The handcrafted JB Camera Designs Grip for Fuji X Pro 2
by Jason Boucher – His website is HERE
Last week I was in Stillwater, Oklahoma to ride the Landrun 100 gravel road race & ride, pics can be found here. While there I got to see one of my closest friends’ businesses, JB Camera Designs. JB Camera Designs makes hand crafted wood camera grips and accessories that are aimed to improve ergonomics and add protection to cameras.
They are hand crafted right here in the good ol’ USA out of beautiful hard wood, bambo, plastic and/or machined alloy. On top of that, all three employees are photographers and the two primary craftsmen are also engineering students. What a cool college job.
While I was there, JB and crew (Ean and Eli) were putting the finishing touches on their new grip for the Fuji X Pro 2. In fact, the grip being produced in the photographs below is now mounted to my very own Fuji X Pro 2. I shot all these images with the X Pro 2 with either the 16mm f1.4 or 35mm f2 in RAW + JPEG with the JPEG setting to Acros with medium grain. I thought it fit the handcrafted nature of the grips. All these images shared are from JPEG as I have not processed any RAW files yet from the X Pro 2 but I find the JPEGS more than pleasing so it hasn’t been a big deal for me.
Below are some shots from my time at JB Camera Designs while they were making their new Fuji X Pro 2 grip, recently launched and available for pre-order at Amazon. I grouped the images into some of the steps. These grips are a labor of love. All the details of the how and what happens at each step are not really mine to share so I’ll just share pics. I can tell you that the grips I am using on my Leica M and my Fuji X Pro 2 are really beautiful, fit perfectly and in my opinion have improved the overall shooting experience. I especially like the new grip with my larger Fuji lenses and especially with the 90 f2. It has really helped me improve my grip to stabalize my shooting with this longer and heavier prime.
A couple of notes before moving to pictures…
My friend JB did give me this grip. I just want to be up front and honest here. He’s a close friend and this was a gift. I am thankful. I make no money from this nor any affiliated link. I just enjoyed the experience and wanted to support my good friend. I like the pics too!
So with that out of the way, let’s get to pics of the new Fuji X Pro 2 grip.
Wood selection and initial preparation
Cutting, shaping, smoothing, sanding and prepping
Branding, finishing and adding alloy barrel grip
The finished product! I love it.
I wish I had a studio to shoot images of the final product installed on my X Pro 2 but I don’t. But…Here is a shot taken with my little Fuji X70 for you to get an idea of what it looks like on the camera. I took this on the way home from Oklahoma. I had 12 hours of driving that day and needed a nice espresso! I snapped a few pics and then hit the road. Sorry for the poor picture quality on this one, but it’s all I’ve got.
Thanks again JB. Great seeing you and meeting your crew!
You can purchase the X-Pro 2 JB Grip at Amazon HERE
See ALL of the JB Designs GRIPS HERE
(FROM STEVE: I loved my JB Designs grip so much I invited them to be a sponsor for this site over a year ago, and they now are. These are high quality grips priced right. Love all of my JB grips 😉 HIGHLY recommended for those who like a grip for added..well..GRIP!)
I’ve had a JB grip on my X-T1 almost from the get go. Never off the camera!
Why black and white? Does it help any way understanding the product being advertised here?
It’s made by real humans; always a plus in my book. They look good too!
I bought one for my Leica. I prefer a “handle” type grip more than the thumb-style. I think the main thing that got me to buy the JB grip was that it’s made here. I knew it would be nice, but I was shocked how nice it was when I got it. It fits perfectly.
black and white photos absolutely inappropriate for this article
Wow! That comment was stated as absolute fact, when the reality is it was your subjective opinion. So please tell us all WHY, in your OPINION, black & white is inappropriate for these photos.
I won’t hold my breath…
JB Grips are the best accessory I have purchased for my a600, a7s and a7ii. I have this week now also ordered 2 for my rx1r and a7rii. The grips are weightless, add a vintage luxury look and most significantly improve the comfort fo the cameras without hindering any functionality.
time to purge my friend….
Nice and pretty cool. I was hoping they’d make one for the X-Pro2.. I think I saw one for the X-Pro1, but that might have been a while back. Anyways, glad to see another fine accessory for the X-Pro2.
I think the hand crafted nature and materials matches the old school look of the X-Pro2. I’d seriously consider getting one if I didn’t think the new redesigned grip on the X-Pro2 was actually pretty good as is.. Also, I need to keep my travel kit as compact as possible as everything is fitting within a very compact camera bag.. perhaps after my travels.
Great products in general as they make some nice grips for other camera brands/models.
I usually hate add ons and am normally happy with my camera as it is being a bit of a minimalist- but these look really useful and cool as well ?