how do you wear your camera, not a poll

[back alley]

i have become very comfortable using grips and wrist straps on my cameras in conjunction with a camera bag.

my m.o. is to have the camera in hand at all times as i walk about.
if i have a second camera with a different lens (fl) on it and i decide to use that camera i simply put the camera on hand in the bag and remove the second camera with the different optic attached.
it's a simple approach and it works for me.

i have a couple of very nice straps including the beautiful leicatime leather strap by luigi and sometimes i feel the tug to use them.
but i have grown accustomed to the wrist straps and to be honest, hanging a camera around my neck and having it bounce on my large belly makes me feel and look (i think) like a tourist, and not in a good way, at all.

so, do you wear your camera around your neck and does it bounce off your gut?
or do you shoulder it? or maybe the strap over the neck and camera at your side?

i know most here prefer a neck strap and i am just wondering.

joe

[rbiemer]

joe,
I use and prefer a neck strap. But I keep it adjusted fairly short; so that the camera is at chest level. This way the "pendulum" doesn't have so much swing and it's not too bouncy. That is also why I don't like the "deluxe" Voightlander strap: it's very well made and a nice width neither too narrow or too wide but it isn't adjustable for length and I'm just 5' 8" so it's too long for me.
I tried the sidegrip and wrist strap when I got the Bessa R but it wasn't comfortable to me. I do have wrist straps on two of my cameras--the Micron2 and a Vivitar 35EE--that are smaller and lots lighter than my interchangeable lens RF cameras. Haven't quite decided about the Retina 1a I recently got; it's small enough but the thought of relying on only one of the strap lugs makes me a bit nervous.
I figured out the best length for me when I was using a TLR alot; just long enough to look down into the VF and use the magnifier as well.
Rob

[Wayne R. Scott]

Canon P I use wrist strap and M grip. I have a Lowepro Orion Beltback to carry extra camera body/lens combo. On my contax IIa I have a wrist strap and a homemade finger sling. The wrist strap is attached to the left side eye and the finger sling is attached to the right side eye. I loop the wrist strap onto my right wrist and then slide my "naughty" finger and ring finger of the right hand into the finger sling. I can just let go of the camera and it is held by the wrist strap and sling. I just close my hand to grip it and to shoot.

Wayne

[tedwhite]

Joe, I do a variety. In crappy weather I put the camera on a neck strap and stick in inside my jacket which accomplishes two things: Makes it hidden, and keeps it dry.

I also have a small, sturdy, beat-up courier bag that I wear on my right side with its strap over my neck and on the left shoulder so it won't fall off. Inside the bag is a velcroed foam partition allowing me to carry two cameras. The first is a Bessa R with c/v 35/2.5; the second, a beat up, black, brassy Spotmatic with Super Takumar's superb 135/2.5. The two focal lengths work great for street use. Both have wrist straps cobbed from cordless drills. (I gotta get together with Gordy and get some decent ones with a bit of class).

I don't like being perceived as a tourist in my home town, Bisbee, a town flooded with them in winter, so I eschew a regular camera bag. Anyway, most people stuff them with more lenses and bodies than I've got fingers. If I can't do with the two aforementioned lenses I need to take up another line of work.

Ted

[wlewisiii]

With my Luigi case and strap on the Canon 7, I like to have it over my right shoulder. If I'm just walking, I'll have my hand on the strap itself but if I'm expecting to shoot, I'll have my hand on the grip Luigi built into the case. When I bring the camera up to my eye, I can twist the strap around my arm like a rifle sling for extra stability.

William

[bmattock]

I use a wrist strap on some (most) rangefinders, a neck strap on some (most) SLRs, and sometimes I don't use anything at all. I hate NeverReady leather cases and take 'em off as soon as I get a new/old camera. I think the Leicatime and Luigi's stuff looks great - can't afford it, though!

I tried one of those tether things made out of neoprene with a velcro strap for the wrist once - hated it. Your simple leather or plastic loop for the wrist or a hippy strap for the neck works great.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

[sbug]

Joe, I have neck straps on my Yashica and Nikon and a homemade sling on my Canonet. I like the sling a lot but it is not always practical. I haven't really given a wrist strap a try but I can tell you that my neck straps are too long. It leaves the camera too low and bouncing and I don't even have a belly for it to bounce off of (not yet at least)! I plan on trying a shorter neck strap . Maybe I'll try a wrist strap though.

