| Author: | | New Member Registered: February, 2014 Posts: 12 | | Review Date: March 29, 2015 | Recommended | Price: $29.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | well made, usefull, | | Cons: | overtightening may restrict finger movement | |
I second most that is stated in the previous reviews.
A very well made product.
This strap allows me to hold on to the camera for a long time withouth worrying about strained fingers; the camera won't slide off very easily. My camera just "hangs" off my hand where it stays put.
Fit needs to be fine tuned such that it is not too tight (restricts finger movement) nor too loose (insufficient grip).
After 3 years of - admittedly not very heavy - use there is no sign of wear or loosening.
| | | | | | | Veteran Member Registered: January, 2011 Location: In the boonies (NW Penna) Posts: 5,744
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: September 16, 2012 | Recommended | Price: $27.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Nicely made - works as advertised | | Cons: | none | |
I've been searching for the perfect solution to help me hold my K-5, and this is it!
I have Rheumatoid Arthritis and have a hard time just holding on to my camera some days. I like my long lenses, so I am working with a pretty heavy setup with my K-5 w/grip and a 300mm f4 lens. I always have the grip on my K-5 as it really helps me hold and control the camera.
I started out with a wrist strap - OP Tech/USA - which is great. You wouldn't think the neoprene strap would hold the weight of my rig, but it does easily. But, that is a worst case scenario of losing my grip on the camera and letting the wrist strap stop the fall.
After my due research, I finally bought the Camdapter Prostrap. First impression is that it is very well made and actually does feel like a decent real leather. It comes with good instructions for installation which was fairly straight forward. I did not buy the Camdapter plate for mounting to the bottom of the camera/grip. I have a Mestos arca-swiss plate on the bottom of my grip which has the slot for attaching a strap. Once installed, it takes a little fiddling with it to get the right fit, but once there it stays put like it should. The fit on my K-5 with the grip is perfect - I wonder if it would be too big for on a camera without a grip, but it looks fine on the pics I've seen of it.
Now that I have it adjusted properly, I am so glad to have it. The hand strap fits snugly over the back of my hand and gives my a very confident feeling. I think that if I would loose my grip on the camera now, It would not drop unless my fingers were straight out and the camera slid all the way off my fingers. But, it is not too tight a feeling when holding the camera. Also, I do use my camera in the portrait position once in a while, and at first I thought the strap would be in the way using the battery grip controls in this position, but it doesn't. Once I am holding the camera in the portrait position, I simply push the strap forward a little and it stays out of the way and is not in the way of any of the controls.
For the price I paid for the hand strap, I am just thrilled with it!
| | | | | Pentaxian Registered: September, 2007 Location: Washington, D.C. Posts: 3,327
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: May 18, 2012 | Recommended | Price: $33.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Quality leather, durable strap, comfortable | | Cons: | Initial setup is difficult, can be too long for smaller cameras | |
Summary: Excellent, comfortable leatherwork at an affordable price, if your hand and camera are big enough.
I'm not a big neck-strap person, and after I tried a wrist-strip, I looked at hand-straps. One big difference between the wrap-around "wrist straps" like Optech or Pentax, and the simpler hand-straps like the Camdapter, is that the wrist straps require unbuckling or letting go of the camera completely to slide your hand out of the strap to put it down. Because I frequently have my camera in a shoulder bag, the Camdapter kind of strap makes it very easy to put on/ take off the camera while still shooting with confidence. I can also carry a heavy camera much longer with less "finger-strain" over time, regardless of the lens (well, my Tamron 300/2.8 was a stretch).
This strap is sold both at www.camdapter.com and at various online photographic retailers, and my first Camdapter Pro Strap was an impulse addition to an order from Kirk Photo (along with a ball head and camera plates). I was surprised at how well it was stitched and the finish and quality of the leather for the price. This strap lived on my K20D for 3 years, and it made the bulk of the camera and grip manageable (I never thought the grip was deep enough on the K20D) and much easier to confidently hold. When I sold the K20D with grip and Kirk plate, the Camdapter Pro strap (in black) went with it.
