Straps. What do you use? How come?

[ShipleyNW]

I didn't see a general strap thread, so here goes. I'm going to write about general-purpose straps, but feel free to take this question in any direction you want.

I use Peak Design Leash straps. It's the thinnest of the PD Slide line of straps. Since I found the Leash, it's all I use now. I put them on anything that takes a strap. They have QR connections so you can swap them between hardware. Everything I own that has a neck-strap lug has a PD QR disk hanging off it.

My shoulders aren't as broad as they used to be. I run bandoleer style now. The PD Slide line (Slide, Slide Lite, Leash) all let you adjust the length of the strap by lifting a clinch buckle. You just slide the buckles to where you need them. I can go from short for storage to all the way out to get it over my head in a few seconds.

Straps are deadly. I bet more camera catastrophes are caused by straps than anything else, maybe combined. Rule #1: Mind the strap. I say those words in my head every time I set down a camera. Take 1 second to manage the strap so it doesn't catch on anything, doesn't surprise anyone, including you, for now and potentially ever. I shorten my Leash as much as can whenever I can. Makes it slightly less of a hazard.

That's also why I use the Leash rather than the Slide or Slide Lite. I like thin straps. Much easier to manage. Back in the film days I used Domke straps. The cotton ones with the little rubber strand nubs woven in so it wouldn't slide off your shoulder, back when I had shoulders. I found one of those that I'd put in a box for 20 years. Those nubby things were pretty nasty. Lots of body-scratching hardware on those straps. I used the 1-inch model. The thin one. Now I use the 3/4-inch Leash.

 

[West Coast Birder]

I used the Luma Cinch from my hometown of Portland Oregon for many years. I still have them on a couple of my cameras. I have also picked up a couple of Peak Design Slides, very similar in operation to the Cinch, on my R5 and 5D4.

 

[Levina de Ruijter]

Straps are deadly.

Seriously?

I always use the Canon strap that comes with the camera but not as a neck strap; I wind it around my wrist. I shorten the strap so that two winds make the strap sit snug around my wrist and hand and steadies the camera. Has worked for me for 15 years.

 

[Rick Waldroup]

I use Think Tank straps on my cameras. These are the V.2 older straps that are thin, extremely strong, and fold up very small in a camera bag which makes them very easy to store in your bag. I believe Think Tank stopped making these straps a few years ago but they are easily found on used gear sites and auction sites.

 

[paddler4]

On my main body, I use an Op Tech classic strap. It's not very expensive and is both more comfortable and more secure than the original Canon strap. Also, it isn't connected to the body; you attach two short connectors to the body and then clip the strap to those. That makes it trivially easy to remove the strap when you don't want it, and they sell other things, like wrist straps and other types of camera straps that you can clip on. It's also durable; I think this strap is on its third or fourth body.

 

[Well Bonded]

That's also why I use the Leash rather than the Slide or Slide Lite. I like thin straps. Much easier to manage. Back in the film days I used Domke straps. The cotton ones with the little rubber strand nubs woven in so it wouldn't slide off your shoulder, back when I had shoulders. I found one of those that I'd put in a box for 20 years. Those nubby things were pretty nasty. Lots of body-scratching hardware on those straps. I used the 1-inch model. The thin one. Now I use the 3/4-inch Leash.

I have found padded rifle straps with swivels to be the most comfortable for my needs which may require carrying two 6D bodies with lenses all day long.

 

[nevermore]

Since I found the Leash, it's all I use now

Me too. I got mine when I switched from Canon to the smaller Fuji XF system. But it easily carries the heft of the GFX system as well. It's extremely supple, comfortable, good looking, durable, and still looks almost new after 6 years (am I still on the subject of straps? ).

 

[gewb]

Op Tech classic strap on two cameras. This one is over 15 years old and still in good shape.

 

[Dicky109]

Op Tech classic strap on two cameras. This one is over 15 years old and still in good shape.
View attachment 87387

I've got one of those also, in blessed memory.
However, I currently use the PD Slide Lite, but have it on my shoulder and then across my body, as previous neck surgery precludes hanging anything around my neck. I also recently got a PGYTech wrist strap, so use one or the other. I actually like the PGY attachment system better than PD, since it uses a ball that rotates in the clip, preventing kinking like the PD connector.

 

[Scott M]

I had been using Black Rapid shoulder straps for quite a few years, but recently switched to a Peak Design system. I have a PD Slide and Cuff that can be interchanged between my two bodies easily using their anchor links. This also allows me to leave their low profile tripod plates permanently mounted on each body -- to be used with a Capture belt clip, tripod or monopod.

