The MB-CP11 takes six AA batteries (Alkaline, Lithium, NiCad or NiMh) and includes alternative shutter release and zoom buttons to easy taking pictures in vertical-orientation.
1 Good - only if you already have good NiMH battery base
If you also have to buy NIMH AAs (or more AAs) and/or a charger. DO NOT BOTHER IT IS NOT WORTH THE MONEY. You are better off buying one or more (3 for me) EN-EL7s. The price is way too high to buy this without an existing NIMH AA infrastructure (even despite the much lower cost of NIMH batteries, about 35% by watt-hour unit)
If you are like me, and you have 2 2 amp (Ray-o-vac 1-hour) chargers and 3 dozen recharchable AAs already (GP most economical), it is better to get this and use your AAs as the same AAs also powers my gameboy, toothbrush, remote control hovercraft, CD MP3 player, etc... when i'm not using the camera and also it spares you a cord and an adapter in your travel luggage.
2 Is Nikon run by Dr. Evil?
Before returning the heavily flawed Nikon 8800 (see my review), I started flirting with extras like this battery pack. It costs 170 bucks and is basically a very cheap feeling battery case with buttons for zoom and shutter. Said buttons feel EXTRA cheap. It's nice that nikon made this available (There is only an aftermarket version for my D70 which replaced the 8800), but a better job and lower price might have dropped the insult warp factor a bit. Even the guy at B&H laughed at it when he opened the box. Luckily the 8800 has good battery life anyway, so if you really don't need this, don't get it.
Capt RB
