Camera Strap Update 2

It’s been a bit since I talked about the camera strap project that Greg and I have been working on. There’s a reason for that. Greg’s been in hardcore research mode checking out more materials and techniques and I’ve been test driving prototypes at the various events I’ve been shooting.

As I’ve been working with Greg’s prototypes, I’ve been showing them to friends and colleagues to get more input along the way. To the right is a picture I snapped of my friend Julie playing with a prototype that she had hooked up to a Canon Rebel. It doesn’t show the whole strap off, especially the bits that Greg is still working the details of, but it does show the function of the sling design.

I’ve mentioned in earlier posts on the topic that one of the major influences on this type of strap is the basic military rifle sling, which has been evolving over time since the Civil War. In particular, here’s an interesting set of photographs of a single point rifle sling using a buckled lanyard loop. The metal Cobra buckle there is seriously cool, though maybe over-engineered for the purpose at hand. More interesting is the lanyard loop that allows the user to hook up their strap to any convenient mounting point with a simple cow hitch. A cow hitch is also known as a ring hitch and, even if you don’t know it’s name, you’ve seen it a zillion times on luggage tags and the like. You’ve probably also seen it used on wrist lanyards for pocket cameras and this buckled loop lanyard design has also shown up on more than a few high end camera straps.

The idea of using a looped lanyard that can use any tie down point is a powerful one, I think. It means that you can use one of the camera strap mount points on your camera, a camera plate with a D-ring attached to the tripod socket of your camera or lens, or any other convenient point on whatever equipment you might need to pick up and use. Obviously some attachment points are stronger than others and you’ll need to use a bit of judgement. If you make the lanyard out of mil-spec paracord, however, it’s more than strong enough to do the job well no matter how you choose to use it. The photo here shows a looped lanyard that is attached to a friend’s Rebel. Easy as pie and simple to use.

There will be more to say soon, but I can’t spill all the beans yet. Greg’s still working on a few more details and, if it wasn’t already obvious, this thing is being designed to be sold. So, for now, I’ve got to stop here. If you find me in person, however, I’ll be happy to let you play with the current prototype I’m test driving. And, as Greg wraps more things up, I’ll post some more updates. All in good time.