 

[DavidWatts]

The straps I use aren't the usual design. I prefer a hand strap, in this case, a well-worn leather design. I also thread a "finger strap" to the other side (and for the other hand) that helps stabilize the rig when using longer lenses. The finger straps are home-made from dog or cat leashes cut up and sewn together in loops. I do use the usual neck strap when carrying another camera, which would be something smaller as a second body whether it is a conventional cam or an IR converted model (pictured in the middle). At my age I can no longer deal with the weight of a FF body and big lens slung from my shoulder or neck.

 

[rich]

I had a custom leather strap a little on the wide side but quickly learned it was just to bulky and heavy. So, I got a Domke, thin strap, it also has the same rubber stitching
in it, used in their bags, so it sticks better to your shoulder. Also, like others, I usually don't carry around my neck, I wrap it around my wrist\arm to secure it. I generally only use it around my neck when I need both hands for something. It's light, strong, and simply not in the way.

 

[kap55]

I have tried many camera straps but quickly settled on the PD Leash and Slide when they were first released. I do a fair bit of landscape work on a tripod and did not like the way other straps would always get in the way once the camera was mounted. With the PD straps I can leave the strap around my neck and attached to the camera until it is securely mounted on the tripod and then disconnect the strap. When I am finished shooting I can reattach the strap before removing the camera from the tripod. Less chance of having an unfortunate accident.

 

[Anton Largiader]

I have a PD Slide that I move between bodies as needed. With the PD anchors, I can use different attachment points depending on the lens. I generally wear it cross-body rather than around the neck. Around the neck just isn't comfortable for anything.

I will probably buy a PD Leash for the R7, which will give me a good way to carry that with a small kit lens.

 

[Yno]

On my main body, I use an Op Tech classic strap. It's not very expensive and is both more comfortable and more secure than the original Canon strap. Also, it isn't connected to the body; you attach two short connectors to the body and then clip the strap to those. That makes it trivially easy to remove the strap when you don't want it, and they sell other things, like wrist straps and other types of camera straps that you can clip on. It's also durable; I think this strap is on its third or fourth body.

Are you sure it is the Classic, and not the Super Classic? The Super Classic has the very short (3 inch) Uni-Loop connectors that stay on the camera, and the Classic has much longer connectors. I have Super Classics on my camera and on my lens bags. Using a tripod, I keep the camera on the strap until it is secure, and then I have very little hanging on the camera to get caught on anything.

Super Classic








Classic





I always use a strap, and I am very careful to make sure it doesn't snag on anything. I always cringe when I see people using no strap at all on a very expensive camera. Maybe in studio or very controlled areas, but outside in 'the wild' it scares the crap out of me!

 

[joayne]

Black Rapid Sport and the Photography-on-the.net straps (across the body)

 

[paddler4]

Yup, mine has the short connectors. I bought it a VERY long time ago, but I think I bought the version with the long connectors, decided that was a mistake, and bought a pair of the short connectors to replace the long ones. I don't see any reason for the long ones. The short ones don't get in the way when you use the camera without the strap.

 

[West Coast Birder]

My R7 doesn’t have a strap attached to it because it is always coupled with my 600/4 which does have a strap. These days, I mostly carry my 600/R7 combo on a tripod/ Wimberley Sidekick combo but do drape the strap around my neck while carrying the whole setup by the tripod over my shoulder just in case the lens foot slips out of the mount by accident. Yeah, it may give me a stiff neck if that happens but I double the PT will cost as much as replacing the lens!

 

[mike.cambridge]

My R7 doesn’t have a strap attached to it because it is always coupled with my 600/4 which does have a strap. These days, I mostly carry my 600/R7 combo on a tripod/ Wimberley Sidekick combo but do drape the strap around my neck while carrying the whole setup by the tripod over my shoulder just in case the lens foot slips out of the mount by accident. Yeah, it may give me a stiff neck if that happens but I double the PT will cost as much as replacing the lens!

would love to know which strap you use for the 600 & R7?

 

[Tom Reichner]

I like having a strap on my cameras because it makes it easy to grab and handle, and to sling over my neck when I want to free up my hands for a few minutes. So having a strap is important to me. However, what kind of strap it is, or what the strap is like, is not very important at all. I mean, I thought it would be nice to have a strap with a built-in pouch for an extra camera battery and an extra CF card. So I ordered one last spring. I was sorting thru some stuff last week, and I found that strap that I had bought 17 months ago. Still in the sealed package. Never even bothered to open it or put it on my camera.

So that is what tells me that straps don't actually matter to me, because even when I go thru the trouble of buying one, I forget all about it and never even take it out of the package for well over a year. It's still in that package, maybe I'll take it out and put it on my camera in place of the current strap, which is the one that came with the camera. But I realize I just may never get around to it. If my Canon strap ever wore out and broke then that would motivate me to put the new one on ...... but those standard issue Canon straps are so darn tough that they never wear through no matter how many years I abuse them, so that isn't likely.