If you’ve seen me outdoors, you’ve undoubtedly seen me with a camera in hand. Combining outdoor sports with photography is sometimes hard, but always rewarding.
One thing that makes it hard is handling and securing photography gear. When I first saw an R strap I was pretty excited, they are made by a company called Black Rapid as a more comfortable and quicker way to hang a camera on your person. If you’ve ever had a DSLR on your neck for any length of time, you’ll realize that the common neck strap just doesn’t cut it for very long, much less in situations where you may want to hike, scramble or otherwise move around quickly or unevenly.
The R-strap’s solution has you wear the camera in a sling position, thus putting the weight on a shoulder at all times, rather than on your neck. Black Rapid’s innovation is to couple this sling with a carabiner type device for fast attachment and a sliding system which lets you move from camera at rest position to shooter ready position without adjusting the sling… and not ever having your camera not secured to you.
The RS-Sport R-Strap version has the above conveniences plus a more comfortable strap and the addition of an under-arm safety tether, helping secure your camera during uneven ground situations as well.
I’ve been using my strap for months now and really love it. I actually feel free to move away from my camera bag while at the crag now that I don’t have to constantly think about where the camera will be (it’ll be on my person!). I’ve also used it while hanging from a rope set up to shoot climbers below as well, the strap is just the right size to feel secure but not be too bulky.
For your amusement, I’ve made a short video showing the strap, which is available via Amazon [affiliate link].
EDIT: For those with Point and Shoot sized cameras, Black Rapid also makes a neat strap/case combo, you can see that here[affiliate link].
