Cotton Carrier and D750 with Tele-zoom Lens

I am considering purchasing a Cotton Carrier CCS G3 Harness-1 for use with my Nikon D750 and either the Tamron 24-70 f/2.8 or the Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 lenses

The 24-70 should present no problems. However, I do have a concern about the 70-200. For tripod use the 70-200 comes with a lens collar so the weight of the lens is borne by the collar and not the camera body and camera lens mount. I could mount the Cotton Carrier to the lens collar, but then the weight of the camera body would cause the camera to rotate in the carrier.

Two questions:

1) Is any one using the Cotton Carrier with a D750 (or equivalent) with a 70-200 lens mounted? If so, how do you attach the camera and lens to the carrier?

2) Do you think carrying the camera/lens combination would damage the camera mount? Most of the time the lens would be hanging straight down; there would be no cantilever torque on the lens mount.

I could mount the Cotton Carrier to the lens collar, but then the weight of the camera body would cause the camera to rotate in the carrier.

Are you sure? - Did you test it out with a NRC screw in the tripod collar?

I have neither your kit nor a Cotton carrier but looking at my 5D with battery grip and 70-200 I dare to say I don't feel a reason to worry about that combo starting to spin. - There should be a lot of stabilizing friction between lens hood & beer gut and on a bumpily galloping horse (or such) you could use the carrier's lower stabilization strap around your lens.

I am no longer overly confident about camera bodies' tripod threads. Rigging my Pentax Super A with MD, 70-210/3.5 and occasionally a Metz hammerhead bent it's base plate significantly over time; the motor drive's contact pins don't reach it anymore.

I was also given some Contax (SLR) with a torn out strap lug, so I'd try very hard to utilize a tripod collar to carry the weight. - I honestly don't understand why Canon don't add strap lugs to theirs.

I might be off & YMMV.

I use a belt-loop holster made by Cotton Carrier and have been quite happy with it. It uses something I'll call a button that fits to the tripod socket on the bottom of the camera. The button is not round - when properly fitted, you rotate the camera+lens to horizontal (parallel to the ground) and slide the button down into a slot on the holster. Once the camera+lens rotates to vertical because of its weight distribution, the button cannot be lifted vertically from the holster. To use the camera, the user has to rotate the camera back to horizontal and lift it from the holster. This rig comes with a tether strap that goes around the neck - long enough that none of the camera weight is carried on the neck, but short enough that if accidentally dislodged, the camera cannot reach the ground.

When I'm hiking (short hikes) in places like Yellowstone, Glacier, etc, I will carry a camera with a long lens for wildlife mounted on a monopod over my left shoulder, another camera with a kit zoom for landscape hanging in the holster on my left hip, and my cane in my right hand. The holster has allowed me to have the landscape camera handy - handier than in a backpack - with no mishaps or scares in the 8-10 years I've used that holster.

I can see how mounting a camera+lens using the tripod collar's tripod socket would be a worry. Since the detachment process is designed to work by rotating the rig, and the weight balance of the collar-mounted rig can make unintended rotation a real problem, I see no option but to attach the button to the camera body. I've spent a lot of years (we won't discuss how many) hiking with a camera + long lens hanging around my neck or carried in my hands, and never had an issue with the weight load on the lens mount. I don't see any danger with a 70-200 hanging on the lens mount. A 600/4 or 800/5.6 might be different, but I have to say, I've never heard anyone I know complain that a heavy lens damaged the lens mount on a camera body.

I have the Cotton Carrier CCS G3 and I have a Nikon D750. I do not have a 24-70mm or a 70-200mm f/2.8.

I use the Cotton Carrier when I am riding my mountain bike on trails through the woods. The lenses I have had attached to my camera when using the Cotton Carrier are relatively small compared to a 70-200 f/2.8. I have used it with a Nikkor 70-210 f/4-5.6D, Nikkor 16-35 f/4G, Nikkor 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G and a Micro Nikkor 105mm f/2.8. For those camera/lens combinations the Cotton Carrier works great. The set up is very comfortable. The camera is held very securely and it is accessible in just a few seconds. When I take my Nikkor 200-500 f/5.6 with me I will carry my camera gear in a Lowepro Flipside 400 AW back pack. Although I have not tried it I don't think that lens would work well on the Cotton Carrier.

Thank you, Brian.

I'll find out how it works tomorrow when FedEx delivers mine. Your 200-500 f/5.6 is about 3 pounds heavier and 3 inches longer than my 70-200 f/2.8.

My Cotton Carrier G3 arrived at 7:21 this morning - the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year. After I had my first cup of coffee, I unpacked it and, with the help of the instruction sheet and my wife, I got it adjusted - sort of. A few iterations later it fit. I tried it with my new Tamron 24-70 mounted on the D750; it was much easier to carry the camera around. After breakfast, I mounted the Tamron 70-200 on the D750. Then I went for my two mile morning walk around the neighborhood with the camera. It was a grey, cloudy morning; the rain had stopped an hour or so earlier. Unfortunately an Egret that sometimes visits a small pond I usually walk by was not there this morning - smart bird.

After carrying the camera for over two miles in the Cotton Carrier my neck was not sore from a heavy weigh hanging around it and my arms were not sore from holding the camera/lens combination. This is not a great test, but it is an indication.

All in all, I think I will like the Cotton Carrier; it will make a welcome addition to my photographic equipment.

My thanks to all who replied to this thread and helped me make my decision.

That looks like a pretty neat system... except for the fact I use a tripod fairly regularly and have Arca-Swiss plates on my camera bodies and telephoto tripod mount. I'd have to buy all new Cotton Carrier plates.

Stay sharp,

Bob

That looks like a pretty neat system... except for the fact I use a tripod fairly regularly and have Arca-Swiss plates on my camera bodies and telephoto tripod mount. I'd have to buy all new Cotton Carrier plates.

 

Stay sharp,

Bob

It is my understanding that for a tripod you would need only one Cotton Carrier tripod plate like this:

CCS Universal Tripod Adapter Plate

The Cotton Carrier adapter plate has an Arca-Swiss cutout.

Here is a YouTube video by the inventor of the Cotton system showing how it is done:

You would not need to replace the plates on telephoto collars; keep them as they are. They do not attach to the Cotton Carrier; the camera body does.