How to Put on a Camera Strap: A Simple Guide to Camera Straps
People who are into photography should know how to put on a camera strap. However, it is not as easy as what you might think.
The way you attach your strap to the camera is of great importance because it affects the way you hold the camera. It is also a huge factor in the amount of body support that the strap will give you. Finally, the proper way of attaching the strap to your camera has a significant bearing on the safety of your equipment.
Truly, a good camera strap can make things less of a hassle, but knowing how to strap it correctly will set you up for an easy photography session. Hence, in this article, we are going to show you the steps on how to put on a camera strap.
Read on to master the art of camera straps.
Uses of Camera Straps
Here are the five major uses of camera straps:
- Going hands-free: You can still keep the camera close to you even if you cannot hold it. At the same time, you have easy access to it.
- Safeguard your camera: It holds your camera in place, may it be in front of you or across your shoulders.
- Body Support: It can support your neck, shoulders, and back.
- For recognition: It is easy to spot the official photographer of the event, paving the way for the photographer to get close to the subjects.
- Stabilizers: Used for chaotic events, when you have to put the strap in a cross-body position for a firmer grip.
Types of Camera Straps
There are different types of camera straps as well. Knowing the kind of strap that you have dramatically affects how you will strap them to your camera.
Kit Neck Strap
This strap is usually the default strap that comes with DSLR cameras. Most of them are made of synthetic material that is durable.
Artisan Neck Strap
This is usually made of knit cloth, leather, silk, and is made to look like scarves. It does give some kind of support to an extent, but it cannot last for a whole-day shoot. That is because your neck will feel the strain. You also have to wash the strap regularly.
Sling Strap
This strap is thinner than most straps. It is best used for compact cameras or mirrorless cameras. Never use it on heavy-duty equipment because it cannot support heavy cameras well. It might snap off and fall to the ground. At the same time, your camera will move around more with this strap.
Hand Strap
For people who experience bad strains on their shoulders, a hand strap is a good option. Then again, you should be someone who is very careful when holding the camera since the strap is just in your hand. Letting the strap go through your hand means letting go of the camera as well. Scary, we know.
Wrist Strap
This is a safer option compared to the Hand Strap if you are clumsy because this one has a snap placed around your wrist. Even if you let go of the camera, it will still dangle by your wrist. That being said, it is hard to use this strap for heavier cameras even if this strap can hold up to 100 pounds.
Double Camera Strap
This strap is for professional photographers who need to carry multiple cameras in a shoot. This type of design provides extreme back support. It also can carry cameras on either side of your hip.
Holster
This strap is attached near your waist, so it will most definitely not strain your neck and shoulder. It also provides easy access and ease of movement for the photographer.
How to Put on a Camera Strap: The Steps
Step one: Lay out all the materials needed to secure the straps of your camera. You should have the strap itself, the fastener, and the tether or buckle.
The tether or buckle is where you slide in your straps. This is also where you can tighten or loosen them. The fastener, on the other hand, is a smaller clip that is usually close to the tether. Its use is to separate the part of the strap that you want to adjust.
Step two: Slide in the end part of your strap to the camera’s eyelet. The eyelet is usually on the far-right and far-left end of your camera.
For most cameras, they come built-in with an eyelet. If your camera does not have eyelets, you can easily purchase attachments from any camera store.
Step three: Locate where the fasteners are. Once you identified them, make sure that the right side is facing up.
This is done so that there will be no potential tangles or other twists to the part of the strap that you want to work on.
Step four: You should then slowly feed the strap in reverse or outside-in, between the points of the camera’s tether.
To properly accomplish this step, you must make use of the fastener. Use that to separate the part of the strap that you want to put inside the tether. Once a specific part is separated, hold on to the fastener so that other parts of the strap will not join the part that you want to adjust.
Once you have the desired length already fed into the tether, pull the fastener near the eyelet of the camera to secure it.
Step five: By this time, your strap is now divided into two parts. One part is the one that is connected to the strap that will go to your neck, and the other part is the strap that you will use to make a loop.
To make a loop, slide the strap into the slot of the tether that is away from your camera. Slide it downwards. Once you are done, the strap that you are working on should be facing down.
Step six: To continue the loop, take the strap that is facing down and feed it to the slot of the tether that is near your camera. This time you slide it upwards. At this point, the end of your strap should be “sandwiched” by your loop.
Step seven: Place the remaining end of your strap neatly between the loop and start tightening it.
You can tighten it with the help of the fastener by slowly pulling it towards the loop. However, you must make sure that the end of the strap is tucked between the loops. You can pull the fastener as far as you want, but the suggested pull is up until it passes through the tucked end of the strap.
Step eight: Do the same thing to the other side of your camera eyelet. Be sure to do it the other way around to avoid wrong twists.
Step nine: Check your camera if it falls in a balanced way. Adjust it also based on how comfortable it will strap to your neck.
Summary
The process that we discussed to secure your camera strap properly is that of the universal way of doing it. Once you familiarize yourself with how to put on a camera strap, you can explore other options on how to securely attach your camera strap.
Camera straps come in different types, but once you find one that can work for you, it will last you a long time.