[Simon Larbalestier]

I use Lutz's "sling" on both M's plus voigtlander canvas strap on the M6 and a leather wrist strap on M4. S3200 has an Artist's and Artisan leather strap with padded neck strap (which is longer than the one on the M6) very comfortable but i wonder how long it will last Bangkok's high humidity before it grows mould.....
I prefer the combined sling and wrist strap on the M4.

[cp_ste.croix]

i hook my right thumb behind the film advance lever and my fingers along the body and just walk with the camera (a GSN or sometimes a QL17) like that...I carry a bag with either the other RF or my Rolleicord and extra film.

Seems to work for me, though I do have freakishly small hands.

[24x30]

My cameras are in my hand or in the bag, nowhere else. Ok ok some of them are in a cupboard at home (there are a lot of them and the backpack is a small one).

/rudi

[MelanieC]

I have the Artisan&Artist cloth strap, which I think is similar to the Cosina/Voightlander strap. As has been noted it is not adjustable for length and is therefore too long to be a good neck strap, even more so on me since I'm only 5'1". But I like it as a cross-body strap and so that's how I wear it, over the left shoulder, across my chest and with the camera basically riding on the opposite hip. That way I can keep my right hand on it and be ready to use it if I like.

If I'm just carrying the camera and not immediately anticipating taking a shot I keep it in a pouch inside my shoulder bag with the strap wrapped loosely around the lens.

If I could afford one I'd get a half case from Luigi with a strap in dark green.

[dostacos]

I wear one around my neck with the lens I am using, I attach 2 neoprene drawstring pouches to my belt loops so I have 35mm 50mm 75mm all ready to grab [ my second body usually will have a roll of color film, I hang my camera bag on the tiller of the power unit of my wheelchair it holds my 25mm, film, light meter, did I say film? [the domke 6 has a great zip pouch for film ] batteries, and whatever else fell in....

If I am walking I have the one around my neck and my "gun bearer" has the bag and lenses. Walking I am on 2 crutches so not alot of extra hands

[Tim]

Depends.......

(Pick the IT person!)

either in a shoulder bag, if I don't think I'll want it quickly, or on a neck strap slung over the head and down by my side, or (especially the m6 with the grip) with the neck strap knotted around my wrist.

entirely dependent on environment and the moment's feeling......

That didn't help at all, did it Joe!

[doubs43]

Mostly around my neck on either a snake chain or thin leather/vinyl strap.

Walker

[RayPA]

It depends on the camera. I use both neck straps and wrist straps.

I think the wrist strap is more conducive to a one (maybe two) lens/one camera setup. I always have my thumb behind the advance lever "hooking" the camera (when on a wrist strap).

When I use a neck strap, I keep the strap long-ish so the camera hangs around my waist. I "hook" the camera with my thumb at the advance lever, and keep my hand "resting" on the camera, almost like the camera and strap was a sling for my arm. This both keeps the camera pointing down, and stops it from swinging and bouncing as I walk. It also feels more like the wrist strap arrangement, maybe even a little quicker.

For shorter straps, I'll actually wrap the strap around my wrist to fashion a wrist strap. I always feel like the bullriders I see on TV, as I wind the strap around and through my fingers, and around my wrist, etc.

[Doug]

Joe, I agree about bouncing off one's middle, but like Ted if I have a zip-up jacket in poor weather, then that's an option for a small camera with a short lens.

Mostly I don't carry cameras in cases or bags, just slung over a shoulder, with the strap shortened so the camera is tucked in my elbow for discretion and protection.

[OldNick]

Joe - I use a flat nylon strap to carry my Leica IIIf at lower chest level and a longer strap with neck pad to carry my Pentax Spotmatic at waist level, usually with a longer lens. The bouncing can be a problem, but, more so is the contact between the lower camera and my belt buckle. When I remember to do so, I relocate the buckle a couple of loops to the left of center, and all goes well. I have tried a wrist strap, but am not really comfortable with it. My black leather Leica strap and my "never ready" case are over fifty years old, so I don't trust the old leather anymore.

Jim N.

[Fedzilla_Bob]

Mostly wrist straps. Some I've made, others from Gordy.

I have one Hakuba neck strap of neoprene, it's nice and squishy.

