Camera shoulder strap- advice please.

dinneenp

Hi,
I've decided to buy a shoulder strap for my Pentax K-7.
one or two people on the Boards photowalk had shoulder straps.
Can anyone recommend one to buy?
Do they call come with a 'clip' to lock the camera at hip level if you want?

Cheers,
Pa.

Rew

I use this one:

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/New-Focus-Quick-Rapid-Carry-Speed-Sling-Strap-Camera-and-DSLR-Black-UK-/271079363230?pt=UK_Photography_Straps_Hand_Grips&hash=item3f1d96d29e#ht_2049wt_1392

Cheap but quality is fine and works very well and very comfortable.

EyeBlinks

Shoulder straps are for tourists :rolleyes:

What you need is one of these :

Necronomicon

I bought a Black Rapid last year and I haven't looked back since:

http://www.blackrapid.com/

pullandbang

As I said to you on Saturday, buy the Black Rapid - it's worth it in the long run.

Balfey1972

pullandbang wrote: »

As I said to you on Saturday, buy the Black Rapid - it's worth it in the long run.

+1 for the Black Rapid. Quality Strap

Rew

The one I linked to is a knockoff of the Black Rapid sport. Based of the experience I've had with the knock off id def jump the original next time.

Gumbo

Rew wrote: »

I use this one:

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/New-Focus-Quick-Rapid-Carry-Speed-Sling-Strap-Camera-and-DSLR-Black-UK-/271079363230?pt=UK_Photography_Straps_Hand_Grips&hash=item3f1d96d29e#ht_2049wt_1392

Cheap but quality is fine and works very well and very comfortable.

I have this strap on my 550d since new, 18 months or so. Very good and handy and cheaper than the Black Rapid one, Although the BR one is supposed to be ahead quality wise, i have yet to encounter any problems.

Professey Chin

I got one of these when photowhoa.com did a deal on them.
Really comfortable and havent been able to fault it so far

Effects

Whats the downsides to the knockoff?

dinneenp

pullandbang wrote: »

As I said to you on Saturday, buy the Black Rapid - it's worth it in the long run.

Thanks, I was trying to remember the name of it...

sebphoto

dinneenp wrote: »

Thanks, I was trying to remember the name of it...

Check these too

Upstrap

Domke Gripper

pullandbang

Effects wrote: »

Whats the downsides to the knockoff?

I'm sure they are fine if you have a light camera like a 500d coupled with a kit lens. However, the metal catches used in the knock offs are not in the same league as the ones used by BR and I wouldn't trust my (heavy) camera with one of them.

Slidinginfinity

I love my BlackRapid strap, but if I was going to buy one now I probably would have gone for a http://www.sun-sniper.com/

foxy123

I've a Black Rapid and I couldnt recommend it enough! It's brillliant. If you look up "Fro Knows Photo" black rapid on you tube there's a review there.

amdgilmore

I just hook my regular Canon strap onto the epaulettes on my jacket shoulders. The camera hangs just below elbow length.

Something in me rebels at the thought of spending 70 quid on a camera strap, regardless of how good the strap is.

Effects

I know a couple of pros who use the cheaper strap and it seems ok. As for heavy gear, at my wedding one of them had a 5Dii with a 70-200 2.8L IS and it seemed to work fine. €70 seems pricy to me too. I often have my strap at a level that I wear it as a sling a lot. Makes it slower to get into action though. Smaller point and shoots like my X100 and T4 I usually have a wrist strap but not always.

pullandbang

Effects wrote: »

€70 seems pricy to me too.

If someone is going to buy a strap they are going to spend between €40 (knock-off) and €70 (Black Rapid) so the difference is €30. For the extra €30 I'd feel more at ease dangling my €3000 worth of camera gear off my shoulder.

Yes, €70 is expensive and you could save your €70 by not buying any strap - just use the one that came with your camera. But if someone IS going to buy a strap then it may be false economy to buy a knock-off for a mere €30 less than the real thing.

DaireQuinlan

Yeah it's kinda nuts. I was looking at one of them and thought it looked useful but €100 or something ??!? For a STRAP ??!? I'd have second thoughts about spending that on a CAMERA !

I just have either thin shoulder straps ones for the lighter cameras, wriststraps for my compacts, and a few thicker shoulder straps for my medium format gear and heavier SLRs. They all either came with the cameras or I bought them for next to nothing. Most expensive strap I ever bought was €10 and that was for some nifty black and yellow striped nikon strap that went well with my FE-2

Effects

To be fair, the knock off posted is €20 so it's €50 in the difference. Black Rapids are over priced in my opinion but I don't care if someone else uses them.

brokenarms

pullandbang wrote: »

If someone is going to buy a strap they are going to spend between €40 (knock-off) and €70 (Black Rapid) so the difference is €30. For the extra €30 I'd feel more at ease dangling my €3000 worth of camera gear off my shoulder.

