Site Supporter Registered: November, 2012 Location: North Wales Posts: 2,869 | | Review Date: June 6, 2016 | Recommended | Price: $5.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | cheap cheap cheap, does the job | | Cons: | at the price, none (so far) | |
Fed up of having the standard pentax strap flapping around while using my long lenses on monopod or tripod, or when I have a strap attached to a lens (my tamron adaptall 31A) because it is so large and heavy, I finally lashed out on one of these. They are sold by numerous online sellers and there are some slight differences, mine is identical to the one in the pic down to the K.
IMO it's good quality for the price. Solid metal plate with rubber attaches to the tripod bush. Mini carabiner attaches to the strap, metal, screw locking, seems solid enough to reassure. Cam lock buckles allow adjustments. Wee pocket for memory cards is also big enough for an IR remote and smaller lens caps.
No big complaints so far in use, it is functional enough and fulfills the vital functions of quick attachment/detachment to/from the camera and attaching the camera to me to protect against any momentary lapse in my grip. It's not the best design - see review below - but then at this price one shouldn't be too surprised by that. I am still figuring out how much I am bothered by the up-side-down carrying angle due to the attachment point - not so much actually...
UPDATE: was prompted by this thread to examine the connection of the small carabiner to the plate on the camera, however with the particular strap I have the pin would need to break for the small carabiner to detach.
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Site Supporter Registered: April, 2009 Location: Hampstead, NC Posts: 17,292 | | Review Date: October 19, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $6.95
| Rating: 5 |
| Pros: | Cheap, clever connector, nice wide padded shoulder. | | Cons: | Shoulder padding slides too easily, locking bumpers don't fit strap, rubber on connector too hard | |
I've seen these knockoff straps for a while on ebay, Amazon, etc. I've thought about purchasing one just to use the connector, so I could also put a tripod quick connect on it. I've been using a Black Rapid Curve for a few years and love it. I've got a friend who recently got a K-50 and he bought one of these and really likes it. He found it for $6.95 and that was the right price to try one out. I can see where you would really like this strap if you didn't have the Black Rapid to compare it too. Maybe that's an unfair comparison because the Black Rapid cost 9 times this, but it is a knockoff. The first fault I noticed was the locking bumpers are made for a thicker strap so they are kind of useless, the strap is thinner than the Black Rapid, I suppose I could find another piece of cloth and put in them to tighten it. The next thing I noticed was the Padded section did not stay on my should when lifting the camera up. It has a much "slipperier" liner than the Black Rapid, which pretty much stays in place. Then after walking a bit I found the connector moved, it still seemed secure, but how long? This never happens with the Black Rapid, even carrying it all day. The Black Rapid stays tight by compressing a soft rubber washer between the connector and camera, the rubber between the Caden connector and camera is not soft enough to get much compression. Beside for the rubber shoe, the rest of the connector parts appear to be well made. I will probably replace that with some softer rubber if I can find some.
This is one knockoff that doesn't come close, even so it still beats a neck strap for me. And at that price, it's hard not to recommend, but don't expect the Black Rapid quality.
EDIT 4/25/2015 I did replace the rubber in the connecter with a softer rubber washer, that fixed the problem of the connector to the camera coming loose. But the connector won't stay tight on a quick release either, the threads aren't deep enough. For the price this is OK, but not something I'll trust with a large lens.
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