A camera strap is key!
I lost my beloved Nikon D7500 in a salt water accident some years back. I was walking on some slippery stones on the beach, and suddenly lost grip and stumbled and fell! In order to support myself, I had to use both hands, but one of my hands held my D7500! So for a fraction of a second I had to dip my camera into salt water – and that was the end of it. Tried to save it with lots of TLC, but it was dead. Salt water kills your electronics with astonishing speed and efficiency!
So I learned the hard way that a camera strap is key, and I got one immediately. But did not like it. So I got another one. But did not like it. You get the picture.
I ended up with this leash strap from Peak Design. I am not sponsored by Peak Design, but have affiliate links to their products below, as I find they are a very good solution. The leash model is depicted here:
It is a very thin strap, and I would not recommend it to heavy cameras like the Nikon D700 with say a 180mm vintage lens, as this package is more than 2.5 kilo and the thin strap would cut into your neck and shoulder unless wintertime with lots of insulation between you and the strap. But for most cameras this strap is more than wide enough. good news is that Peak Design makes their straps in different widths and for my D700 I have chosen a much wider strap, that uses the same anchor mounts as the thin one.
The strap is really easy and fast to adjust in length in both sides using the mechanism depicted below. You simply lift the black strap and adjust the length, let go again and the length is adjusted:
And finally the strap can be detached from the camera real quick by a simple but safe mechanism where you push a button like mechanism and the strap and the anchor mount can be detached. It looks fragile but is not – according to Peak Design, the strap can take a load up to 90 kilos!
Although I am a strong advocate of having a camera strap, I equally much enjoy to work with my cameras at home without a strap. So the release mechanism has served me well, and it also enables you to share the same strap amongst different cameras if need be.
Shopping links
Affiliate link the leash strap above.
Link the much wider (1.4 inch) strap also from Peak Design.
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