Yes, €70 is expensive and you could save your €70 by not buying any strap - just use the one that came with your camera. But if someone IS going to buy a strap then it may be false economy to buy a knock-off for a mere €30 less than the real thing.

ahh would ya give over. Its a strap.

A strap is a strap. Your not going to tow a car with it.
Your really really heavy cool pro super cam will not rip it to shreds . :rolleyes:

Back in the real world .

pullandbang

brokenarms wrote: »

Your really really heavy cool pro super cam will not rip it to shreds

You should fully read other peoples posts before jumping in with silly comments.

However, the metal catches used in the knock offs

The strap won't shred on any of them regardless of the camera - it's the cheap metal catch which will break that's the problem. And I'm speaking from experience because I've seen it happen to another boardsie not so long ago.

dinneenp

the Black Rapid one is £40 & postage probably.
The cheaper one would probably work almost as well but for peace of mind I'm giong for the Black Rapid.
i'll probably use it for at least 5 years, maybe more if it's still fine so why not spend the extra bit on it.

foxy123

Hope you enjoy it! For me, the security of it is the most important bit but the comfort of it is a fantastic bonus - a definite investment

jpb1974

I shamefully admit to buying a black rapid last week.. a sad attempt to ressurect a dying photography hobby.

It arrived today... I can't believe I just dropped 70 euro on a camera strap. I put it on the camera, modelled in front of the mirror in my work shirt and undies... then put it away... realising it wasn't going to ignite the fire.

Good idea, but like most photography stuff.. priced knowing half of us are suckers for 'cool stuff'.

magicbastarder

i'd expect to be able to buy three car tow ropes for €70...

jpb1974

Best just buy one for now and put the remaining €46.66 towards increasing your car fleet to 3.

magicbastarder

yep. not much point having a tow rope with only one car...

pullandbang

jpb1974 wrote: »

I shamefully admit to buying a black rapid last week....

Good idea, but like most photography stuff.. priced knowing half of us are suckers for 'cool stuff'.

Just as well it's only half of us. The rest of us actually use and enjoy our straps

dinneenp

I suppose it all comes down to 'is the camera more secure with BR strap than the imtitation version of it'?

One or two people have said that cheaper versions have resulted in the camera falling off.
This is the one and only factor that's making me go for the BR instead of the cheap imtitation version.

coolmoose

I have the Blackrapid RS-5 a while now, having had a few knock-off straps and a Nikon strap that failed (thankfully with no damage to cameras or lenses).

I often bring my D200, with grip and an 18-200 attached hillwalking, and the RS-5 has never failed, still looks as good as day one, and it is not treated kindly at all! Makes it really easy to carry all this gear too, you'd barely know it was there.

Couldn't recommend Blackrapid enough.

Rew

dinneenp wrote: »

One or two people have said that cheaper versions have resulted in the camera falling off.
This is the one and only factor that's making me go for the BR instead of the cheap imtitation version.

Did anyone say that or did they say it might/woried that it might?

I have the cheaper one with a heavy camera on it with no problems.

pullandbang

Rew wrote: »

Did anyone say that or did they say it might/woried that it might?

I did. It happened to a buddy of mine (also a Boardsie) not long ago. The catch snapped and down went the camera. Luckily no damage to the camera.

coolmoose

Rew wrote: »

Did anyone say that or did they say it might/woried that it might?

Happened to me too. Caught it before it landed thankfully!

colblimp

I find it mildly amusing that people having spent hundreds, or even thousands, of euros on camera equipment, won't spend €70 on a camera strap. Instead, they'll trust a €20 camera strap to keep their camera and lens safe. Madness! :rolleyes:

brokenarms

colblimp wrote: »

I find it mildly amusing that people having spent hundreds, or even thousands, of euros on camera equipment, won't spend €70 on a camera strap. Instead, they'll trust a €20 camera strap to keep their camera and lens safe. Madness! :rolleyes:

I find it amusing that people spend 70euro on a strap that cost a euro to make.

Shops have big windows for this very reason.:D.

I have ordered one for 20 pound. 10 pound.!!!! I do only have an entry level dslr. But. When I get it, im going to hang a brick of it and take a picture. I will even give it a good oul wiggle.
I doubt any of the pro cams weight more than a brick.

NakedDex

Weight of a red brick: 2.45kg
Weight of a Nikon D3s+70-200 2.8: 2.9kg.

