:56
you could actually have remote control
0:58
of the camera when it was set up on the
1:01
tabletop tripod That wasn't true of
1:03
Sony's where the controls were fixed
1:05
into the handle But fortunately they
1:07
have fixed that We now have a detachable
1:10
Bluetooth remote that is even more fully
1:13
functional than what the third-p partyy
1:14
alternatives are And you can even
1:17
purchase the remote separately if you're
1:19
not interested in the grip/ handle Now
1:23
while Sony may have taken the advice
1:25
that some of us gave in those reviews as
1:28
far as making this detachable what they
1:31
didn't do is improve the clunky naming
1:34
convention Back then I reviewed the Sony
1:37
GP VPT2
1:40
Today I'm reviewing the Sony GP
1:45
VPT3
1:46
SLB or
1:48
slashW because yes it now does come in a
1:52
white version However whether you get
1:54
black or white you still get a clunky
1:56
name attached to that So Sony you need
1:59
to do a little more work in the
2:00
marketing department when it comes to
2:01
the naming convention on these You're
2:03
not there yet Now what has changed is
2:07
that this has gotten a little bit
2:09
lighter Lost about 30 g or so from the
2:12
previous version But here's where things
2:14
get funny once again If you got the
2:16
black version as I'm reviewing here it
2:18
weighs in at 179 g If you get the white
2:21
version it weighs 174 g because black
2:24
paint is very heavy No I don't know why
2:27
that is Makes no sense but say la Though
2:31
the overall uh grip is lighter itself it
2:34
still can handle the same payload which
2:36
is 1 1/2 kilos or about 53 oz So that
2:40
means it'll handle most moderate camera
2:43
slash uh lens combinations If you're
2:46
getting up into the 70 to 200 f/2.8 or
2:48
the new 50 to 150 mm f2 very likely
2:52
you're going to be stretching the limits
2:53
of what this is capable of However for
2:56
most normal combinations that's enough
2:59
payload to make it work The grip itself
3:02
as you can see it's uh moderately small
3:06
And you know as far as the feeling in
3:08
the hand the feeling of it is is pretty
3:10
good I won't say that it feels like
3:12
super ergonomic that it just kind of
3:15
molds into my hand but I feel like I
3:17
have a good grip on things and I can
3:18
move it around without any kind of issue
3:21
And then obviously you do have the
3:22
flexibility when you put it into the
3:24
tabletop tripod mode where you have the
3:27
ability there's a little tension knob
3:28
here and so you can either go you know
3:30
very easily up and down like that or if
3:33
you put the tension back in it's more
3:35
like it's clicks if you want more
3:36
precise control and there are 18
3:39
different positions uh up and down 180
3:42
degrees of rotation You also can click
3:44
this knob and you can rotate it
3:47
360° in that axis And so that means
3:50
obviously it's going to be easy to flip
3:52
it around if you're wanting using it for
3:54
selfie mode as far as getting the camera
3:56
further away from you It doesn't really
3:59
get you much further away from your face
4:01
but what it does do is get you in a much
4:03
better position where there's not going
4:04
to be the issue with your arm being
4:06
right up in the frame if you're trying
4:07
to hold the camera itself And so it is
4:10
it's ergonomically superior Works a
4:12
little bit better there So obviously the
4:15
key key addition here though is the
4:17
ability for this remote control to be
4:20
taken off and actually become remote
4:22
control as it as as opposed to fix
4:24
controls This will work up to 10 meters
4:26
which is you know long enough to be
4:28
useful at that point They've also added
4:30
a few more controls to this We now have
4:32
an A off AF on button and in addition to
4:37
having the C1 button and in both cases
4:39
whatever you have programmed AF on and
4:42
C1 it will correspond to what shows up
4:45
here follow those same functions and so
4:47
that can be extremely useful and and if
4:49
you know you're going to be using this
4:50
you can obviously set up what functions
4:52
are going to be most useful to you and
4:54
assign them to those uh those positions
4:57
You have a shutter release button You
4:59
have a video record button And then in
5:02
addition to that you have a rocker panel
5:04
that will allow you to uh access the
5:06
function whether it's a zoom function or
5:08
even now a focus function that you can
5:11
do Now when it comes to zooming you do
5:13
have options uh within Sony cameras Now
5:17
if you have a power zoom lens attached
5:19
obviously you've got full control over
5:20
that and its actual zoom capabilities
5:23
But even if you're using a prime lens or
5:25
a non-power zoom lens like this you have
5:27
two options that still remain One of
5:29
those is to use what Sony calls their
5:31
clear image zoom The clear image zoom
5:34
it's basically just using some of the
5:35
additional sensor space that is not
5:38
being used And so you're actually doing
5:40
you're not cropping into the actual and
5:42
losing pixels as a part of it So it's
5:44
only a 1.5 times uh zoom but it's enough
5:47
to make a bit of a difference as you can
5:49
see here And you're not losing any
5:50
quality Now if you're willing to
5:52
compromise on the quality you can use
5:54
their digital zoom which is actually
5:56
just cropping into the image itself
5:58
Disadvantage of that is that you're
5:59
