A mild tangent, but I think a lot of product design really boils down to expressing a point of view on how you think something should work.
Photography is obviously a big thing here at JOBY, and a lot of us have owned the camera straps that we liked, but our design team started thinking "it'd be better if a camera strap did X, Y, Z instead A, B, and C." And then you hope there are enough people out there who agree with you that makes it a worthwhile product to make. It's really more about finding those people who agree with you than creating The One Camera Strap To Rule Them All.
Ok, onto various questions:
"Why can't you just use clips, things that hang off your strap to grab on to, etc. to secure your strap. It just takes 2 seconds"
We wanted something you could cinch up and deploy instantly. We think it'd be a lot easier to just pull the strap and camera to get the camera to where you want it close to your body and have it reasonably stay there. No clips to futz with, no loops that are hanging off the strap just to be pulled, etc.
And when you want to shoot, you just pull it with *one* hand to your face. We didn't want 2 seconds. We wanted it to occur right away (assuming you're not using the cam-lock to really lock the camera strap down)
The lead auto-play video at the top of our female camera strap page (
http://joby.com/camera-straps/ultrafit-sling-strap-for-women/) shows it better than our men's page. She pulls the strap loose from its cinched position with one hand, decides to let it hang low as just a generic shoulder sling strap, and then cinches it up behind her just by pulling the strap and camera in opposite directions and guiding the camera where she wants to go. The O ring that she uses to pull the strap doubles as a way to let the strap naturally rotate to where you want the camera to go.
Some people want it to hang high or low or in front or in back or close or loose. We wanted to let people put the strap where it was most comfortable for them instantly. We didn't see other straps doing this, but that doesn't mean that there isn't (or won't be in the future) alternative ways to do this.
This is just the JOBY point of view on how a camera strap should work. It's up to you to pick the strap that matches your needs.
- "When will it be available in the UK"
Er...Good question. I know it's coming on the site at the start of October, but then you have VAT, shipping costs, etc for non-US buyers. We have this sign-up form when you click on Add-to-cart on the site to let you know when it does comes into stock on the site. Not sure when it's going to get to the UK-specific channels though. Jessops, let us in!
- "Can I wear two of these at the same time."
Well, it wasn't designed for it per se, but yeah, sure, it should work. I guess there's some chance that something at the back of the strap might butt heads a little with another strap as you're adjusting the strap, but that's unlikely to be an issue.
The pull mechanism to cinch is the camera and the O ring. We've had people in the office wearing two crossed straps with one camera cinched on each side just because they look bad-ass and we can have gunslinging competitions with two cameras (again, the beauty of pulling it loose with just one hand)
- "Deal for forum members"
Let me check around. The tricky thing about trying to get retail partners to carry your product is that they get all antsy when they see discounts being handed out by the manufacturer (especially at launch) and then I get flogged by the regional rep.
- Quick transition from strap to tripod via QR plate.
Right now, you just a screw directly into the camera which means you'd have to unscrew it for a tripod. The strap was really built more for the enthusiast on the go than someone who'd be going from strap to tripod often. We've heard other photographers say something similar, but we though it'd price the strap out of the reach for the enthusiast. Can't make any promises, but if we see enough demand, maybe we can build a solution.
