Light vs. Hefty Cameras and Strap or No Strap - What's Your Preference?

[Pieter12]

It all depends. I have straps for all my cameras except LF. I don't use the one for the Pentax 67 as it has grips and is rather clunky on a strap. I also don't use a strap on the Leica film CL. I will carry small-ish cameras (Leica M, Nikon F) on a wrist strap for walking around, sometimes a strap around my neck or over the shoulder. Most cameras are carried in a shoulder bag or backpack, the OpTech wide straps I use come off easily and quickly if they get in the way.

 

[Pieter12]

Never use straps, I use camera bags with strap over my shoulder and chest. Camera straps just get in the way. I have great fear of walking around holding a camera with a strap on because that strap is likely to hook onto something like a door knob and yank the camera out of my hand.. Been there done that. Straps in the bottom drawer.

You can wrap a medium-size strap around your wrist and arm so it doesn't snag on anything...

 

[Les Sarile]

Just a survey of weights for reference. Generally speaking, 60s cameras were heaviest and they get lighter as each decade passes . . .

Ricoh 3GenB by Les DMess, on Flickr

Straps or cases depending on use and lenses.

 

[George Mann]

With my lightest camera, a Nikon FG with 50mm Series E lens I use a wrist strap. With my Nikon FM and a 50mm f/2 Ai , a vintage neck strap.

With my heaviest cameras, a Nikon D2x and D300s with a 250g 35mm f/2.8 Ai, a Nikon F2 and a 50mm H.C. Auto f/2 and Nikon F90x plus 50mm f/2 Ai I use a US Gear harness type strap system.

 

[abruzzi]

I don't really shoot 35mm much any more, but I basically have two 35mm camera systems--a Pentax MX with Pentax M lenses, and a Nikon F2SB with pre-AI lenses. So I guess I score both light and hefty?

 

[Dr. no]

I haven't used straps routinely in decades...the camera is usually in continuous use or in the backpack/camera bag/car, and more often MF or LF. But, more travel lately and using the D-camera with long lenses so I need to look through that drawer! I used to use a wider strap that had Fastex snaps that could be used as a neck or wrist strap, I hope I still have one.
Oh, and the proliferating family of old Nikon bodies would be difficult to store if they all had straps, so I would like a solution that doesn't require fishing through d-rings with every switch.

 

[Donald Qualls]

It very much depends on what I'm doing. I had a strap on my Annie Speed for a while, but it's not really practical to carry with the strap clipped to the D-rings on the leather hand strap, and I kept snagging the trim around the bed on things (my Annie is far from new condition, but everything works -- except there are no shutter parts in the Compur, just an aperture, hence why that Tessar lives on the Annie.

For my RB67 I have a strap, but it's too short for comfort with the waist level finder; mostly useful to keep the camera from falling while using it hand held with the left hand grip.

My preference, though, if I'm not doing something that makes a tripod a strong positive, is for a lightweight camera with a strap -- my Kiev 2 with the Jupiter 8 (50/2) is very light and compact by comparison with most of my other "serious" cameras (35 SLRs, medium format, large format); the only 35 mm I have that's smaller and lighter is my Welta Weltini, which has no provision for a strap.

 

[Pieter12]

I haven't used straps routinely in decades...the camera is usually in continuous use or in the backpack/camera bag/car, and more often MF or LF. But, more travel lately and using the D-camera with long lenses so I need to look through that drawer! I used to use a wider strap that had Fastex snaps that could be used as a neck or wrist strap, I hope I still have one.
Oh, and the proliferating family of old Nikon bodies would be difficult to store if they all had straps, so I would like a solution that doesn't require fishing through d-rings with every switch.

The Op/Tech system is nice that way. There is a short strap with a quick-disconnect that can be attached to a heavy-duty neoprene strap or to each other, making a convenient loop to pick up or carry the camera. The good part is you can just buy one strap and a bunch of the shorter camera connectors and use the one neoprene strap with all of them. They even have a heavier-duty model for medium format cameras.

 

[JerseyDoug]

These days my only walking around cameras are my Barnack Leicas.

Regarding weight, the Barnacks are small but they are surprisingly heavy for their size, particularly with their brass rather than aluminum mount lenses. I find them easier to hold steady than the similar size but much lighter 35mm P&S cameras gathering dust on the shelf.

