[shellie]

Staff note: This post may contain affiliate links, which means Pentax Forums may earn a small commission if a visitor clicks through and makes a purchase. If you would like to support the forum directly, you may also make a donation here.

---

I am looking for a hand strap for my k-x, and I have a few questions since I've never purchased one before. I would like a small, comfortable leather strap that has as small or flat of a plate as possible. I guess it's really the plate that concerns me... I don't want a big clunky thing under my nice compact k-x, but I've read that some of the smaller plates don't screw down tightly enough to keep them from swiveling.

I've come across a couple of interesting hand straps on ebay, and I'd appreciate any input from those of you who have hand-strap experience.

The first one has a pretty leather strap, and the plate is small and round. I like the smallness of the plate, but will it work? I don't see any other plates like this one. Has anyone used these Gariz hand straps before? Another one is nice and simple, and the plate looks like it wouldn't twist around, but I don't really know what to look for to tell one plate from another. The smaller ones all seem to look pretty much like this. I'm not too particular... I just want something small and secure so I can get rid of my camera's neck strap. Advice?

New Gariz Ergonomic Hand Strap XS-HG1 Black with Plate - eBay (item 290440911127 end time Sep-28-10 19:53:14 PDT)
eBay - New & used electronics, cars, apparel, collectibles, sporting goods & more at low prices

[pxpaulx]

I think alot of people are going to tell you that the K-x is too small to use this kind of strap. You'll be able to use the strap for carrying the camera, but it will severely limit your hand movement to change any functions on the camera when you are actually using it.

Have you thought of a wrist strap? That leaves your hand relatively free to do its job.

If you do go this route, I have heard of Gariz before from micro 4/3 users who are very satisfied with their products. The smaller plate in this case might be a benefit, because it will allow the strap to have more movement, which might help overcome the otherwise fixed position your hand will be in using these types of hand straps (which generally have larger plates that go all the way to the edge of the camera base). Also, considering the size of the Kx, the smaller plate will be overall less obtrusive. There would be no negative aspect to the smaller plate, as they both use only the tripod mounting screw to attach to the camera.

[SOldBear]

I tried a hand strap, then quickly gave it up.

- It limits the movement of my right paw. My cameras (K7 & K10D) have two wheels. With the hand strap on, I can't operate the wheels comfortably.

- I oftentimes find I need both paws (e.g. retrieving a lens from the bag) and can't find a place to put the camera down. With a neck strap or a harness, I just leave the camera hanging.

So I get back to the Op/Tech system. I attach two Uniloop connectors to the camera, and then use a neck trap or a harness (or nothing) depending on what I feel like that day. I just bought a Sling Strap Adapter (see this thread) but have not had a chance to test it out yet.

[Russell-Evans]

I bought the mount part of the first hand strap. This is my post about it.

I use hand grips/straps as I don't like to carry the camera out of the bag unless I am actively shooting and I find most other straps are to slow to manipulate when pulling the camera in and out of the bag. I also find my hand doesn't get as sore, soft tissue damage from my younger days, using the camera with the grip/strap.

To get around the too tight, to loose, issue of a hand grip/strap, I'm using one part of the Optech uniloops and a clip to attach the grip/strap to the QR plate. This gives the grip/strap the needed flexibility to allow my hand to move around the camera to reach the buttons, but to still be tight enough to feel secure. The added benefit to this is when using gloves, I can just pop the clip allow access. When I use the camera this way with gloves, I simply clip a Optech wrist strap to the clip attached to the QR plate to give me a tether to the camera. I can clip and unclip this pretty quickly. I probably could use the wrist strap instead of the grip/strap, but the wrist strap is just too hot in the summer to wear.



This isn't as elegent as the grips/straps you linked to, but I find it works really well for me.

Thank you
Russell

[shellie]

Thank you very much for your input, pxpaulx, SOldbear, and Russell. I really appreciate your advice. I did see a few posts that mentioned people not liking the restricted hand movement of a hand strap, but those posters all seemed to have the 2-wheel camera models, and I was hoping that with my 1-wheel kx I would be able to reach everything easily. I think I can push all the buttons and flip all the switches as long as I have a thumb and forefinger free.

Pxpaulx, thanks for letting me know that others have used Gariz products and liked them. I hadn't ever heard that name before. And I really never consider a wrist strap, only because I think my hand would get tired after carrying the camera for awhile. (But I guess if it got too tired and I let go, at least the camera wouldn't fall to the ground! )

You have a great setup, SOldbear. I hadn't considered getting the clipping things so I could switch straps depending on the day. There are so many accessory-type things that I've yet to discover! Your sling strap looks interesting... I don't think I'd use something that hung on me like that, though. I'll be interested to see how you like it once you've had a chance to use it for awhile.