I missed the hand-strap immediately when I picked up my K-x with the old neoprene neck-strap. I never put the Camdapter strap on the K-x because that body was too small to comfortably cinch the nylon web strap tight enough to my quick-release plate. (Also note; I've never used the Camdapter quick-release plates, only Kirk, Markins, and now Mestos.)
When I bought a K-5, a new quick-release plate was the next purchase, and I looked for one that could handle the Camdapter strap I knew I'd be getting as well. Then I ordered a custom saddle-brown leather Camdapter Pro strap and matching leather Shoulder Sling-strap Pro from Jim G. at Camdapter.com. Again, the fit and finish are excellent, and the quality of the leather was even better. Soft and flexible, but not glove-leather thin, so it is probably more durable because of that. All told, I've used Camdapter Pro straps for 5 years on successive cameras, and I won't be selling this one any time soon.
I'll add a review for the Camdapter Shoulder Sling-strap Pro after this, since it is a different accessory. It doesn't get the constant use that my hand-strap does, but I love that it can be "clipped on" to the hand-strap and allows me to walk for miles with my K-5 and Sigma 150-500 hanging gently at my side. Excellent stuff from Jim G.
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: April, 2010 Location: Tennessee Posts: 2,054
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: December 29, 2010 | Recommended | Price: $27.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Well-made, soft, light-weight, small | | Cons: | Not as secure as some other straps | |
Well, as I promised when I reviewed the Pentax hand strap, I am now posting my review of the Camdapter-branded strap.
I've been using this strap for several months now and I am pleased enough with it that I am no longer looking for alternatives. Keep in mind that this is a true hand strap, whereas the Pentax model is really more of a hand-wrist strap. Thus, the Pentax is more secure. In fact, you can release your grip on the camera with the Pentax without dropping the camera. That's not the case with the Camdapter. As you can see in the photo, this simply wraps around your hand. It's more secure than no strap at all, but does require a grip on the camera. The upsides to this type of design are: 1) It is much quicker to get your hand in or out of this strap, and 2) This strap is much less bulky, so it takes up less space in your bag.
This is a well-made strap and it is part of a "system" by Camdapter that also includes the adapter itself (sold separately) that attaches to the tripod mount of the camera. These adapters are also well-made (of metal) and have strap lugs at both ends, useful when switching between using the battery grip and not using it, as it allows you to keep the adapter centered on the bottom of the camera. By the way, the straps themselves are long enough to use with the battery grip, in case you were wondering. However, you don't have to use their adapter. Any adapter with a strap lug is usable. I am using three of their arca-neoprene adapters. One on each of my bodies, plus one on the tripod mount of my longest lens. This makes for very quick and easy mounting to my arca-type tripod head. I would say that the Camdapter adapters are cost-competitive with adapters of similar quality from other manufacturers. I guess I should mention that on the newer models of adapters that I have, I had to use a Dremel tool to shorten the mounting screw, as it was just a smidge too long to properly tighten up to the camera.
On the Camdapter website, they list only top-grain leather straps in different colors and levels of customization. My straps happen to be made of kid-skin leather, which they used to list as an extra-cost option. The price I listed above is for the top-grain, I think I paid about $10 more for the kid-skins. The man who runs Camdapter told me that I got the last kid-skin straps he had, but I wouldn't take that as gospel. Contact them and ask specifically about them if you are interested. I haven't ever felt a top-grain strap, but the kid-skins are supposed to be softer and more supple. Think soft leather gloves. They feel really nice. If you order a strap and adapter at the same time, they will come already attached together, if you order just a strap, it will come with a straw used to feed the nylon strap through the leather part, along with detailed instructions on how to attach it.
If the pros/cons equation adds up for you the same way it did for me, then I would highly recommend the Camdapter hand strap.
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