Luminous Landscape Forum
Site & Board Matters => About This Site => Topic started by: Harald L on May 25, 2014, 08:02:31 pm
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Hmmm, Kevin, you really got addicted to camera straps? Weird. Must ... stifle ... laugh.
Ok, let's get serious. You've asked for help to to get rid of this nasty habit. Did you already consider to ask on of those ladies in black latex suits to spank your bottom with every new camera strap until you surrender forever?
Harald
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Hmmm, Kevin, you really got addicted to camera straps? Weird. Must ... stifle ... laugh.
Ok, let's get serious. You've asked for help to to get rid of this nasty habit. Did you already consider to ask on of those ladies in black latex suits to spank your bottom with every new camera strap until you surrender forever?
Using a camera strap to do the spanking with of course ;)
But now for something different, the DSPTCH camera strap looks scarily easy to lose the camera with due to those plastic clips. I'm not sure that I'd want to put a camera worth more than $100 on the end of that as it seems prone to failure!
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I have used DSPTCH straps on my 2 Fuji X cameras for over a year. Definitely no failure and barely a trace of wear.
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Are there two categories of photographers, one vested up, broad straps everywhere with cameras dangling like medals, and the other with smallish gear at the side, partly hidden and only revealed as you take a shot?
I belong to the latter group; whether it's the SLR or the mirrorless, a clipped tan leather strap from a Vickers machine gun accessory case (with SD and battery holder, also leather, on the strap) seems to work well.
I know it's not the Mr Photographer look, but that's deliberate.
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Frankly, a post like that does nothing for the credibility of Lula :-[ - If this site is down to peddling 80$ straps, why complain about the 7k Foveon Sigma when it came out ? I feel really disappointed that the editors let this one through - I thought this place was for serious photographers.
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I think a strap should be mandatory for photographers. I shudder when I see a photographer with a camera without a strap or worse when the strap is dangling and it could catch on something and cause the camera to be jerked from the photographer's hands. As to the credibility of the site then imo it doesn't do it any harm whatsoever. :)
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This topic certainly has gone askew. To the OP - come on really? LuLa reviews a lot of products and we found this one to be well constructed and to work very well. The connector concept allowing one to swap straps out or easily go to a wrist strap is brilliant. These are strong connectors as pointed out and after heavy use I have seen no issues with them. LuLa has always done reviews of products, software and paper. And, we will be doing more of these. We are not peddling straps. We are sharing with our readers information about good products.
Kevin Raber
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Obviously just a little light teasing. And, with respect, by painting all photographers with the GAS brush, you kinda earned it.
Not everyone wants to buy the latest anything although to be sure many people do.
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This topic certainly has gone askew. To the OP - come on really? ...
Kevin Raber
I'm a guy from Hamburg and was born with the gift of this wicked humour. Don't take that serious.
Harald
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This looks like a well thought out system, though pricey. 80 bucks for some webbing and fasteners, really? But the deal killer for me (besides price) are those plastic connector clips. Having had a larger one fail on non-camera gear once, i will never trust them to secure a camera. My current strap of choice for mirrorless is an Olympus one-piece tapered webbing strap from my old Camedia E-10, which I have passed from camera to camera since then. Totally bulletproof, works around the neck, and for street wrapped around my wrist with a clove hitch, absolutely secure as a wrist strap plus comfortable. You can sometimes find them on eBay for $5 to $10 dollars.
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This kind of review is one of the reasons I read the site.
I probably wouldn't buy this strap because it's too visible. I use the lighter-weight black UPstraps for my GX7s. (Which in the article is referred to as a U-strap.) With the strap over my shoulder, the camera hangs unobtrusively behind my elbow. I'm hardly aware of it when walking through the neighborhood. However, I really like those black quick-release clips and the interchangeable hand strap. I occasionally carry my cameras in one hand, and the UPstrap is not comfortable when wrapped around the hand. If UPstrap came out with a quick-release connectors for the light strap, I'd buy one immediately; they do have them for the heavier straps, which I find too heavy for the GX7s. (I use the heavier Upstraps for my D800.)
