Grip Strap - Recomendations

[Graham_of_Rainham]

Those that have these straps that go over the back of the hand. Can you please tell me how you get on with it (good / bad points) and recommend a good one.

Thanks

[devilgas]

been using 2 for about 3 or 4 years now. swear by them for sports / walkabout photography as the chances of dropping your camera or having it liberated from you are virtually zero. also reduces cost of replacing lost eyepieces when using neck straps and the camera moves against your chest....done that a few times.

if you need to get out of the way quickly (avoiding cars / rugby players etc) then the camera doesn't get in the way as it essentially becomes part of you. with a neck strap, you'd have the camera bouncing around against your chest, smacking you in the face etc. before buying the hand straps, i'd routinely wrap the neck strap around my wrist when on rallies for this very reason.
should you need to use the camera as a weapon (i go to some 'exotic' places at times), then again, it's in the right place.

only downside with the ones i bought was that the strap could work loose through the adjustment device. this was quickly remedied by using a tie wrap pierced through the strap itself, which then meant that using thick gloves became more of a problem (this is why i have a few of them!) as the device was no longer adjustable.
losing adjustability was preferential to the strap coming loose and the camera accelerating to the deck at 9.81m/s2.

one other thing to bear in mind is that the tripod socket is in a different place on the hand grip compared to where it is on the camera - the grip uses the tripod socket as a mounting point. so, if you're doing tripod mounted panos, then you may want to partially remove the strap so that you are using the aligned camera tripod socket and not the offset socket on the grip strap.

finally, if you're using a heavy lens, just factor in that the camera is in your hand all the time. some people bitch about the weight of the 70-200 2.8L...you soon get used to it

can't remember where i got mine....think they might've been from link delight on ebay.

wouldn't be without them now as for me they're now an essential piece of kit.

hth.

[Bob Ross]

Hi Graham,
The one that I have used is the Zing Strap. The lower mount is in the tripod socket. You can also attach a regular neck strap. Cheap, comfortable, durable. Here is a piccie from when I had it on my E-1.
Bob

[rogleale]

Hi Graham,

I am very pleased with my strap, it fits the hand so well that there is no need to keep a firm grip all the time with your fingers, the strap can't possibly slip off your hand. If you look back a couple of posts on this gallery I wrote about it HERE
From www.camdapters.com

Roger

[Stephen]

I have a hand grip strap for my Canon, infact I believe it is a Canon strap, it uses the regular built in strap loops which include one on the bottom of the camera. Consequently it does not use the tripod bush as others have mentioned.

If I'm honest I never got to grips with using it, maybe as my hands are big and I found somehow that my forefinger on the shutter release was awkwardly positioned. More than that though I found that when outside and not shooting I had to keep it on my hand, there was no where else to put it, apart from away. I prefer often to have both hands free when not shooting and I couldn't do this. I ended up putting the regular shoulder strap back on, now I can hold it in my hand or throw it over my shoulder.

In a studio situation the grip is probably better as when not shooting you can simply put it down.

[Graham_of_Rainham]

Guys,

Thanks for the recomendations and thoughts, I really appreciate the replies.

[Graham_of_Rainham]

Originally Posted by Stephen

...
If I'm honest I never got to grips with using it, maybe as my hands are big and I found somehow that my forefinger on the shutter release was awkwardly positioned. More than that though I found that when outside and not shooting I had to keep it on my hand, there was no where else to put it, apart from away. I prefer often to have both hands free when not shooting and I couldn't do this. I ended up putting the regular shoulder strap back on, now I can hold it in my hand or throw it over my shoulder....

Stephen,

I should have taken more notice of you.

I got one on ebay from China and have tried it on different cameras (with and without winders/power packs) and I too must have hands that are too big for these things.

It all feels just too awkward for me to be happy with.

Yet another lesson learned - the hard way

[Stephen]

Originally Posted by Graham_of_Rainham

Stephen,

I should have taken more notice of you. :

I got one on ebay from China and have tried it on different cameras (with and without winders/power packs) and I too must have hands that are too big for these things.

It all feels just too awkward for me to be happy with.

Yet another lesson learned - the hard way

Oh well, never mind, as I recall the strap didn't exactly break the bank I spent over £50 last year on a wireless remote system. It was somewhat unreliable though and eventually I gave up on it. Standing away from the camera trying to fire the camera with remote in hand, ended up being embarrassing when it wouldn't work

[Graham_of_Rainham]

Originally Posted by Stephen

Oh well, never mind, as I recall the strap didn't exactly break the bank I spent over £50 last year on a wireless remote system. It was somewhat unreliable though and eventually I gave up on it. Standing away from the camera trying to fire the camera with remote in hand, ended up being embarrassing when it wouldn't work

This gave me an idea for a "Useless" accessory thread. Also the grip is now up for grabs in the "For Sale" section and all in a good cause...