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Author Topic: make your own wrist strap  (Read 5035 times)

menos

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make your own wrist strap
« on: October 18, 2009, 08:57:30 am »

On my research for the best way to use one camera on the street, I have come a long way with different experiments as many others before me.

I think, I arrived at a satisfying solution for myself, even at an affordable price point.

I found, using a good fitting wrist strap on lighter cameras as Nikon MF film bodies, Leica M cameras, even small bodied DSLRs with compact lenses or PS cameras is very convenient and comfortable to use.

I made a short writeup, how I made my own perfectly fitting strap in my new article section on my web site.

The link to the section is here:
www.teknopunk.com/articles



I hope, this helps others too.

Enjoy,

menos
« Last Edit: October 18, 2009, 09:07:09 am by menos »
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Hank

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make your own wrist strap
« Reply #1 on: October 18, 2009, 09:45:00 am »

I made one of soft leather which mates with the clips on my favorite Tamrac shoulder strap.  Just clip the shoulder strap off and click on the wrist strap.  It's convenient enough to use any time you're carrying the camera without the shoulder strap, whether on a street or a stream.
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Rob C

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make your own wrist strap
« Reply #2 on: October 19, 2009, 10:01:35 am »

I don't know about wrist-straps, but that Leica must be the most beautiful piece of photo-engineering design in the world. I can actually imagine the pleasure of carrying one around for a couple of hours, whether or not I took a single shot with it, which might not really turn out to be the most beautiful experience in the whole photograhic world. That probably belongs to Hassy 500 series or Nikon F2.

Closer to home, why do camera makers want to turn us into sandwich men? I get really annoyed, not to say embarrassed, having to walk around with a huge strap proclaiming Nikon D200 or Nikon D700 F flipping X or whatever; imagine walking about with both! What a bleedin' tourist!

I actually tried putting the original strap from my F onto the first of the above cameras but the additional weight of the digi body almost took my head off. Even for you I won't persevere with that one. Okay, so we require broader straps in order to spread the weight - so why not make them black or white or even grey?

Rob C

Richowens

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make your own wrist strap
« Reply #3 on: October 19, 2009, 10:46:59 am »

Rob,

 Try Ritz Camera's Quantaray straps. Black with black lettering, cheap plus more flexible than the Nikon strap.

Rich
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menos

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make your own wrist strap
« Reply #4 on: October 19, 2009, 01:59:40 pm »

Quote from: Hank
I made one of soft leather which mates with the clips on my favorite Tamrac shoulder strap.  Just clip the shoulder strap off and click on the wrist strap.  It's convenient enough to use any time you're carrying the camera without the shoulder strap, whether on a street or a stream.

This sounds convenient Hank.

Quote from: Rob C
I don't know about wrist-straps, but that Leica must be the most beautiful piece of photo-engineering design in the world. I can actually imagine the pleasure of carrying one around for a couple of hours, whether or not I took a single shot with it, which might not really turn out to be the most beautiful experience in the whole photograhic world. That probably belongs to Hassy 500 series or Nikon F2.

Closer to home, why do camera makers want to turn us into sandwich men? I get really annoyed, not to say embarrassed, having to walk around with a huge strap proclaiming Nikon D200 or Nikon D700 F flipping X or whatever; imagine walking about with both! What a bleedin' tourist!

I actually tried putting the original strap from my F onto the first of the above cameras but the additional weight of the digi body almost took my head off. Even for you I won't persevere with that one. Okay, so we require broader straps in order to spread the weight - so why not make them black or white or even grey?

Rob C

Rob, I feel the same regarding the shoulder straps on my digital bodies.
I would prefer the Nikon neck strap, that ships with the D3 series bodies, completely in black without yellow lettering. These straps are broad, soft and of a very comfortable material, yet strong and not flexible (I cannot see any good about the bungee cords, sold these days with clips and bells and whistles).

On my bigger digital bodies, I once bought a bulk of Nikon D300 straps and removed the yellow lettering. These straps do ok and have a very comfortable feel to them, when they get worn out.

On my smaller cameras, I use neck straps, designed for the Ricoh GRD series, sold from Ricoh. These are very thin straps, that attach with a sling end opposed to the key ring attachment. The have a grey "Ricoh" lettering, which can be removed in the same fashion as with the yellow Nikon lettering on the D300 straps.

On cameras, I go out without a second body, just for free shooting I now prefer the wrist strap. The modified Leica straps are the best there is as it uses the Leica quick release attachment and has a very comfortable, soft feel. It doesn't get in the way and was "for free" for me, as it was sitting unused in the closet.

The big plastic Leica shoulder pad is the deal breaker for me with the otherwise very good Leica strap - it takes a cut with a scissor, to get this one solved though.

Rob C

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make your own wrist strap
« Reply #5 on: October 19, 2009, 05:34:47 pm »

Quote from: menos
This sounds convenient Hank.

Rob, I feel the same regarding the shoulder straps on my digital bodies.
On my bigger digital bodies, I once bought a bulk of Nikon D300 straps and removed the yellow lettering. These straps do ok and have a very comfortable feel to them, when they get worn out.




Well, I have just spent an hour and a quarter of my life scraping the yellow off the D200 strap. It  now looks better but feels somewhat thinner and the carpet will need hoovering to get rid of the ouse that came off - more of it black than yellow!

There must be a solvent that would have done it more efficiently, but at least it's done. The yellow on the D700 strap looks as if it is stitched in, which will be a bitch, but I can use the neutered strap with it intead.

Thanks for sowing the idea!

Rob C

menos

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make your own wrist strap
« Reply #6 on: October 19, 2009, 08:58:54 pm »

Quote from: Rob C
Well, I have just spent an hour and a quarter of my life scraping the yellow off the D200 strap. It  now looks better but feels somewhat thinner and the carpet will need hoovering to get rid of the ouse that came off - more of it black than yellow!

There must be a solvent that would have done it more efficiently, but at least it's done. The yellow on the D700 strap looks as if it is stitched in, which will be a bitch, but I can use the neutered strap with it intead.

Thanks for sowing the idea!

Rob C

Haha Rob, that gave me a chuckle.

I have done my share of scraping yellow Nikon letters from straps, so I developed a technique (involving a metal tweezer, used for ladies eyebrow styling).
Don't worry about the now thinner strap - my straps developed this after some usage until they all look a little "furry".

They now feel much softer and nicer to the skin.

The Nikon stitching is a pain - the D3 series straps are all stitched, which makes them unusable for me, although they are absolutely superb - very fine and soft material, wide, long strap. Too bad, Nikon doesn't sell a black version.
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