I've never quite understood those wide camera straps. If made of nylon webbing, which most of them are, you could literally use one of those straps to tow a truck out of a mudhole. Even the light straps I use could probably take several hundred pounds of strain before breaking. I guess with the Dsptch, the strap itself is meant as a kind of shoulder pad, so you don't need a shoulder pad...the point being that if something should yank on the strap that hard, I'd prefer that it break, rather than break my body.
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The connector concept allowing one to swap straps out or easily go to a wrist strap is brilliant.
Optech was/is doing this since ages before DSPTCH and they (Optech) was probably even not the first...
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Fan of Optech. The neoprene straps are comfortable, and the fabric covers absorb the sweat one exudes in a steamy Missouri summer. Also, I color-code similar shape cameras - the 60D gets one color, the 6D gets another color; same with DP2M and DP3M. I just hate the Canon straps - dig into the neck, don't absorb sweat.
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Fan of Optech. The neoprene straps are comfortable, and the fabric covers absorb the sweat one exudes in a steamy Missouri summer. Also, I color-code similar shape cameras - the 60D gets one color, the 6D gets another color; same with DP2M and DP3M. I just hate the Canon straps - dig into the neck, don't absorb sweat.
I do the same thing using the Optech Cam Strap-QD on my Nex-7 and Merrills. In one small backpack rests my Nex-7 wearing a polka-dot QD strap, and the three DPs in red, green and blue QDs. For me, these straps are the most comfortable and practical to use.
I do appreciate the reviews on this site regardless if I intend to try out an item or see it being a little over the top for my needs.
Thanks LuLa and Kevin.
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I make my own. Go to surplus store, buy 2" cotton web belting. Cotton doesn't slip and slide like nylon. Have canvas shop sew closed loops at either end of about a 24-30" section. Buy parachute line material. It is strong as heck and thin enough to go through camera eyes. Cut lengths, thread through camera eye. Slip one end through loop in webbing. Tie square not, then sew the loose ends of knot to running length so that it cannot untie. Force knots into the loop in webbing
Result? Light, totally silent, comfortable, extremely strong, and totally not scratching camera strap that cannot come apart. I've been making them since about 1967 when I couldn't find a decent strap for my M4.
Rand
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The only gripe I have with the article is it has "encouraged" me to buy another strap. Fortunately not as expensive as Kevin's suggestion. For anyone worried about the connectors - which so far hasn't failed me - I also ordered these.
OP/TECH Secure Its x4 System Connectors
which apparently secures the connectors. :)
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I shot weddings for 10 years with Op-Tech straps, big pro cameras with fast f2.8 zooms. Never once did the plastic QR connectors ever once cause a problem. I really wasn't gentle with my gear either. That said it's cheaper option than the strap featured here and Op-Tech have decades of hard use and customer experience behind them. Added to that their straps really do work for reducing camera weight significantly. I'd look there rather than here. I'd also as someone mentioned here love UpStrap to start making QR connects on their light straps. Mine is starting to get a big raggedy after some 8 years of very hard use and could do with another one to use with my A7r, would like it with QR straps.
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Bouncy neck-straps are the Devil's work, second only to the idiotic Black Rapids idea of swinging your SLR around at table top height by the tripod hole.
And ... breathe ...
but UpStraps on the other hand, are wonderful - discrete, strong, do the job. The only question being ... is there anywhere I can buy one in Europe, and thus avoid the extortionate postage charges and mind-numbing delays?
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I am extremely sad to say that a review of camera straps seems to me to be indicative of the decline in this site in recent months.
For some years the first site that I visited with my first morning coffee in hand was this one and I can never recall that I was disappointed by the quality of Michael's comment, analysis and of course his images - they were the best commentary out there and put to shame so-called serious sites which did things like reviewing camera straps - but that was then and things have changed and now I look less often, for less long and then largely for the comments and contributions of the members of Lula community who fortunately remain the most informed, intelligent and helpful of any photography blog. I only hope that continues to be so and that this (probably irreplaceable) resource does not become discouraged by lapses of judgement.
