I think that in photography how you carry your precious gear is a complex, personal, and probably hotly debated topic. My solution to a good in all cases need was the straps from PacSafe. Their Photography section has two products in particular that I’ll talk about today:

–CarrySafe 100 – For cameras
–CarrySafe 200 – for camera bags

The 300 is to lock the bag to a pole, chair, etc.

One of the nice things about these straps is that they are made of steel cables. Not the heavy kind, but light, flexible stranded cable that cannot be cut. They appear completely normal and unimportant on the outside. The other significant thing about their design is that they each have a way that prevents the strap from being disconnected from the camera or bag. In the 100 it is a nifty block for the D ring, and the 200 is literally bolted on.

Camera Strap

Here we see the way the strap is connected. It has a really nice padded sleeve that slides down over the last 6″ of the strap (on both sides) closest to the camera. This protects the camera from all the hardware-even though it is all nylon.

The little D-hook/clamp/clasp has this little collar on it that slides to prevent the ring from opening. Even if you know how to work it, it is hard and I can’t see it ever coming open accidentally!

Camera Bag Strap

This bag strap is very similar to the camera strap, in that it has cable straps, albeit larger. The bag strap also has a generous strap that can get WAY longer than you will ever need. It also has an outrageous pad. Pads on both straps moves independent of the strap, so you can have padding regardless of how you sling it.

Here is an example of my wife wearing the bag the way I do. We are both 6’01”, it hangs on me the same way.

You’ll notice that although it sits really, really low, there is a TON of space left on the strap!

You can also see how I hang the LowePro 1 and 1W cases off the outside of the bag to save room. I don’t use any stock bags for my gear, preferring to use all LowePro cases.

More Pictures

All pictures used in this article are available here (CarrySafe 100) and here (CarrySafe 200). Other pictures of the straps in another article I wrote here.

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