Neck Strap or Shoulder Strap?

Hi everyone~ Let's discuss something here!

I found that many people are still using traditional neck strap, I used it before. It's so tired after a whole day hanging a camera on my neck. Besides, I have to hold up my camera when getting through the crowds. But when I using the shoulder strap, it frees my neck. And camera lens is downward, so I just need to hold it gently. In a word, it can free my hands in most of the time.

 

Which strap do you prefer, Neck Strap or Shoulder Strap?

 

This is the shoulder strap I'm using.

I use the shoulder, set up so that when I pick up the camera to a shooting position the strap tensions round the shoulder & arm adding a little extra stabilization to the setup. When carrying i have the camera just behind my arm/elbow, trapping it against the waist & protecting it from jostleing by people coming the other way. My "generous girth" plays into this also as the lens faces up @ 45 degrees with the camera resting on the upper curve of my gut if I wear it round the neck.:eek:

I switched to shoulder strap over 50 years ago. Neck strap looked so much like "fat tourist" and was a giveaway. Shoulder strap was much less conspicuos.

A strap attached to any significant weight should hang from your shoulder, not your neck. I use Upstrap, a thin, strong strap that has a rubber pad which will cling tenaciously to your shoulder. There are many other choices, including some that work like a harness, so that straps on your two shoulders are attached to each other.

 

Neck strap looked so much like "fat tourist" and was a giveaway. Shoulder strap was much less conspicuos.

It doesn't matter what it looks like--a neck strap will give you a sore neck. A shoulder strap might actually look more conspicuous, suggests you've photographed enough to hate neck straps.

I answered too quickly. Should have added that, when I'm taking a camera and lens out of a bag or carrier to put it on a tripod, I'll loop the strap loosely on my neck just in case I drop it. As soon as it's firmly on the tripod, I take the strap off. Since I don't drop my cameras, the strap never puts weight on my neck.

No longer use neck straps and shoulder strap only on occasion; very much prefer wrist straps nowadays and if easy access to the camera is required, I stick it into a holster bag.

I'm strictly "shoulder strap" except for cameras I seldom use. Even a Leica on a neck strap is tiring after a short time. I go all day with a heavy lens (e.g., 70-200) and a shoulder strap. At times I've added a small bag, and a tripod too, all cross-shoulder.

 

I haven't been tempted by wrist straps. What do you do if you need both hands for something? The camera hand for something else?

What do you do if you need both hands for something?

Put the camera in the bag.

No longer use neck or shoulder straps. Settled on an OpTech sling strap, and it works very well for me. Guess, in a sense, you could call it a shoulder strap. :-)

I guess maybe I'm not discriminating enough, but I use whatever strap I happen to have and generally sling it over my shoulder. I just adjust it to be long enough that I can raise it to my eye.

 

I tend to only buy expensive straps for heavy cameras.

I mountain bike a lot and prefer to use a Movo camera carrying vest. The camera has a piece that screws into the tripod mount and then can be slid into the vest. The camera is carried securely against your chest and is easily slid out for use. This way the camera isn't swinging around as I bike through the trails.

Put the camera in the bag.

I prefer to skip that step. Now, if I carry a bag, it is for lenses only (plus memory cards and batteries, etc). When climbing stairs, I use the hand rail, normally on the right. That would entail a lot of putting in and taking out.

I think the kind of strap matters less than how efficiently it distributes the weight.

 

I often use a broad neck/shoulder strap for my regular camera combined with a Black Rapid strap for my large telephoto lens on another camera.

I tried the Black Rapid double strap, but found it less satisfactory.

I still use a neck strap, since it is secure, and I don't trust myself not to drop the camera into the ocean or something. I'm not sure how using a neck strap on a shoulder differs from using a shoulder strap, but the one I have seems fine either way. It has a reasonably good pad on it, and it's comfortable. I have long used Tamrac straps with buckles that allow the strap to be removed on a tripod. Some people don't trust the buckles but mine have never broken in many years.

