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Vi Vante Sheetlike rope camera strap for film M - any good?

snusmumriken

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Anybody here used one?

I've been looking for a rope strap that I can wear cross-shoulder even under a jacket, and still get the camera to my eye quickly. This strap looks promising, but the blurb says that it has some 'give' under weight. Given that a film Leica is quite heavy compared with the Fujifilm digitals that most reviewers of the strap seem to use, first-hand experience would be a great help to me here.
 
Also, is it possible to carry the camera lens-down with this strap? I always do this when out in bright sunlight, to avoid burning a hole in the shutter curtain.
 
Interesting idea, Huss. Isn't that a kind of Never Ready situation? I like either to preset focus, or else find focus very quickly by pulling the tab over from infinity.

I confess that I am a bit paranoid about this hole-in-curtain issue, because in fact I'm rarely out talking photos in harsh sunlight.
 

No, because I know where focus is set so when I grab the camera to use it I bring focus to where it is needed as I bring it up to eye.
Even presetting focus should be ok as long as it is not at infinity! Shutter burns happen at infinity as that is where the sun is focused.
 

Fair enough. I'm sticking with turning the camera lens-down, because additionally it then takes less room under a jacket (given length of lens plus lens hood).

I take it you haven't used one of these Vi Vante straps?
 
snusmumriken said:
Also, is it possible to carry the camera lens-down with this strap? I always do this when out in bright sunlight, to avoid burning a hole in the shutter curtain.
Click to expand...

I believe the sun has to be shining directly into the lens for 3 seconds for this to happen. So unless you're laying on the ground or the sun is on the horizon, this shouldn't be a problem while carrying the camera.
 
Well they're pretty confident their straps are fine with the M10 and a 50 Noct, they have it in their product shots. Won't get much heavier than this.
 
Huss said:
Shutter burns happen at infinity as that is where the sun is focused.
Click to expand...

A shutter will burn with the aperture more open than not, with no respect to focus. The smaller the aperture and more out-of-focus, the longer it will take.

Pieter12 said:
I believe the sun has to be shining directly into the lens for 3 seconds for this to happen
Click to expand...

Wide open, focused set to infinity, the shutter will immediately start to burn. I tried it with a Summar lens and a piece of black paper.
 

I tested it before, by holding my shutter open at B and putting a black piece of paper where the film would be. Focused to infinity and aperture wide open it starts to burn immediately.
 
Huss said:
I tested it before, by holding my shutter open at B and putting a black piece of paper where the film would be. Focused to infinity and aperture wide open it starts to burn immediately.
Click to expand...

We did exactly the same test with exactly the same results.
I tried at smaller apertures - it takes longer.
Even as far out of focus as it gets, at a wide-open aperture, the lens will still spot a very condensed sun on the film plane.

I bought a Leica IIIb that must've been on a shelf watching a sunset for a while. The sun had burned a nice arc in the shutter curtain.
 

Lens still needs to be pointed directly at the sun. Something that will probably not happen when the camera is being carried around, only if it is laid lens-up on a table or other horizontal surface. You and your camera are probably more likely to be struck by lightning.
 
Pieter12 said:
You and your camera are probably more likely to be struck by lightning.
Click to expand...

That's just wrong. The sun needs to be in the angle of view of the lens. If you have a 35mm lens on the camera, it's pretty easy to get the sun in there.
Feel free to try it.
 
Don Heisz said:
That's just wrong. The sun needs to be in the angle of view of the lens. If you have a 35mm lens on the camera, it's pretty easy to get the sun in there.
Feel free to try it.
Click to expand...

That's why I have burned out many shutter curtains on my Leica while strolling on the beach.
 
......& this has what to do with a rope camera strap??
 
I think you'll be OK on the burned shutter issue. I've lived many years in high UV states and cities like Las Cruces, NM, Florida, Tucson, Az, Hawaii, San Diego, etc. I ride a bike, and the camera is unfailing slung over my shoulder on a strap, on or off the bike. If I'm riding away from the sun, it's facing towards it. My concern was for the film in it, but it never was affected.

In Las Cruces I was shooting a lot of rangefinders, things like Leica screwmounts and M cameras, Feds, Zorkis, etc. The gear would get amazingly hot in direct sun for sometimes extended times. Never had a shutter burned, but there were days I felt as if the camera had been branded onto my back. The chrome lenses were occasionally too hot to touch when I would stop, better to grab the black lens hood.
 
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Pieter12 said:
Because the OP wants to be able to carry his camera with the lens facing down, fearing the sun will burn a hole in his shutter curtain.
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....so nothing to do with a strap or what it's made of...... really a complete non sequitur.
 
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GregY said:
....so nothing to do with a strap or what it's made of...... really a complete non sequitur.
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Well, no. The OP asked if that strap would allow him to carry the camera lens-down (because of fear of shutter-burn) while around his neck or across this chest.
 
Pieter12 said:
Well, no. The OP asked if that strap would allow him to carry the camera lens-down (because of fear of shutter-burn) while around his neck or across this chest.
Click to expand...

Whether it's leather or rope makes no difference in how you manoeuvre the lens. It has more to do with the type of attachment between the strap & the lugs. If shutter burn is a concern.....carry it in a bag.
 
GregY said:
Whether it's leather or rope makes no difference in how you manoeuvre the lens. It has more to do with the type of attachment between the strap & the lugs. If shutter burn is a concern.....carry it in a bag.
Click to expand...

No, because that was not the OP's request when he created this thread. Maybe carrying it in a bag is good for you.

I've been looking for a rope strap that I can wear cross-shoulder even under a jacket, and still get the camera to my eye quickly....
Also, is it possible to carry the camera lens-down with this strap? I always do this when out in bright sunlight, to avoid burning a hole in the shutter curtain."
 
But I think there may be a simpler answer that sidesteps what may be an impossible question as it stands, don't wear the camera with the lens facing outwards. If the lens is facing into your body your body and clothing are protecting the shutter from burns, and if the camera swings outwards if you forget about it and bend over the back of the body will hit the concrete and not the front of the lens. It also means that your arm and elbow can hold the camera closer to your body without a sweaty arm coating the front element with sun cream, and makes it slightly more discreet. As you swing the camera to the eye it still ends up comfortably pointing in the right direction if the strap is long enough to give a little extra slack, as would seem to be the case. This works for Nikon's SLR's or Leica M's, but especially any rangefinder with a cloth shutter.

As for the stretch of the rope they've used climbing rope which is made to stretch, if they've used expensive 'dry' rope which doesn't absorb water it's about $250 for 70 metres, so at 120cm maybe under $5 per strap? I'd get some rope off-cut and tie a knot in each end.
 
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