Straps and stuff

fracster

fracster

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Ade
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Been thinking about this after reading the thread about the D750 grips,oem and otherwise.

With straps like the black rapid ones that attach to the tripod mount of either camera or lens, is it wise and secure actually doing this?

My thoughts are that the tripod mount is just that, a place to mount the camera on a tripod, it is not really designed to have a camera and lens swinging around on it. Would it not be a better bet to actually use the strap mounts on the body itself?

For longer lens, I always use the strap rings on the lens so that the lens mount is not being over strained, for shorter lenses I use the body strap pints.

Not saying either method is right or wrong and i`m sure loads of people use that tripod mount system and have never had a failure of the system, it just seems weird to me.
 
optech system is more for the camera lugs, that's what I use on everything
 
pingu666 said:
optech system is more for the camera lugs, that's what I use on everything
Click to expand...
Yeah, same system here, I have also altered a optech tripod strap to carry my 500 with, attached to the lens lugs.
 
Always use the shoulder strap (Q-Strap) directly on to the tripod foot with a 'long' lens, or the camera 'L' plate for a short lens. :)
 
fracster said:
Been thinking about this after reading the thread about the D750 grips,oem and otherwise.

With straps like the black rapid ones that attach to the tripod mount of either camera or lens, is it wise and secure actually doing this?

My thoughts are that the tripod mount is just that, a place to mount the camera on a tripod, it is not really designed to have a camera and lens swinging around on it. Would it not be a better bet to actually use the strap mounts on the body itself?
Click to expand...


....I use a BlackRapid strap but keep an Acratech Swift Clamp on it and also with the BR lock as an extra precaution. Each lens I use has a 100mm P-30 Wimberley plate always screwed to the lens tripod collar foot and so that drops into the Swift Clamp and is locked with its quick release lever.

The physical loading / stresses are consequently spread throughout the plate and also around the lens collar ring itself and consequently there are no concentrated pressure points.

I also have an Acratech plate on my camera body which again spreads any load when I pop my body into the Swift Clamp while I change lenses or add an extender to my tripod/monopod combo.

This is a very expensive solution but is extremely stable and safe and, very importantly for me, provides very fast action. I still miss some shots though! :D
 
The tripod bush is very strong. Here's a vid of a guy pulling a pick-up truck using just the bush as connection point.

Black Rapid straps are excellent. The much cheaper Q-straps are okay if you reinforce the stitching where the sling attaches at the rear. The OpTech method using the normal camera lugs rather misses half the benefit of a sling-strap, which is to have the camera hanging upside-down with the strap completely out of the way. You really have to use one to know how good this is. I suspect OpTech has been forced into doing it the way they do because of BR's patent lock-out and aggressive legal stance on enforcement.

With longer, heavier lenses, attach to the tripod collar. It protects the lens mount which is the weak spot and provides much better balance for carrying. Like Robin, I use a small Arca-Swiss clamp for quick attachment (dead cheap on Amazon, this is a very good one and it also has a double-speed thread, £10 posted http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00RK118FS?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00 ) having tried various options and DIY mods.

Edit: for those of an overly anxious disposition, BR sell a tether strap for double-security. Very easy to DIY though, loads of examples if you google.

 
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I use optech kit. It is very dependable. I would certainly not screw anything to tripod mount hole and leave it dangling off my shoulder and then watch that 1DX or whatever tumble down.
 
I have no problem using the tripod mount... it's designed to support the camera in any position (large backing plate inside body). If the lens has a foot then that's what I use. (I might feel different if I used lower end bodies).

The one exception is with an accessory battery grip. I had a 3rd party grip go bad from using a BR type strap attached to it. Caused weird camera behaviors but no permanent camera damage. I now use the OEM magnesium grip (D810) and will use a strap attached to it...but I'm not entirely convinced even that isn't going to cause a failure.

I also use a strap clamp with safety lanyard.
 
I've been using the optech pro system since 2011 its strong and well made
I've never liked the look of the ones that use the tripod thread
it's not the thread itself but the D ring looks dodgy to me
I would worry about the D ring opening out
the optech system attaches using snap lock straps to the lens lugs or camera body lug
also carrying a heavy lens is better supported from the lens lugs as I would have thought that attaching the strap to the body would put strain on the lens mount, though not actually sure if its possible to break a mount with the weight of a big lens
 
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When camera / lens is mounted on my tripod, I invariably always remove the camera strap to lesson the chance of it accidentally being pulled over. It can and has happened.
 
HoppyUK said:
The tripod bush is very strong. Here's a vid of a guy pulling a pick-up truck using just the bush as connection point.

Black Rapid straps are excellent. The much cheaper Q-straps are okay if you reinforce the stitching where the sling attaches at the rear. The OpTech method using the normal camera lugs rather misses half the benefit of a sling-strap, which is to have the camera hanging upside-down with the strap completely out of the way. You really have to use one to know how good this is. I suspect OpTech has been forced into doing it the way they do because of BR's patent lock-out and aggressive legal stance on enforcement.