Questions?

dinneenp

brokenarms wrote: »

I find it amusing that people spend 70euro on a strap that cost a euro to make.

Shops have big windows for this very reason.:D.

I have ordered one for 20 pound. 10 pound.!!!! I do only have an entry level dslr. But. When I get it, im going to hang a brick of it and take a picture. I will even give it a good oul wiggle.
I doubt any of the pro cams weight more than a brick.

This would be a good test but ideally you'd want want to hang the strap for a 'long period' of time, have it constantly moving slightly & bumping against an object (to replicate human) and see if it's okay.

I'm guessing the cause for cameras to fall is due to the bolt/but loosening and not the strap breaking under the pressure?

DaireQuinlan

colblimp wrote: »

I find it mildly amusing that people having spent hundreds, or even thousands, of euros on camera equipment, won't spend €70 on a camera strap. Instead, they'll trust a €20 camera strap to keep their camera and lens safe. Madness! :rolleyes:

I guarantee my €10 camera strap has fewer points of failure than your €70 mad detachable swivelly slidey up and downy super duper strap. It's a single long strap, that goes through d-rings on the strap lugs, and is fastened using metal adjustable strap doo-hickeys. Short of the strap lugs coming out of the camera, or someone taking a hacksaw to the the d-rings or the doo-hickeys it aint going anywhere.

magicbastarder

colblimp wrote: »

I find it mildly amusing that people having spent hundreds, or even thousands, of euros on camera equipment, won't spend €70 on a camera strap. Instead, they'll trust a €20 camera strap to keep their camera and lens safe. Madness! :rolleyes:

would be worth asking how many people have ever had a strap fail on them.
i've never had an issue with camera straps failing, and i've never spent more than 20 quid.

jpb1974

Instead, they'll trust a €20 camera strap to keep their camera and lens safe

I've had a €15 camera strap on two of my cameras for 5+ years and it's perfectly fine...

Just because something is overpriced due to it being a slightly more modern and unique design doesn't necessarily mean it's any better or worse from a reliability perspective.

Personally, all I'm really hoping for from my Black Mamb... sorry... Rapid, is that it might be a bit more comfy.

ozymandius

Seeing as you're asking - the swivel/clip assembly on my cheap Q-Strap disintegrated after a very short time - weeks. Really bad quality. Replaced it with a genuine Black Rapid Connectr, which is very well made. No comparison. Lesson learned.



I see on the BR site there is a new strap product - the Metro. At $40 it's a bit more reasonably priced and looks as if it would suit all but the biggest pro body/lens combos.

brokenarms

The link to the Metro looks like a great compromise to those with a budget .

mikka631

I thought about getting the Black Rapid but was not too happy about putting my faith in a single connection point on my battery grip especially with heavier lenses. I opted for the Optech USA system which was cheaper and allowed two connection points. It also meant I could leave the tripod plate fixed permanently on the camera.

Nforce

I've been using a cheapo neoprene Matin joint strap on my camera bodies for the last couple of years. Strong...and more importantly to me... comfortable.
Only camera strap that let me down was the standard Nikon D300 item...the triangular metal clasps failed with my 80-200 f2.8 attached. Luckily I caught them before they impacted the ground. Since then I've also added a couple of strong small cable ties as a fail-safe should the clasps ever fail.

dinneenp

just giving an update-
I now have the Black Rapid strap and have to say I'm very happy with it. (I'm not comparing to cheaper versions, just my thoughts on the strap).

I wore it in Liverpool and wandering around Galway.
Compared to the standard neck strap it's great- no strain on the neck, extremely quick to pull up to eye for shooting.
If you're into street photography (with a Dslr...) it's perfecdt as you're shooting from the hip without being noticed.

It can rotate/swing slightly but I've learnt to walk with my hand resting on it.
Overall I'd highly recommend it/shoulder straps in general compared to neck strap.

What can be slightly annoying is if I have my camera on a counter (at home say) and I want to snap a quick photo of my kids without putting the strap on; the strap is big compared to a neck strap and hangs down.

oinkely

Having read this thread before christmas and being on the verge of taking off my nice comfy neoprene strap as it was beginning to annoy me hanging out of the camera all the time I decided to order one of the optech straps. it's really great for my use as i don't have to leave the strap attached all the time, which is great at home as it is one less thing for the kids to swing out of.

I do appreciat the dangers of having your gear hangin by one clip, so i attached the spare one to the other side of the camera and can use one or both as i need. Very easy to slide the camera up to shoot and also to remove it completely from the strap as desired.

I would recommend the optech one.