[kvanderlaag]

Ninety percent of the time, the camera gets shoved into the pocket of one of my trendy zip-sweaters or hip coats, along with my hand. (It's usually cold enough here that the hands go into the pockets.)

Recently, I walked into a camera store to buy some film, and the guy working instantly saw my M2 like he'd been LOOKING for it, and asked to fondle it. After admiring it for a bit, he told me he had something to show me, ran off for a minute, and came back with a rather cute leather strap that's very solid, with nice locking rings and leather protectors for the strap lugs and the top plate. (You know, since my M2 is mint. ) He asked if I was interested, to which I replied interested, but poor. Of course, when he offered it to me for free, I couldn't say no.

So now my M2 has a lovely leather neckstrap that feels very at home on it. However, I can't quite get used to having a short neckstrap on a camera, so it's taking some time for this to feel natural. I do feel like more than a bit of a tourist.

The CL lives on a cheap Pentax neck strap (probably from a point and shoot) made of cloth which dangles it around my neck. This one's a little longer. I really like the vertical hang on the CL -- it feels extremely natural having an object longer than it is tall hanging against you. (No sexual innuendo intended.)

The only other camera I have a strap for is the D50 -- neckstrap -- and for the longest time, and usually even now, I wore it more like a shoulder strap than a neck strap. Much more comfortable than having the camera swinging everywhere. This is my preference, but I can't find straps long enough to do this with cameras like the M or the CL.

Mostly, things just get the pocket. It feels more discreet.

[oftheherd]

When I got back into photography in the mid-70s, I was in Korea. Travel was by bus and train. What I wanted had to be in a bag or on my neck. I just got used to that. It got to the point where I had a large canvas bag for my 35mm gear. After a while, that got to be a drag, especially if I also wanted my Super Press 23.

I still prefer hanging a camera around my neck, either to the front, or under my left arm. That includes the Canonet. Other equipment may be in a smaller bag or in pockets, depending. Just my style. I think I need Bill's t-shirt about having a weak mind and strong body.

[dmr]

I very much prefer a wrist strap. Nothing fancy, I have a few that I cut down from the standard neck straps that work fine. I don't really care for neck straps. I do have a nice clip-on one (not a hippie strap) for the Pentax but I seldom use it. I usually just hand carry that one. With the zoom, it's really clumsy on a strap.

I also don't like carrying a separate camera bag.

[Rick Waldroup]

When I am out shooting, I usually carry at least two cameras, sometimes three. I do not like to change lenses. I wear a vest, I never carry a bag unless I really, really have to. I wear two of the cameras on straps over both shoulders, I never wear one around my neck. If I bring a third camera, it rides inside a pocket in my vest.

[FrankS]

A wrist strap or nothing at all for small fixed lens RF cameras that fit easily into a jacket pocket.

Neckstrap for my interchangeable lens cameras: If I'm traveling and not using the camera, it is in a Domke 803 bag carried on my left shoulder. If I want a camera ready, it is also over my left shoulder, under my left arm. If I'm shooting or anticipating to shoot, I wrap the neckstrap around my right wrist 3 times and walk with the camera in my right hand, the bag still over my left shoulder.

If I'm working with just 1 camera in the fall/winter/spring, it is over my left shoulder, under my jacket, with a lens or 2 in my jacket pockets.

Rarely do I wear a camera on a neckstrap around my neck. It looks pretty funny, the bulge under my coat if I do. (I've got to reduce that belly!)

[Kat]

I use whatever's attached to the camera, but more often I prefer the neckstrap (though it's a pain during hot weather when the back of you neck is sweating!). Hang it on my neck when I'm using the camera, over my shoulder if not. Wriststraps are nice, but don't leave my hands completely free, plus camera could get knocked against something.

[Scarpia]

Depends on the camera. My Bessas and my Leica have neckstraps so thats what I use. My Zorki 4 and 5 lack strap lugs as does my old Voigtlander Vito so I use the never ready case as much as I dislike it. When I'm on an errand of any kind and photography is secondary I carry a small P&S in a pocket except in the summer when I am not wearing a coat or jacket. Then I choose my camera by considering what is most practical with regard to where I am going or what I am doing. I tell my wife that is why I need so many cameras. She doesn't always believe me.
Kurt M.