Regarding straps, I have Peak Design connectors on all of my Barnacks. If I am carrying a bare camera I clip them onto a 1" wide Domke Gripper strap I wear over my right shoulder. If I am carrying a camera in a bag I attach a wrist strap to one of the Peak Design connectors.

 

[Pieter12]

These days my only walking around cameras are my Barnack Leicas.

Regarding weight, the Barnacks are small but they are surprisingly heavy for their size, particularly with their brass rather than aluminum mount lenses. I find them easier to hold steady than the similar size but much lighter 35mm P&S cameras gathering dust on the shelf.

Regarding straps, I have Peak Design connectors on all of my Barnacks. If I am carrying a bare camera I clip them onto a 1" wide Domke Gripper strap I wear over my right shoulder. If I am carrying a camera in a bag I attach a wrist strap to one of the Peak Design connectors.

I have read of many failures of the Peak Design connectors...

 

[Sirius Glass]

I use the strap for my Pacemaker Speed Graphic but I use two hands for the Graflex Model D and use its strap as little as possible even though it looks to be in good shape.

 

[Patrick Robert James]

The older I get the less weight I want to carry around. For small cameras that I'd rather carry in my hand I prefer a wrist strap. A great carry around camera lately for me is the Canon Rebel T2 with the 40 pancake. So light. For cameras that are slightly heavier that I don't want to carry in my hand, a bandolier type strap is what I prefer. I picked up some rock climbing straps/loops years ago at REI. They are perfect. Split ring on the camera slides along the strap. Very comfortable and easy to use. I converted quite a few people to that style years ago. Great for a Leica for example. For larger cameras I prefer neoprene straps. Even my heavy Bronica EC-TL isn't that bad to carry with a neoprene strap.

 

[Dr. no]

My LFs are a Linhof Technika IV and Busch Pressman...I've replaced the leather strap on each at least once, because I use them handheld quite a bit. A leather belt from a thrift store is a good source for this. And almost four years after rotator cuff surgery it's a good maintenance exercise!

 

[88E30M50]

I appreciate both light and heavy cameras at different times. When in the city, I'm happy with a Pentax MX. It's small, mid-weight and shoots remarkably well. At other times, I'll have either a Pentax K1, Z-1, Canon F-1 or some other heavy camera.

For retention, I have a few cameras with neck straps but by far, I prefer finger loops with a one sided strap attached as needed. The finger loops let me run without a strap and still have really good retention of the body. Then, I just clip the single sided strap on the left loop and toss it over my shoulder. I make the finger loops out of old camera straps and make the single point slings out of strap kits bought off of Amazon. The strap kits cost about $10 and yield 4 or more straps. I'm on my second set because I keep giving the ones I make away to people that like them.

 

[naaldvoerder]

For travel photography I prefer the smallest camera in my preferred lens mount, in my case 2 Contax Aria bodies doubling as each others back-up, equipped with small primes and wrist straps. My "stay at home" battle-axe, the RTS III has the proprietary strap attached to it. For safety, and because it is a very esthetically pleasing strap.

 

[joelbolden]

Never use straps, I use camera bags with strap over my shoulder and chest. Camera straps just get in the way. I have great fear of walking around holding a camera with a strap on because that strap is likely to hook onto something like a door knob and yank the camera out of my hand.. Been there done that. Straps in the bottom drawer.

Same. I must have 15 camera bags of various sizes that I acquired with cameras over the years. I can carry another camera or extra lenses with no problem. I do wear my Gossen Luna6 on a thin strap around the neck and have a old, wide Pentax strap with small carabiners that will fit most of my camera lugs if needed for some reason. Rarely gets used.

 

[Arthurwg]

For my RB67 I have a strap, but it's too short for comfort with the waist level finder; mostly useful to keep the camera from falling while using it hand held with the left hand grip.

Funny about that left hand grip. Yes, it does help to hold and steady the camera, but it adds just enough weight to make the already heavy RB67 almost impossible to carry.

 

[Donald Qualls]

Funny about that left hand grip. Yes, it does help to hold and steady the camera, but it adds just enough weight to make the already heavy RB67 almost impossible to carry.

I don't find it that bad, even with the solid glass prism mounted. Maybe we just have different levels of weight tolerance.

