Totally classless cross-body slider camera strap -- Mark II

Jock Elliott

Hall of Famer
Location
Troy, NY
My initial attempt at a cross-body slider camera strap -- My totally classless "instant" slider camera strap -- worked exactly as advertised: it slung across my body, and the camera slid easily along the strap when I wanted to shoot.

In fact, it worked a little too easily. Whenever I bent over (to tie my shoes, for example, or to adjust a dog's collar) the camera would slide in front of me. Thanks to the swivel inherent in the design, it would rotate easily too. Sometimes the LCD on the back of the camera would face outward; sometimes it would nestle protected against my side.

Slinging a camera or camera bag cross body seems the best way to go. There's no weight on the neck, no need for melon-sized deltoids or epaulets to keep the strap in place. During research for the first project, the Internet kept tossing up ideas for camera straps of various sorts made of braided parachute cord.

Then it occurred to me: why not simply extend the factory camera strap with a bit of parachute cord? It would sling cross-body and slide, but not too easily, and it wouldn't have any metal that could make noise or potentially bump into the camera body.

So here is the result:

HX400V parachute cord camera strap extensions (1).JPG

HX400V parachute cord camera strap extensions (5).JPG


It stays in place but it slides when needed. It doesn't rotate, so the camera stays in the same orientation.

Nobody is going to approach you on the street and ask, "Where did you get that beautiful camera strap?" (So your carefully prepared story -- these straps are made by direct descendants of Norgay Tenzing above 15,000 feet in Tibet -- will have to wait for another day.)

If you find the ragged ends of the parachute cord distressing, you can up your game by melting the terminus of the cord with a match, like so:
HX400V parachute cord camera strap extensions (6).JPG


Of course, at Classless Camera Research Laboratories, we charge extra for that.

Cheers, Jock
PS A hank (about 18 feet) of parachute cord can be had in various colors at a big box store for about $2US.
 
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... and keep paying attention to the molten end afterwards, so it doesnt hit the back of your hand and fuses with your skin, exposing your bone when you pull it off and leaving a scar for the rest of your life. Or so I've heard :whistle:

Sounds like a very functional strap - and I agree, a not-too-loose cross body strap is probably the best combination of comfort and speed, for me anyway.
 
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