D700 - Hate the neck strap

<p>i am always able to get $10.00 fast for the nikon neck strap on ebay. i still use the AN-4B (yes, also old school here) on all my cameras.</p>

<p>Another vote for OpTech straps. I prefer the Pro Strap model. It comes with different connectors: <br>

<a href="http://www.naturescapes.net/store/product.php?productid=301&cat=0&page=1">http://www.naturescapes.net/store/product.php?productid=301&cat=0&page=1</a></p>

<p>Joe Smith</p>

<p>I turned my neck strap round so the black side is outside and you really can't see the advert when it's around your neck. Weight wise it weighs 4 lbs with 24-120mm zoom compared to my old F2 at 3 lb 12 ozs with 80-200mm, but it had a much narrower neck strap, 1" compared to the D700's 1.5", (both straps came with the cameras when I bought them, and I've never used anything else). Previous Nikon/Nikomats had leather straps which were even narrower.<br>

I'm planing a 100 mile walk in Sulawesi Indonesia with my gear, so hope it's not to much to carry as the walk is solely for photographic purposes, so I need to carry everything I need in tropical heat.</p><div></div>

<p>I have never used a neck strap that came with a camera - even my Hasselblads.<br>

I have tried Op-Tech, PacSafe, UpStrap, you name it. I keep going back to my Domke Gripper. I use the thick ones (1 1/2") on all of my gear. They are comfortable and do not get tangled up.</p>

<p>I don't like to advertise my camera brands. Also I like fairly wide, comfortable straps. My system has been to buy one Tamrac modular strap with clips, and then a series of Tamrac handstraps so that each camera body is equipped with the short attachment straps from the handstraps. Then, I shift the main long strap from body to body as needed. The clips have never failed. I don't like permanently attached long straps on the bodies because they take up too much space in a camera bag.</p>

<p>Both the Domke Gripper and the OpTech straps work great for me. The OpTech is especially useful on my F3HP.</p>

<p>Both the Domke Gripper and the OpTech straps work great for me. The OpTech is especially useful on my F3HP.</p>

<p>My old D200 strap once randomy came free so I have never since really trusted straps. On my new D300 I hardly ever use the straps. This is for three main reasons<br>

1) you can perfectly safely carry the camera in one hand with just a finger or two under the camera grip (not the battery grip), the weight of the lens perfectly counters the weight of the camera so it will never fall<br>

2) wearing a camera around your neck places a lot of strain on the attachment with the lens, particularly with heavy lenses. It should technically be safe by why take the risk?<br>

3) If you shoot close to the ground, which I often do taking both wildlife and landscape photographs, the strap often trails on the ground getting soaking wet and becoming seriously unpleasant<br>

I always shoot with 1) no strap with the camera in a bag taking it out when i need or 2) with the strap over my shoulder with the arm through the strap and the camera by my side. Both are safe, both are easy, neither hurt my neck, neither hurt my back. Simple.</p>

<p>I think the manufacturers supply camera straps so that the owners drape the straps over the side of a table, hoping you will walk past and yank the camera to the floor. I use a strap on my binoculars but you will never see me with a camera around my neck. I keep it in a bag to carry around. I suppose it does occasionally free up both hands, but for the life of me, camera straps area pain in the neck, figuratively and literally, about 98% of the time.</p>

<p>Black Rapid. They're great.<br>

Dean Zulich turned me on to them.<br>

Best of luck.<br>

Jay</p>

<p>i personally have never been a fan of the stock neckstraps. i usually purchase a gel neckstrap after i get a camera bacause im one to hold the camera around my neck for hours a day instead of in a bag. all in all i have only been happy with a nikon neckstrap once and it was because it was 10 yrs old and fairly broken in</p>

<p>Forget the neck strap! How about discussing the poor matrix metering performance of the D700?</p>

<p>I'm getting blown out highlights (sometimes 20% of the frame area is unrecoverably overexposed shooting RAW) on a fairly high proportion of programmed exposures. Anyone else?</p>

<p>I think the strap is smelly poo awful.<br>

Probably well liked by BMW owners who also have no taste :-)</p>

<p>The first thing I did with my D300 neck strap was peal off the fake leather which hurt my neck.. </p>

<p>I'm a big fan of the Domke 1.5 inch 'Gripper'.</p>

<p>Another consideration: when you purchase Domke, Upstrap, and I think, perhaps some of the others, they are made in nations with relatively very progressive environmental, labor, trade, and human rights policies. Not so, with products made in China, especially.</p>

<p ><a href="../photodb/user?user_id=2403817">>Rodeo Joe</a> , Jan 14, 2009; 01:02 p.m.</p>

 

<p>>Forget the neck strap! How about discussing the poor matrix metering performance of the D700?<br>

>I'm getting blown out highlights (sometimes 20% of the frame area is unrecoverably overexposed >shooting RAW) on a fairly high proportion of programmed exposures. Anyone else?<br /><br>

Turn off that Active D-lighting (or turn it to low).</p>

 

<p>I don't use active D-lighting! I tried it once, and was horrified to see the gaps it put in the histogram. I've also checked every menu option (twice) in the camera to see if there's anything to explain up to 2 stops overexposure - nada!</p>

<p>Anyway, my D700 has now gone back to Nikon to see what they make of it.</p>

 

<p>Rodeo Joe-</p>

<p>I'd be interested to know what Nikon says the problem is- please post. I see the Nikon repairs that go through my store and I can't remember having seen a Nikon DSLR that was overexposing.</p>

<p>Regards,</p>

<p>Afraid Of Large Hooved Animals Eric</p>

<p>Does it make sense that paying $2,500 for a camera should entitle you to a free, high quality camera strap? I laugh when I see the photographers from my local newspaper still using the camera straps that came with their Canons. No camera company has ever really put out a comfortable strap... ever... And I used to sell cameras for a living. People would say, "why don't I get a free one in the box?" Then I showed them what they would have conceivably gotten. Stiff, no quick releases, garish, and cheap. Kinda like getting a jacket made by the car company for buying their car: do car companies make jackets? No. Therefore, camera companies do not make camera straps!</p>

<p>Why use a strap? The only place for a camera is IN YOUR HANDS or ON A TRIPOD or you are not engaged in photography. Dangling around your neck it is no more than jewellery. Useless, awkward, in the way. You cannot handle a camera freely if it has a leash on it. Keep it in your grip, with a sense of purpose. If your mind is fully on seeking worthy compositions, you are going to need the tool in your hand. If it is bouncing off your belly, you have no intent. Tourist. You are multitasking. Thinking of food, chatting to your loved ones, shopping at Gap. Shame on you. Call yourself a photographer? Just my opinion, of course. In the meantime, if you see a guy with a D3 cradling a tired and aching hand... that's me. From carrying the camera, obviously, not any reference to Onanism, despite what some may infer. </p>

<p>I don't like any neck straps because of the way they torque down when a long lens is attached. BUt no worries because I've found the perfect strap - the Black Rapid R-Strap. Comfortable and really quick to use. And it doesn't have 'Nikon' plastered all over it.</p>