[maleek]

Actually Gooshin is widely known to be on a mission to destroy every Pentax camera ever made. Remember this when he cracks another joke! He might be coming to get yours.

On Topic:
I always wear it around my neck. Maybe it is not haute coutore but it works in ridding it from obstructing of taking those damn photographs

if it's not around my neck, it's wrapped around my wrist a couple times; this would also help if i were ever clumsy enough to drop it (heaven forbid)...

[Andi Lo]

I gave up with the neck strap not because it gets in my viewfinder but more because it gets tangled with my holster bag and day to day bag, together they try to strangle their owner to death =b. I use a hand strap now.

[Mike Cash]

What's the problem? Is my question not valid?

Strikes me as very valid. But I hate neck straps as a general thing, so I'm predisposed to being sympathetic to your plight.

Here's my solution: Cheap, pocketable, transfers from camera-to-camera in seconds

[woof]

As for the question. I have another solution. I took a split ring and added it to the right side (front facing) of the camera and attached the strap to that side of the camera with both ends attached to a quick release clip.

That way I can remove the strap entirely very quickly and in portrait mode the strap hangs down away from the camera.

Peter, that's a great idea.

Here's my solution: Cheap, pocketable, transfers from camera-to-camera in seconds

Mike, I like that strap too. A hybrid between Peter's idea and Mike's hardware that screws into the camera would yield something very similar to the R-Strap. Mike, where did you get that strap?

woof

[pop4]

Whenever I shoot portrait on my k200d, my strap falls right where the viewfinder is and blocks it. How do you keep this from driving you crazy??

It used to bug me too, so I now use a strap setup where the strap is only looped around the left camera loop.

Several possibilities:
2) start actually using the strap (it won't be in the way if it's around your neck)

Yes it can be. My strap was still in the way when I was shooting portrait orientation with my K10D and the strap worn around my neck....

[Mike Cash]

Mike, I like that strap too. A hybrid between Peter's idea and Mike's hardware that screws into the camera would yield something very similar to the R-Strap. Mike, where did you get that strap?

woof

Just hanging on a display rack at a camera store in Takasaki. Maker is "Hakuba" and the model number is "KA-60". They're great if you want a little insurance against a drop but don't want to be encumbered any more than necessary.

[deathspared]

Thanks to those who provided some good ideas. I ended up getting an Op/Tech strap that converts into a hand strap when needed.

[mithrandir]

"Do not be afraid also of asking questions of a wise person, however stupid those questions may seem. Wisdom confers on a person patience; so a wise person will happily respond to the simplest question, if it is asked in a sincere desire to learn the truth."

[woof]

"Do not be afraid also of asking questions of a wise person, however stupid those questions may seem. Wisdom confers on a person patience; so a wise person will happily respond to the simplest question, if it is asked in a sincere desire to learn the truth."

That is in fact a wise way of saying that which needs to be said.

"Genius is eternal patience."
~ Michelangelo

"Discipline" is a difficult word for most of us. It conjures up images of somebody standing over you with a stick, telling you that you're wrong. But self-discipline is different. It's the skill of seeing through the hollow shouting of your own impulses and piercing their secret. They have no power over you. It's all a show, a deception. Your urges scream and bluster at you; they cajole; they coax; they threaten; but they really carry no stick at all. You give in out of habit. You give in because you never really bother to look beyond the threat. It is all empty back there. There is only one way to learn this lesson, though. The words on this page won't do it. But look within and watch the stuff coming up-restlessness, anxiety, impatience, pain-just watch it come up and don't get involved. Much to your surprise, it will simply go away. It rises, it passes away. As simple as that. There is another word for self-discipline. It is patience.
~ Henepola Gunaratana

woof

[Mike Cash]

It would appear that with the exception of Michelangelo the capacity for brevity is lacking among Westerners.

The Japanese have an expression: 問うは一旦の恥問わぬは末代の恥 (To ask is a moment's shame. To not ask is eternal shame)

[monochrome]

1) Getting nailed by Gooshin is part of the fun of this place - consider yourself baptized

2) Old school teachers in photography class gave demerits (Saturday session cleaning layout tables, etc.) if a student was caught without the strap around the neck or twisted around the wrist.

3) Old habits die hard. I use old red and white Pentax "fashion straps" from the 80's that are shorter than the one supplied with my K10D. By habit I make one wrap of the strap around my right wrist whenever I pick up the camera. By now the strap seem to just fall across the body - never in the way of anything. I have "dropped" a camera once or twice when not paying attention - caught it with the wrist-wrap.

[stewart_photo]

Whenever I shoot portrait on my k200d, my strap falls right where the viewfinder is and blocks it. How do you keep this from driving you crazy?? (snip)

Absolutely nothing wrong with your question. Many photographers struggle with straps before either getting used to one or finding another they are comfortable with.

I haven't used a neck-strap in decades. Instead, I always have flat nylon webbing (strap material) in various colors and sizes on hand in the studio, some of which is routinely used to sew a wrist-strap to any new camera's strap mount. To simulate the metal or plastic clamp commonly seen on commercial straps, I apply a small section of black shrink wrap tubing over the sewn section.

I used to employ a metel buckle which allowed the strap to be removed, but stopped doing so when it became obvious the wrist-strap was rarely removed. Now I just cut the wrist-strap off when it's no longer needed, such as when it gets too dirty or the camera is sold.

stewart

[Wombat]

You could also try making up a strap out of broad elastic, such as tailors and dressmakers use. The weight of the camera will allow it to stretch and not strangle you when you're walking about, and will retract neatly out of the way when you take the weight of the camera in your hands.

In theory. I've never tried it, but I might just give it a go, now I come to think about it.

[Mike Cash]

You could also try making up a strap out of broad elastic, such as tailors and dressmakers use. The weight of the camera will allow it to stretch and not strangle you when you're walking about, and will retract neatly out of the way when you take the weight of the camera in your hands.

In theory. I've never tried it, but I might just give it a go, now I come to think about it.

Sounds to me like it would be a recipe for bouncy-bouncy-bouncy.