With longer, heavier lenses, attach to the tripod collar. It protects the lens mount which is the weak spot and provides much better balance for carrying. Like Robin, I use a small Arca-Swiss clamp for quick attachment (dead cheap on Amazon, this is a very good one and it also has a double-speed thread, £10 posted http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00RK118FS?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00 ) having tried various options and DIY mods.

Edit: for those of an overly anxious disposition, BR sell a tether strap for double-security. Very easy to DIY though, loads of examples if you google.

Click to expand...
I too use a cheaper arca Swiss lamp off eBay, for added security I've attached a uni loop clip between the strap and camera strap mount. It cost £6 from Amazon :)
 
Blank_Canvas said:
When camera / lens is mounted on my tripod, I invariably always remove the camera strap to lesson the chance of it accidentally being pulled over. It can and has happened.
Click to expand...

....I do the same if on my tripod but I usually leave it tethered by my BlackRapid if on my monopod, as in the pic below:

SwiftClamp_P0634.jpg


When on walkabout on BlackRapid with Acratech SwiftClamp:

SwiftClamp_P0639.jpg


Note the Arca style plate on my camera body which is there for when I want to hang the body only while lens changing.
 
HoppyUK said:
Like Robin, I use a small Arca-Swiss clamp for quick attachment (dead cheap on Amazon, this is a very good one and it also has a double-speed thread, £10 posted http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00RK118FS?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00 ) having tried various options and DIY mods.
Click to expand...

ChrisHeathcote said:
I too use a cheaper arca Swiss lamp off eBay, for added security I've attached a uni loop clip between the strap and camera strap mount. It cost £6 from Amazon :)
Click to expand...

....I use a very expensive Arca-Swiss style clamp costing over 10x as much because some people think I have more money than sense, but actually I have more sense than money! :D

http://www.bobrigby.com/acratech/swiftclamp.html

I'm a speed freak who only photographs wildlife and a failsafe lever like on the Acratech is the fastest method.
 
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Ade, I spent over a year bashing cameras round at weddings & events using the BR system, with no 'security' problems at all. Like others, attached to body [in fact the grip most of the time] with shorter lenses and tripod collar on anything longer and no other extra bits for extra security either.

However, a word of caution - I have stopped using it now unless I am not using flash. [out and about like you, still more than happy to use one or both straps with camera upside down] I ended up having to have the hotshoe replaced in one of the D700's, the weight of an SB900 swinging from it had caused a problem. I googled this back when it happened [must be at least 3 years ago now] and discovered it was becoming quite a common fault amongst nikon owners with D700's/SB900 combos using any of the tripod mount strap systems. The other camera was fine, as my other flash was the considerably lighter SB800, and the way I packed them in my bag, meant the same camera nearly always ended up with same flash on it - DOH!

However, it terms of security I would certainly say yes they are fine, particularly the BR system.
 
I often use a sun sniper harness with 2 cameras attached when out and about, one has the long zoom with it attached to the
tripod collar on the lens, the other macro rigged with ring flash, attached to camera body and never had a problem.
It does come with a couple of safety straps that you can attach to the normal camera strap mounts and the harness
but always forget to use them o_O
 
thanks for your thoughts and opinions. Like I said, I'm sure some like the set up and seems the tripod mount is strong enough in sensible use. Good point about the flash Yvonne.
 
fracster said:
thanks for your thoughts and opinions. Like I said, I'm sure some like the set up and seems the tripod mount is strong enough in sensible use. Good point about the flash Yvonne.
Click to expand...

Yes, good point about the flash problem, though as Yv says it applies to all straps that carry the camera upside-down. It happens when you grab the camera quickly and swing it up to your eye, putting a lot of leverage stress through the foot. It can happen just shooting a lot in portrait mode, if you're not careful - also common cause of intermittent flash firing as it dislodges the contacts. I recently had a big flash on top of a radio trigger and was perhaps a bit rough with it - pulled the trigger apart! Flash and camera were was okay though.

As an aside, the 'hot-shoe' was originally never intended to take a massive great flash gun. It has evolved from an ancient Leica accessory shoe designed to take a separate rangefinder device about the size of the matchbox. Nikon tried to improve things, a few years ago now, by mounting the gun to the left of the pentaprism with a much bigger and more robust foot, but it never caught on.
 
Must have been using my Black Rapid for 4 or 5 years now with no problem.

Mind you I always check the screw is tight when I first put it on.
 
I've recently started using the Peak Design straps. These are really comfortable and the quick release system is very clever.
The large strap is called the Slide, and it can be used i a few different ways, including as a sling like the BR straps.
The good thing about this is it comes with an Arca Swiss plate that also has lugs on it, so you can keep the strap attached when it's used i a tripod.

https://peakdesign.com/store/slide
 
the nice thing about optech is you can attach it via whatever, if you buy the correct bits
 
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