Black Rapid Strap
14th July 2011
I promised in one of my earlier postings to give an early opinion of the Black Rapid camera strap. You may recall that I purchased this after dropping one of my camera bodies.
Basically the product is a long strap which you wear on the shoulder and across the body. The camera is fitted to it by means of a attachment that screws into the tripod socket under the camera. The camera is not fixed to a single point on the strap and can run free up and down, making it a possible to get your camera quickly up to your eye to grab a shot.
Overall it works quite well but, like any product, it does have some drawbacks. I found that the shoulder pad tended to slip down the strap and off my shoulder, and carrying a pro camera with a 70-200 lens on it is quite a weight, which will start to hurt without the shoulder pad in place. I have also noticed that it is easy to lose a lens hood with the camera hanging loosely by your side, but I have lost a fair number from being knocked off in crowds using conventional straps. My biggest complaint is its price - approx 51 quid. It may be a quality product, but at the end of the day it's still only a camera strap.
Would I recommend it? If you habitually carry two cameras - yes. Seated pitchside behind a long lens sometimes creates a problem of getting hold of a shorter lens quickly. I was in Paris a few season's back when another photographer had a £1800 lens wrecked by a hockey ball as it lay on the ground next to him. Point made I think.
Basically the product is a long strap which you wear on the shoulder and across the body. The camera is fitted to it by means of a attachment that screws into the tripod socket under the camera. The camera is not fixed to a single point on the strap and can run free up and down, making it a possible to get your camera quickly up to your eye to grab a shot.
Overall it works quite well but, like any product, it does have some drawbacks. I found that the shoulder pad tended to slip down the strap and off my shoulder, and carrying a pro camera with a 70-200 lens on it is quite a weight, which will start to hurt without the shoulder pad in place. I have also noticed that it is easy to lose a lens hood with the camera hanging loosely by your side, but I have lost a fair number from being knocked off in crowds using conventional straps. My biggest complaint is its price - approx 51 quid. It may be a quality product, but at the end of the day it's still only a camera strap.
Would I recommend it? If you habitually carry two cameras - yes. Seated pitchside behind a long lens sometimes creates a problem of getting hold of a shorter lens quickly. I was in Paris a few season's back when another photographer had a £1800 lens wrecked by a hockey ball as it lay on the ground next to him. Point made I think.