Russell, thanks for the link to your thread about the round button-type mount! It did not show up in any of the searches I did. (I guess I wasn't calling it by its right name.) It sounded like you like that plate, but I notice it's not the one currently on your camera. Did you need a different plate to hook your OP/tech strap to? I want a hand strap for exactly the reasons you stated: to make it easier to grab the camera out of the bag, and to relax my hand while I'm shooting. I like the hand strap in your picture. Sounds like it works great! (Does the plastic clip bother you at all? It looks like it might hit right on the boney part of your hand.) I also like that you can undo the clip quickly if you're wearing gloves.

Thank you very much for all the great input and suggestions!

[tele_pathic]

I use a handstrap I bought off ebay for $6. It's a generic one but fits just fine. It's always attached, but I don't always use it, which is why I really like it. I use it as a means to carry the camera. As for shooting with it, I found it too confining to get to everything on my K200D, and it bent my wrist at an awkward angle, causing a bit of discomfort. So when I shoot, I just lay my hand over it, so that it lies between my hand and the camera's grip. It's not as bothersome as it may seem. As I mentioned, I REALLY like the wrist strap when I'm carrying the camera, very natural.

[Russell-Evans]

It sounded like you like that plate, but I notice it's not the one currently on your camera. Did you need a different plate to hook your OP/tech strap to? I want a hand strap for exactly the reasons you stated: to make it easier to grab the camera out of the bag, and to relax my hand while I'm shooting. I like the hand strap in your picture. Sounds like it works great! (Does the plastic clip bother you at all? It looks like it might hit right on the boney part of your hand.) I also like that you can undo the clip quickly if you're wearing gloves.

The reason I don't have it on the camera is the plate on the camera is an L-bracket. I prefer this type of QR plate as I have a tripod with a flex center column, and I have a very light weight tripod that needs the L-bracket to help it be stable in portrait mode. The other reason I don't have it on the camera is that the round QR plate is pretty new to the market and I simply bought other things before I bought it. The film camera I bought the round QR plate for is too old to find a L-bracket for and although an old camera, it is new to me. The round QR plate is as good an option for it as any other QR plate, IMO. I also liked the small size of the plate for the smaller film camera and I just thought it was an interesting idea. I'm pretty happy with it on the film camera.

The clip doesn't bother me now, and it has been too long for me to remember if it did when I first started using it. That said, I don't have much feeling in my hands. I tend to have people tell me I'm bleeding more often than I feel the cut or scrape myself. It could be completely uncomfortable to other people.

The cost of the Optech clips is around $8-9. I buy the clips with the Optech backpack straps for the same price on ebay, so if you did it this way, and ended up not liking the clip, you would still have the use of the backpack straps for hiking. This assumes your pack will work with the straps, of coarse. The female clips for the grip/strap I used for the grip/strap are from a used Tamrac neck strap I picked up at a pawn shop. I was just after the clips so it didn't matter about the strap itself. You can find deals on the Tamrac straps on ebay with the clips I used, but they will cost you another $11 or so.

The actual grip/strap I'm using is a $4 ebay strap. The padding is pretty comfortable. When you first open the package, they have a pretty strong smell, but after a few days the smell is gone. The smell is actually from the webbing, not the pad part, so I'm not too worried about the smell long term. I went cheap on the grip/strap because I wanted to spend money on the L-bracket instead of the grip/strap. I'm on my second batch of the grips/straps with the reason being on the second round because the first batch just got dirty and adsorbed the sweat off my hands. This makes me think spending more on a nicer grip/strap would be money wasted for me

I use the webbing of the strap in a different way than normal. I cut the slip ring loop off and hot glue a small fold in the end of the webbing. I then thread this through the camera's strap mount where the fold stops the end of the webbing from coming through. The webbing then goes through the pad and then I reuse the slip ring to attach the female clip to the webbing. Looping the webbing around the clip and then taking the end back through the slip ring This puts all the mounting hardware at the bottom of the grip which I found to be more comfortable and made the strap easier to adjust.

I think that's about everything I can say about the grip/strap setup I using. Really, you could just buy the $4 ebay strap just give it a go as is to see if a hand grip/strap is really for you. It all going to be personal preference anyway. That's how I started with my setup. I just added bits to the strap until I was happier with it. It evolved as I used it. You might come up with other ideas that work better, or just not be happy with it at all. Start cheap, and then spend more money if it works for you. The anti Thom Hogan advice.

