Strap trick

Talisman39 · 07-19-2008, 07:27 PM

I just picked up an Op/Tech strap for my new K20D to relieve some of the weight (esp with the battery pack attached). I realized I can kill two birds with one stone with the Op/Tech, having both a shoulder strap and a wrist strap. I tend to prefer to wrap a camera's strap around my wrist when doing street and travel photography, I find it faster to use, less cumbersome, and more secure. But full-length should straps are rather too long and bulky to be turned into wrist straps unless skinny, but skinny straps are less tiring on the shoulder after a while with a heavier camera. The Op/Tech Super Classic strap that I bought offers a neat solution to this that doesn't require buying a separate wrist strap (which Op/Tech also sells) Thought I'd share how.

Here's the Op/Tech Classic attached to the camera. It's a long strap, so the camera hangs down almost at my hips (I'm 5'10"), which I prefer. I hate having a camera at armpit/chest level.

Here's a close-up of the strap - it has little rubber nubbies (that's a technical term) embedded into the neoprene, so it is very non-slip (compared to the Domke straps I've used for years). The stretchy neoprene absorbs shock and keeps it comfy.

The trick with many of the Op/Tech straps is that they are conceived as a system, and you can swap pieces in and out. So the middle pad piece comes off with the plastic snaps. This leaves two dangling pieces of webbing...which can be snapped together to form a small strap.

Wrap this around your wrist and off you go!

A couple of notes: The Super Classic strap comes in two versions, regular and "Pro-Loop". The Pro-Loop has a slightly different way of attaching to the bracket on the camera but more importantly the webbing pieces are much shorter. This made it too short to use as a wrist strap. Second, to get the webbing long enough to use as a wrist strap it does make the combined length of the strap when worn over the shoulder quite long, so if you prefer carrying your camera on a short strap this possibly won't work for you.

But I'm happy I don't have to buy/carry/swap a secondary wrist strap!

Super Classic page

LaRee · 07-19-2008, 07:36 PM

I use Optech straps too, but prefer to use the Pro-Loop system and attach a wrist strap when needed. The added bonus is the connectors also work with my Kinesis chest harness. So no matter how I want to carry my camera and lens combo, it is easy to change. With the bigma I use the chest harness, with the tamron 70-300 I like to use the neck strap (nice comfy strong nylon webbed neophrene optech), small primes I like to use a wrist strap.

morfic · 07-20-2008, 07:20 PM

nice, thanks for posting, i used to wrap straps around my wrist, but neither the 30D nor the K20D strap are soft enough to stay around my wrist, and the lack of strap loops on the grip will make me miss my after market wrist strap too (not long enough to still mount to tripod thread)

07-19-2008, 07:27 PM	#1
Talisman39 Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Oakland, CA Posts: 31	Strap trick I just picked up an Op/Tech strap for my new K20D to relieve some of the weight (esp with the battery pack attached). I realized I can kill two birds with one stone with the Op/Tech, having both a shoulder strap and a wrist strap. I tend to prefer to wrap a camera's strap around my wrist when doing street and travel photography, I find it faster to use, less cumbersome, and more secure. But full-length should straps are rather too long and bulky to be turned into wrist straps unless skinny, but skinny straps are less tiring on the shoulder after a while with a heavier camera. The Op/Tech Super Classic strap that I bought offers a neat solution to this that doesn't require buying a separate wrist strap (which Op/Tech also sells) Thought I'd share how. Here's the Op/Tech Classic attached to the camera. It's a long strap, so the camera hangs down almost at my hips (I'm 5'10"), which I prefer. I hate having a camera at armpit/chest level. Here's a close-up of the strap - it has little rubber nubbies (that's a technical term) embedded into the neoprene, so it is very non-slip (compared to the Domke straps I've used for years). The stretchy neoprene absorbs shock and keeps it comfy. The trick with many of the Op/Tech straps is that they are conceived as a system, and you can swap pieces in and out. So the middle pad piece comes off with the plastic snaps. This leaves two dangling pieces of webbing...which can be snapped together to form a small strap. Wrap this around your wrist and off you go! A couple of notes: The Super Classic strap comes in two versions, regular and "Pro-Loop". The Pro-Loop has a slightly different way of attaching to the bracket on the camera but more importantly the webbing pieces are much shorter. This made it too short to use as a wrist strap. Second, to get the webbing long enough to use as a wrist strap it does make the combined length of the strap when worn over the shoulder quite long, so if you prefer carrying your camera on a short strap this possibly won't work for you. But I'm happy I don't have to buy/carry/swap a secondary wrist strap! Super Classic page

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07-19-2008, 07:36 PM	#2
LaRee Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: San Diego Photos: Gallery Posts: 2,225	I use Optech straps too, but prefer to use the Pro-Loop system and attach a wrist strap when needed. The added bonus is the connectors also work with my Kinesis chest harness. So no matter how I want to carry my camera and lens combo, it is easy to change. With the bigma I use the chest harness, with the tamron 70-300 I like to use the neck strap (nice comfy strong nylon webbed neophrene optech), small primes I like to use a wrist strap.

07-20-2008, 07:20 PM	#3
morfic Veteran Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: San Antonio, TX Photos: Gallery Posts: 428	nice, thanks for posting, i used to wrap straps around my wrist, but neither the 30D nor the K20D strap are soft enough to stay around my wrist, and the lack of strap loops on the grip will make me miss my after market wrist strap too (not long enough to still mount to tripod thread)