you're not gaining anything over just
6:01
doing that crop in post And so unless
6:03
you're just wanting to get it in the
6:05
actual footage and you don't mind losing
6:06
a little image quality you know you do
6:08
have that option But having a grip or a
6:11
remote like this means that you actually
6:13
have a means of doing that zoom within
6:15
the camera There's no real functional
6:17
way to access those zoom functions that
6:20
actually works well But if you're using
6:22
something like this you can unlock that
6:24
and get a nice clear zooming function
6:27
Now this does use Bluetooth as the
6:29
communication protocol And so your
6:31
initial uh pairing you're going to want
6:33
to hold down the record and C1 buttons
6:37
as you hold those down uh and you have
6:40
your in the correct settings in your
6:42
your menu it will pop up as an option
6:44
for connecting and pairing and at that
6:46
after that you just it'll automatically
6:49
pair whenever the camera is turned on
6:52
and so you won't have uh an issue in
6:54
regards to
6:55
that So just like here I'm able to
6:58
quickly access it
7:00
and you know get a a hold of the
7:03
functionality of the camera just like
7:04
that Now you can control a wide variety
7:07
of Sony products as long as they're
7:08
Bluetooth enabled including Sony Xperia
7:11
cameras So that's useful there The
7:13
actual grip itself it is weather sealed
7:16
That includes the remote And so you know
7:18
it is going to be a good pairing for a
7:20
weather sealed camera meaning you can
7:22
use it in various weather Now as far as
7:25
the the functionality using it like for
7:28
grip this is not a gimbal So I mean it
7:30
it gives you maybe a more ergonomic way
7:32
to hold things So you might get ever so
7:35
slightly more stable uh footage
7:37
particularly if you're kind of in a down
7:38
low position and so it's not an
7:40
ergonomically friendly position to just
7:42
hold the camera but there's no active
7:44
stabilization going on and so you're not
7:45
going to get much more stable footage
7:47
than what you would get otherwise As far
7:49
as my positives I certainly love being
7:52
able to control it remotely I love again
7:55
the fact that there is a little bit more
7:58
control that is given me here including
8:00
access to a couple of custom buttons
8:02
which can free up more options there As
8:05
far as the negatives it continues to be
8:07
more expensive than third parties And
8:10
we'll get to the price in just a second
8:11
The other thing that I regret here is
8:14
that it uses a CR uh
8:18
2032 battery in the back which is just a
8:20
replaceable style battery as opposed to
8:23
having an internal battery that you can
8:24
just charge via USBC you know which some
8:27
of the alternatives like this that I've
8:30
reviewed here it allows you to just do
8:32
that which means you're not having to
8:34
source these CR 2032 batteries and
8:37
replace them in that fashion So I would
8:40
prefer that they have an integrated
8:41
power solution as a part of it Now
8:43
coming to that price the price has gone
8:46
up $20 Now in that kind of uh the vacuum
8:50
of just Sony products you know that's a
8:52
pretty decent value considering that
8:54
we're living in a day when a lot of
8:56
prices have gone up to get the remote
8:58
control functionality for an additional
9:00
20 bucks You know seems like a solid
9:03
value Now if you step outside of the
9:05
Sony vacuum there are third-party
9:07
alternatives that are considerably
9:08
cheaper So you're just going to have to
9:10
make that calculation for yourself You
9:12
are getting probably a more
9:13
sophisticated product being a
9:15
first-party product here And the remote
9:17
is nicer than any of the others that I
9:19
have used A little bit more controls and
9:21
then just a nicer overall design to it
9:26
So but the price is going to be
9:28
$159 That's 20 uh 200 basically 220
9:32
Canadian Now if you want just the remote
9:34
you can buy just the remote as noted and
9:36
that's going to run you about $90 US or
9:39
$125 Canadian dollars for the remote
9:42
itself Frankly for me this is the thing
9:44
that I'm personally most interested in
9:45
because there's plenty of situations
9:47
where I would like the ability to you
9:49
know start and stop recording remotely
9:51
or you know be able to just have a you
9:53
know maybe be hands off in certain
9:55
situations If I'm doing test of reviews
9:58
or whatever or shooting macro and I want
10:01
a very stable platform and I don't want
10:03
to touch the camera that remote is great
10:05
for those kind of applications or if I
10:07
you know want to be in a group photo
10:09
which happens periodically being able to
10:11
have that easy to use remote that is
10:13
just going to quickly sync up that to me
10:15
would be probably the most worthwhile
10:17
part of this equation I know that there
10:19
are people out here that love these
10:21
things however And so if you love the
10:23
previous version name and all well the
10:25
new version is going to be even better I
10:27
mean who wouldn't want to own a
10:31
GPVT3/B or W i know I would I'm Dustin
10:35
Abbott If you want more information you
10:37
can check out the description down below
10:39
I will link to the product There are
10:40
buying links there as well As always
10:42
thanks for watching Have a great day and
10:44
let the light in
10:46
[Music]
#Computers & Electronics
#Hobbies & Leisure
#Shopping