Reviews
This strap looks good, is very comfortable and easily strong enough for most cameras.
The one thing that you really need above all else with a camera strap is reliability - this is usually in the form of metal and a strap that is either made from leather, climbing rope or seatbelt webbing. Remembering that a chain (or camera strap) is only as strong as its weakest link, every change in materials in a camera strap has to be secure and the material itself has to be reliable.
The webbing is 31mm wide, just under 2mm thick and very flexible, making it a lot more comfortable than climbing rope camera straps which tend to start to cut into your neck a bit after wearing them for a few hours. The length of the webbing is adjustable on both sides so that you end up with a symmetrical strap but my only criticism of it is that it is a little on the long side, the result of which is that you end up with only a short distance between the two buckles of around 4-5cm in my case or a very low camera - different body sizes will experience this differently. Having the buckles that close together at the back of your neck means that they catch on your clothing or stick into your neck. The buckles themselves are made from 2mm thick aluminium and are finished off smoothly as far as convex surfaces go.
The buckles at the ends of the webbing meet up with some stitched leather and that then goes to a plastic buckle which is claimed to be rated to 80 pounds (36.2kg). I tested both of them an the first one failed at 26kg and the second one at 35kg (I wasn't expecting them to fail). The buckle mechanism itself didn't fail, that was perfectly all right. It was the buckle itself that failed where it joins the last part of the strap - the part that has the cord attached - that failed on a corner where the stress is concentrated. The working load limit is therefore around 6.2kg.
The cord itself is around 2mm in diameter and consists of three coaxial cords: the outer is black, the next one is yellow and the last is red. The idea being that having worn it at less than the loading limit for a long period of time, you are treated to a note of caution in the form of the yellow cord becoming visible at which point, you can start thinking about doing something about replacing it rather than finding that you haven't got your camera any more which is what would happen without the coaxial cords. Inside the leather end to the strap, the cord is secured more than adequately - it passes a 35kg test without showing any signs of damage.
Being 2mm in diameter and forming a loop, you need to have a hole at least 4mm in diameter to thread them through when you put them on your camera. Not all cameras have this - you can see in the fifth and sixth photographs that those two cameras won't support it. For those cameras, the solution is to use a metal ring - a bit like a key ring - and if you can, something to pad it with - here I use a pad from another strap. Now, the loop passes easily through the ring and the padding and the rest of the end passes through the cord loop and pulls tight. It is very easy to do and supplying the few parts so that people can do this would be easy - I have seen this done with other camera straps that I have had.
On the whole, this strap looks good, is very comfortable and easily strong enough for most cameras - heavier cameras tend to have their own wider straps. The only thing that really goes against it is that as supplied, it is limited to the cameras that it will fit unless the purchaser has their own solution.
The webbing is 31mm wide, just under 2mm thick and very flexible, making it a lot more comfortable than climbing rope camera straps which tend to start to cut into your neck a bit after wearing them for a few hours. The length of the webbing is adjustable on both sides so that you end up with a symmetrical strap but my only criticism of it is that it is a little on the long side, the result of which is that you end up with only a short distance between the two buckles of around 4-5cm in my case or a very low camera - different body sizes will experience this differently. Having the buckles that close together at the back of your neck means that they catch on your clothing or stick into your neck. The buckles themselves are made from 2mm thick aluminium and are finished off smoothly as far as convex surfaces go.
The buckles at the ends of the webbing meet up with some stitched leather and that then goes to a plastic buckle which is claimed to be rated to 80 pounds (36.2kg). I tested both of them an the first one failed at 26kg and the second one at 35kg (I wasn't expecting them to fail). The buckle mechanism itself didn't fail, that was perfectly all right. It was the buckle itself that failed where it joins the last part of the strap - the part that has the cord attached - that failed on a corner where the stress is concentrated. The working load limit is therefore around 6.2kg.
The cord itself is around 2mm in diameter and consists of three coaxial cords: the outer is black, the next one is yellow and the last is red. The idea being that having worn it at less than the loading limit for a long period of time, you are treated to a note of caution in the form of the yellow cord becoming visible at which point, you can start thinking about doing something about replacing it rather than finding that you haven't got your camera any more which is what would happen without the coaxial cords. Inside the leather end to the strap, the cord is secured more than adequately - it passes a 35kg test without showing any signs of damage.
Being 2mm in diameter and forming a loop, you need to have a hole at least 4mm in diameter to thread them through when you put them on your camera. Not all cameras have this - you can see in the fifth and sixth photographs that those two cameras won't support it. For those cameras, the solution is to use a metal ring - a bit like a key ring - and if you can, something to pad it with - here I use a pad from another strap. Now, the loop passes easily through the ring and the padding and the rest of the end passes through the cord loop and pulls tight. It is very easy to do and supplying the few parts so that people can do this would be easy - I have seen this done with other camera straps that I have had.
On the whole, this strap looks good, is very comfortable and easily strong enough for most cameras - heavier cameras tend to have their own wider straps. The only thing that really goes against it is that as supplied, it is limited to the cameras that it will fit unless the purchaser has their own solution.
14/08/2024