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Canon BG-E13 – Counterfeit or Authentic?

I just upgraded from my Canon 60D to a 6D.  I got a great deal on the 6D on eBay.  If you aren’t aware, there are tons of fake or counterfeit Canon products out there.  I ordered one on Amazon (seller: Xamas) and when it arrived, I had a suspicion about it’s authenticity.  Since it’s not something that is usually carried by local electronic stores, I ordered another one from Amazon.  The two are definitely different.

The main visible difference is the inside of the grip.  The authentic one is made of a magnesium alloy and there’s more of it than the counterfeit one.  Also, on the authentic one you can see the serial printed on the bottom on the tripod mount plate.

The authentic grip’s shutter release is smooth.  It feels just like the 6D’s button.  The counterfeit shutter release has a “click” if you press halfway as well as a full press.

The counterfeit box is close but you can see subtle differences.  The red on the lid bleeds over on to the front whereas the authentic box is white at the end of the lid flap.  The paperwork that comes with the counterfeit one has poor quality text.  It looks like it was photocopied basically.  You can see with the warranty card, the margins are wider.

You probably wouldn’t know any better if you never saw the authentic Canon grip.  There’s nothing wrong with buying a more budget friendly third party grip like one from Neweer or Zeikos.  But if you think you’re buying an authentic Canon battery grip (for a premium I might add), it’s quite f’ed up to get a counterfeit.  I hope this helps some of you out there that are willing to spend the extra bucks on the real deal.

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