Camera Straps
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December 2024 Better Pictures Canon Nikon Sony Fuji OM SYSTEM LEICA Zeiss HASSELBLAD All Reviews
For Rangefinders: LEICA 14312 Strap (discontinued and only sold used; see How to Win at eBay) .
For most cameras: OP/TECH USA EZ Comfort Strap.
For big, pro cameras: OP/TECH USA Classic Strap.
For Medium Format cameras: OP/TECH USA SUPER PRO Straps (three versions)
Introduction
I never use the strap that comes with a camera. They're usually worthless and weak, and worse, advertise a camera with no benefit to me. A "NIKON" or "CANON" strap makes you stand out in a crowd to criminals, which you never want to do.
I leave new camera straps wrapped up in their boxes for eventual resale, and buy superior straps to use in the field.
Here's what I use. Different weights of cameras demand different kinds of straps.
Straps or Slings?
There are all sorts of crazy sling systems. I never use any of these.
I use regular straps and I'm good.
How to Wear a Camera
I always wear cameras over my neck and shoulder.
Wearing a camera directly over your neck with the camera riding on your belly not only makes you look like a goober, it hurts your neck. Wearing it around your shoulder as well as your neck distributes the weight.
When you wear it like this, you can secure your camera with your elbow against your waist. Grab and go!
I don't trust myself to sling a camera strap only over my shoulder, so I can't comment on that; neck and shoulder it is.
Pocket Cameras and iPhones top
These stay in my pocket. I don't use a strap for them.
I might use the wrist strap that came with them, otherwise, they live in my pocket and only come out to shoot.
Straps for Lightweight Cameras (up to about 2.5 pounds or 1.2kg) top
For light rangefinder cameras with strap lugs that have but one small hole, like a LEICA, Olympus or Contax G, I prefer LEICA's 14312 strap. It sells for about $50 used (see How to Win at eBay) and lasts forever. The 14312 is a German engineering marvel once you get used to it. It really is Made in Germany. I bought mine back around 2007 and it's still like new!
The LEICA 14312 strap has quite a few benefits:
1.) Ingenious design that allows the strap to be attached and removed immediately without tools and without scratching the camera. This is great for me, since I'm constantly being loaned new cameras to test, and then need to remove the straps when I photograph the cameras to illustrate my reviews.
2.) Ingenuous design that incorporates rash guards to prevent brassing or other wear to the camera from extended use.
3.) Narrow strap materiel doesn't get in your way as you hold the camera to your eyes.
4.) Perfect width and grip permanently fixed shoulder pad. It's not too big and not too small. It's not too slippery and not too grippy. It feels perfect for light cameras.
5.) Much more supple than other strap material. The strap lays across your hand like a soft shirt; not at all like most other stiffer straps.
6.) Ingenious design that has no loose strap ends to poke you in the eye or chafe your hands.
7.) Ingenious design that can't possibly loosen or untie itself. The strap is sewn back into itself.
8.) Ingenious design that makes it fast and easy to adjust the length.
9.) Ingenious design that keeps the strap at the length you set it.
10.) No junk hanging off the strap or your camera: it's just a strap, a small pad, and ingenious fixation devices on each end.
11.) Even if you break one of the plastic buckles, no problem: they were just strap-end keepers. If one breaks, no big deal, since the clips at each end are what hold the strap.
12.) Even if you break one of the plastic clips at each end, no big deal, since the camera will be held by the plastic buckle in the middle of each side.
As you can see, the brilliant simplicity of this strap means you have to break at least two different things before you drop a camera.
This strap's only weakness is that it only works with cameras with lugs with a single, small hole expecting to work with split-rings. It won't work with cameras with slots for straps like most Canons.
You used to be able to get the LEICA 14312 at Amazon.
Midsize cameras (about 2~3 pounds or 1~1.5kg) top
Canon R5 II with EF 50mm f/1L.
For midsize cameras, which means just about any non-pro DSLR or 35mm camera, I suggest the excellent OP/TECH USA EZ Comfort strap. It's only $12 and made in USA with real leather trim. It's an even simpler design and therefore more reliable than most other straps. With fewer connections and buckles, there is less to break or go wrong and drop a camera.
The EZ Comfort strap has a big neoprene pad, which is wetsult material. It's so stretchy it absorbs the weight of the camera as we walk around, making it much more comfortable than the stiff straps that come with a camera, or are made of nylon or leather.
The EZ Comfort strap also has thin 3/8" (1 cm) straps that connect the strap to the camera, so it doesn't get in the way when you're actually shooting.
I've been using my now obsolete Tamarac N25 straps since the 1990s. They are also made-in-USA of neoprene wetsuit rubber, like the EZ Comfort strap. Any of these make it comfortable to carry a midsize camera all day long.
I haven't bought any new straps since the 1990s since all my old Tamracs are still working like new today in 2025, which is what you get when you buy American-made quality. Tamrac were made in Chatsworth, California, USA, and everything from OP/TECH USA is made today in Belgrade, Montana, USA.
While the EZ Comfort strap is only $12 in your choice of several colors, it's a very high-quality strap with a lifetime warranty. It should last you for many generations of new cameras; my old Tamracs have been in use for 30 years since I bought it to shoot my Nikon FA 35mm manual focus camera!
Big Cameras (3 pounds or 1.5kg and up) top
Canon R3 with EF 50mm f/1L.
For my pro cameras with battery grips like my Canon R3, Canon 1DX Mk III, Nikon Z9, Nikon D5 or others along with the bigger, faster lenses we usually carry on them, I prefer a wider strap that helps distribute the weight better, like the OP/TECH USA Classic Strap, which sells for a whopping $18 and is also American made with a lifetime warratny.
If you're especially paranoid about the quick-release connections of most straps, including the OP/TECH USA Classic Strap, OP/TECH USA also makes a product called SECURE-ITS which are simple velcro loops which can lock the quick releases so they won't release.
Medium Format Cameras top
CONTAX 645 with ZEISS SONNAR 140mm f/2.
For my HASSELBLAD and CONTAX 645 medium-format cameras, especially those with the special rotating strap lug connections unique to these cameras, I use my OP/TECH USA SUPER PRO Strap.
The OP/TECH USA SUPER PRO comes in three versions depending on the lugs of your camera:
The PRO Classic Loop is universal for traditional strap slots.
The SUPER PRO Classic Design A is for Bronica, Canon EOS-M (with supplied locks), HASSELBLAD, Kiev, and the Pentax LX.
The SUPER PRO Classic Design B is for CONTAX 645, Mamiya M645 (not Super or Pro), Mamiya RB, Mamiya RZ, Pentax 645, Pentax 6x7 and ROLLEI.
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