Thank you
Russell

---

Last edited by Russell-Evans; 09-11-2010 at 08:44 AM.

[shellie]

Thanks, tele_pathic, for the input. I'm surprised at the number of people who really like wrist straps. I've never had one and always thought that it would be in my way more than it was useful. I should try one out!

Russell, I think you are the McGuyver of camera accessories! I really like your "do it yourself" ideas. I'm still a new enough dslr owner that I don't think of these camera accessories as individual bits and pieces that could be combined in different ways to make something that works better for me. Thanks!

Really, you could just buy the $4 ebay strap just give it a go as is to see if a hand grip/strap is really for you.

D'OH! What an obvious and perfect suggestion that never crossed my mind! I hate the clunky plates on the bottom of those $4 straps, but it would be better to spend the extra 4 bucks to figure out if I do or don't like them before I spend $40 for what I really want.

[les3547]

I really like your "do it yourself" ideas. I'm still a new enough dslr owner that I don't think of these camera accessories as individual bits and pieces that could be combined in different ways to make something that works better for me.

I use a tripod or monopod 95% of the time, so I don't want anything on the camera I have to remove. For the occasional quick shot, my slightly gerry-rigged solution was to attach the Op/Tech quick connect on the left side of the camera, and then when using their wrist strap to wrap it underneath the camera:



The length, combined with Op/Tech's stretchy material of the strap, is just right to tension it for stability (and it works great in concert with a monopod too). It also allows me to hook my camera to their excellent sling strap since that uses the same quick connects. All in all a bargain, under $30 for wrist strap and sling.

[shellie]

That's a great suggestion, les! OP/tech's name keeps coming up... I need to go to their web site and just browse around to see what jumps out at me. Thank you for the idea starters!

[JeffJS]

Having decided I hate Neck straps, or at least short ones, I made a wrist strap out of an old Pentax neck strap for my K7. It's long enough that it doesn't impede rotating the camera for Portrait perspective, and strong enough that if I let go of the camera for some unknown reason, it won't hit the ground. It simply threads into the strap lug. No interference with the tripod mount, no blocking of the battery door. I know Optek makes similar ones but since I had the strap I used, it cost me nothing but a few minutes time.

[Russell-Evans]

No interference with the tripod mount, no blocking of the battery door.

Just in case people get the wrong idea, the strap lugs on acra QR plates don't get in the way when using a hand grip/strap. The battery door also is not blocked by the setup I use. Yes, I have to move the strap forward to get the connection out of the way, or undo the clip, but this isn't blocking in a PITA sense.

Really, I've never had to remove the battery out shooting, unless I have forgotten to switch out the battery. I have three batteries for this; one in the camera, one in the bag for back up, and one in the charger. I rotate the one in the camera to the charger, the one in the bag to the camera, and the one in the charger to the bag every night or every morning. I can get 500 some raw files on an 8Gb card, and the battery will still going strong. At 500 files in a single day, I'm exhausted, so really I'm going to limit myself to a lot less than that anyway.

If I'm going to be taking long exposure, I'll mount the battery grip and at that point there is no issue with swapping batteries. I probably should have mentioned this as a plus for the clip setup I use on the hand grip/strap. I have a male clip on the battery grip's QR plate as well so I can move to it with a lot less hassle. Threading the webbing on the hand grip/strap is a pain, avoiding having to do so is worth taking the trouble to make up the clip system.

Thank you
Russell

[JeffJS]

I'm not suggesting there is anything Wrong with your set up, just offering a different option. I've Seen hand strap/grips that do get in the way of the camera bottom features. Mine offers, I think, a perfect solution. Variable length, the tripod socket remains clear, the battery door is not blocked (if for some reason I'm not using the grip), and the strap serves as a safety cord when mounting on a tripod. Total cost I figure to be about 10¢ considering where I got the strap from.

[Russell-Evans]

I'm not suggesting there is anything Wrong with your set up, just offering a different option.

I wasn't taking your post as that, but as your post was the second to mention this point, I just wanted to be clear that it is possible to use a hand grip/strap without concern of having to worry about its use with a tripod.

I have multiple ways to carry a camera, each has a use, so I don't subscribe to the only one way to do things. It doesn't concern me at all what camera other people use, what lens, what strap, what bag, what whatever. I'm only really interested in what works and why for people.

My reason for sharing my setups is to open up the ideas to improvements by other people and share what I experience. Not to browbeat people into using it. I'm sorry if it came across that way.

Thank you
Russell