I just bought an Op/Tech "triple harness." See it here:

 

Triple Carrier™

 

My configuration is center camera and a small photo bag on the left. This ditches the belly strap, and retains the right side for anything or nothing! So far I have worked a beer festival and a bit of urban street with it. As far as I am concerned, it's the best $50 I have spent in a long time.

 

They also make these in a 'double' that works well with single and double configs. Have a look.

Interesting rig. It looks a lot like the old Vietnam era "Y-Harness" for the ALICE system.

We teach our children not to put things around their necks for safety's sake,then do it ourselves. After a lot of decades in the Martial Arts, I know just how fast someone can be choked out. Don't care to have an unbreakable strap around my neck, shoulder straps at least are reasonable.

No one has ever been strangled with a wrist strap.

Except on British Television!

:D

There was an episode of "Midsomer Murders" ("Picture of Innocence") where the digital & film based photographers in a village had a feud. The digital guy strangled the Rollei user with the wrist strap from his Weston Master V.

The digital guy strangled the Rollei user with the wrist strap from his Weston Master V.

Ah, TV & Movies, endless possibilities! A Looong wrist strap. Mine is 9 1/2 inches including the clip. It could be done, but even knowing the right technique, it wouldn't be easy.

We teach our children not to put things around their necks for safety's sake,then do it ourselves. After a lot of decades in the Martial Arts, I know just how fast someone can be choked out. Don't care to have an unbreakable strap around my neck, shoulder straps at least are reasonable.

A cross-shoulder strap would leave one arm in the loop, which is the basis for the counter-move for a choke hold. That leaves the other hand free for ... I don't know the Korean term --- S&W.

 

Seriously, if the neighborhood is that dangerous, you shouldn't be there. A more common assault, at least in parts of Europe, is to have your shoulder strap grabbed by a thief on a motor scooter. If it didn't break free, you'd get dragged. Sun Sniper and PacSafe straps have a steel cable to defeat cutting, which seems to be the preferred method in Spain. A wrist strap isn't all that safe unless you use it in the LEO fashion - looped from your thumb around the back of your hand into your palm. That way you can let go to avoid being dragged.

A wrist strap isn't all that safe unless you use it in the LEO fashion - looped from your thumb around the back of your hand into your palm. That way you can let go to avoid being dragged.

I was in law enforcement, I trained law enforcement personnel. Since I carry the camera in my weak hand, various options for personal defense with my strong hand are readily available. Additionally, my straps are broad nylon, worn loose, unlikely to bind as the cord on a baton, or even the lanyard on a handgun. Based on spending most of my life studying and teaching a variety of Martial Arts, I feel confident in my comments. I expect you are more knowledgeable than I in photography.

Never used a lanyard. That was before my time, but I was taught how to handle a baton. I still use that wrap with a walking stick.

For me, it has to be a stretchy neck strap - I have mobility issues (think of suffering from small personalised earthquakes !), so one hand has either a walking stick or a monopod, for support and balance, the other has to be free for when I have a significant lurch (You Rang ?). Tried one of those seat on a stick thingies, but with my weight it just sank into the ground ! At least the weight of the backpack balances my belly !

I have mobility issues

Don't most of us! Haven't got to the point of a stick as yet, though have an interesting option or two in mind.:D

Do need to wear a knee brace for rougher terrain. One does as one must to continue and enjoy.

Until I read this thread (three weeks ago or thereabouts) I'd forgotten I had a shoulder sling that came with a Sigma 150-600. I had tried it on for size when I first got it but it felt odd so I put it away, forgot about it and kinda used the neck strap. I wore the neck strap with long lenses as a safety thing (in case I would drop the camera) but never left the weight on my neck; carried the lens in the crook of my arm.

When using a smaller lens I never did like the camera dangling from my neck and would put one arm through the neck strap and carry my camera under the opposite arm. I was using it as a poor substitute for a sling but wasn't bright enough to put two and two together at the time. At any rate I dug the sling out after reading this post and have used it exclusively with long lenses.

 

Turns out I prefer the sling and really like it.