 

[Ben Hutcherson]

I like substantial feeling cameras, and up to a point the weight doesn't really bother me.

For reference, my main DSLR is a Nikon D5, and if I need a second body depending on the exact situation often will use another single digit body(D4 or D3x) or a D850. I always have a 24-70 f/2.8 on one of these. With that said, one of the things that really thrilled me about the 70-200 f/2.8E FL I picked up last summer was how much lighter it was than my old 70-200 f/2.8G VR.

On 35mm or 35mm format digital, there's a point where I say "enough" on weight, and for me I find I start getting a little shaky hand-holding my 300mm f/2.8(G, VR1) for more than a few minutes. Maybe I'm a wimp as I know people hand hold these lenses all day, but it's in monopod territory for me to use for very long. That's especially true on a heavy camera like an F5 or a single digit D.

In medium format, funny enough my Pentax 67 has never bothered me to carry for very long. My 555ELD with a 350mm Tele-Tessar gets a little to front-heavy for me to carry for very long.

I get really uncomfortable using any camera without a strap. About a year and a half ago, someone clued me in to the Peak Design system, and it's everything I could want in a strap. I have neck straps from them in 3 different sizes-the "Slide", which is 1.8" wide, the "Slide Lite", which is 1.3", and "Leash", which is 3/4". All are heavy nylon webbing-think seat belts but softer/smoother. The Slide and Slide Light have some padding with some minimal but surprisingly effective "grippies" in the center, while the leash is much thinner. All of them are fairly breathable, something that I feel like is lacking in heavily padded straps like Opt-tech. Peak anchors are inexpensive, secure, and fast to attach-detach to the straps. plus are not particularly invasive when they're there. That means that even though the straps themselves are expensive, it's so easy to switch them between cameras that a few straps cover me for everything. I find the Slide Lite or Leash ideal for a lot of 35mm cameras, while the Slide Lite or regular Slide are more at home on medium format.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I use a strap on all of my cameras except the 4"x5" cameras. The Pacemaker Speed Graphic has a hand strap but the Graflex Model D does not.

 

[Guth]

I stick to 35mm film and rangefinder cameras with smaller lenses. I also have a 35mm point ‘n shoot camera. I always use neck straps with the rangefinders and with the point ‘n shoot camera I almost always use the wrist strap. The straps can be a bit of a hassle, but after decades of use I am well used to them by now and I like the peace of mind that they provide.

 

[moggi1964]

I use a PD Leash for my 35mm film camera. I use the PD Cuff or PD Slide and the PD capture plate for my 35mm digital camera.

I use the Optech strap for the B67 (only just got it so cannot comment on it yet) and the Mamiya C3 had a Deadcameras leather strap on it before I sold the camera.

My 4x5 MPP had a hand strap from Deadcameras.

 

[Pioneer]

Wow, tough one. This depends a LOT on what I am using and what I'm photographing so it is very hard to generalize. There are a few things.

I don't use wrist straps. I always prefer the strap around my neck or shoulder so I can let it hang without additional support whenever needed. Strap size and type can differ but right now I do like the Leica style. I used to be able to get a nice wide, comfortable cloth from from Vivitar but I haven't seen those for awhile. They were cheap but really flexible and comfortable. They could be easily wrapped around your forearm and used like a wrist strap, but a lot more secure, if you needed something like that.

My large and medium format cameras are typically used for high detail imagery and big enlargements so they are almost always on a tripod and carried in backpacks. I could lie and say that weight is usually not an issue but I hike in some pretty steep country. If my Jeep won't make it I have to get there somehow. That is probably why I like the Intrepid or Graflex 2x3. Actually if I could find a reliable source of 2x3 film for my Graflex I would probably sell all of my MF and LF gear and never miss it. 2x3 sheet film is probably one of the things I miss most from my younger years.

I want quick response from my 35mm cameras so those cameras typically are lighter. I used an LX for many years, and now a K1000 or Contax II, so that is the typical camera and lens weight I deal with. I still use straps in almost all cases. I have no TLRs right now. When I did they had straps and were used more like 35mm cameras. Probably why I sold them. I love the little Barnack Leicas when I have one around, and they usually go in my pocket, so no straps for them. If I could find a little Leica II in good condition for a decent price I would buy it in a second, or trade one of my large format cameras for it.