I am conscious that this comment of mine is not what I like to read myself on any site and i have refrained from voicing these thoughts in the past months but perhaps a gentle prod is needed from time to time even in the best behaved of polite "families" - I have no wish to offend anybody but only concerned that a priceless resource in an increasingly trivialized world should not be lost or lessened.
I am sure that we all wish Lula the best for the future so that we can maintain the nature and quality of its commentary and community.
Many of us know that changing Principals is never easy and often rocky but I have to confess to less Lula-addiction than of yore - I do hope that my concerns are proven to be completely unfounded and that I am forced to eat my words over the next months and return to my regular morning addiction ... and enjoyment.
p.s. I don't think that I changed my 'handle' when Michael rightly changed policy on naming names - in full disclosure, as they say, and should anyone be interested my name is John Ashbourne.
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Like other posters here I've used Optech straps for about 15 years and never had any problems with the clips. Or any other problems with these inexpensive, perfectly adequate straps. By all means spend $80 for a strap if you wish: I won't.
Roy
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I came here just to make a point about Optech straps but I see others have already beaten me to it. I just love them - been using their products for nearly 15 years now, and they've never failed me. I really love the connector system too! It allows me to mix and match different kinds of straps with different styles of straps. It's really awesome to use. Best part? They don't cost $80.
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I tried to Dspatch strap for a while and didn't care for it at all. The classic thin, plain, black strap stills serves me best. I often buy them in bulk out of the scrap bins at's what left of various camera stores.
- N.
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Krug, for a moment I thought I'd stumbled on Steve Huff's camera strap, et al, site. But no, it was..Kevin. I had no idea he was into them. DpReview has suffered from "what strap do I get for my new wonder (after what plastic battery grip)?". What next, a Daily Inspiration (right)?
Anyway, back to my Vickers Gun strap. Did I tell you about the time I .........
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Kevin, I like the ready conversion of the Dspatch strap to a wrist strap, but how well does the Dspatch strap slide across clothing? My current favorite strap is Lance strap, which I wear across my chest and which slides easily when I bring my camera to shooting position. Most other straps I've tried tend to catch on clothing.
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Chris,
I know you addressed your question to Kevin and I apologise for butting in, but I don't recall in a year's use having a problem with the Dsptch strap having too much friction. Or too little OTOH. I generally run the strap across my chest and lifting the camera to shooting position is no problem. I use Fuji X100s and XE-1.
Re some earlier comments in this thread I would like to point out that the strap with connectors is USD44, not $80, a price some folks have used when contrasting Dsptch with OpTech and others. The $79 price included a wrist strap. Not that $44 is cheap, but it ain't $80.
David
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This topic certainly has gone askew. To the OP - come on really? LuLa reviews a lot of products and we found this one to be well constructed and to work very well. The connector concept allowing one to swap straps out or easily go to a wrist strap is brilliant. These are strong connectors as pointed out and after heavy use I have seen no issues with them. LuLa has always done reviews of products, software and paper. And, we will be doing more of these. We are not peddling straps. We are sharing with our readers information about good products.
Kevin Raber
Being a strap (and bag) addict, I really enjoyed being introduced to a new (to me) product. That's part of the function of this site, IMO. Keep it up, Kevin!
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Although I have multiple straps, including a Russian variant (fake) on the Black Rapid, I keep going back to my old tried and true Domke 1" khaki straps without the swivels (I hate that much metal hanging around my cameras and lenses). The woven-in rubber strips absolutely keep the strap on my shoulder, the strap is flexible enough to quickly wrap around my wrist for hand carrying, and wide enough to be fairly comfortable on my shoulder, unless I am carrying some really heavy gear, in which case I'll pop on a wider shoulder pad.
The strap is simplicity itself: 1" cotton canvas with woven rubber strips, connecting to 1/4" nylon straps fastened with adjustable plastic buckles and a couple of keepers for the loose ends, and the last ones I bought were, IIRC, less than $15. I still use one or two that are over 20 years old, and still functioning. The nylon straps are just a bit frayed, and the canvas just a touch faded, but they look good alongside my 30+ year old Billingham bag.