Shoulder Straps

Just wondering if anyone uses a shoulder strap for their DSLR, been looking at the Optech utility straps which seem to do this but just wondered if anyone has one.

Do you mean shoulder strap, or one that goes round your neck?

If the latter, I have, and can highly recommend, Optech straps. They genuinely make the camera/lens feel lighter and are very comfortable.

Hi Chris, I have used Optech straps for quite a few years now from my Z50 and Z1 and now on my K10D. They are excellent straps, extremely well made and very comfortable to use, I have carried my K10D with grip + F*300 lens around all day with no problems, I cant praise them enough, hope this helps.

What camera are planning to use it on?

Cheers folks, the Optech straps sound just what I'm looking for its to go over my shoulder rather than neck and its for my K20D.

I thought you were selling the K20?

Anyway, take a look at this one: link

I was but I think I'm going to keep it and just make more effort to get out with it!

I'm now using a BlackRapid RS-W1

Much more comfortable than a neck strap

Since I already had an Optech neck strap I bought the adapter kit so I could use it over my shoulder.
The downside of it is it relies on the strength of the strap attachment point on the camera body - you have all the weight hanging from that point. I have heard of them, albeit very rarely, failing - even with a normal neck strap.

The downside of BlackRapids and the like is you can't use them with a tripod QR plate on your camera. BlackRapid were going to bring out a range with various types of built in QR plates, but I have seen no sign of them yet.

If you don't use a QR plate then I would suggest you look at BlackRapid or Sun Sniper straps.

You've resolved your financial situation then? I thought you were selling everything and getting something simpler, to raise money. Although, I did notice that the wind direction had changed again.

I bought the double,been using mine for two weeks. Brilliant. Bought it direct from Germany.

Absolutely no shoulder ache after all day, two gripped DSLRs with heavy pro lenses. Cameras cannot work their way round the body and are very fast to use.

Best regards

What's wrong with the strap Pentax provide? I've never had any problems.

I'd not seen those ones that use the tripod bush before. A couple of observations - having the camera upside down gives me the impression that it is 'dangling' rather than 'suspended', but that may be an aesthetic thing. I frequently rest the camera on a flat surface such as a railing to get some extra steadiness for a shot (or even use such surfaces as an ad-hoc tripod for a long exposure), so having something attached underneath looks a little inconvenient.

I guess in terms of comfort and usability it needs to be tried out first, a good reason to buy stuff from a proper shop!

*edited to add* this link shows the Sun Sniper, but what's it like with a grip on the camera - I get the impression it would be even more dangly...

I've just sent off a couple of mails asking both BlackRapid, and Sun-sniper about compatibility with QR plates. It will be interesting to hear what, if anything they have to say. I am sure I'm not the only one to have this problem with their straps.

Everything.
It is narrow, short and downright uncomfortable after a very short period of time. They used to supply a better strap which was slightly more comfortable to use, and had a couple of storage pockets too, but the ones they now supply are just nasty imho.