Anyone experienced a strap or strap-connector just brake or "slip out of grip"?

[daniel_h_gberg]

<p>..and your Hasselblad has helplessly hit the ground?<br />I´m so afraid of this because I´ve just ordered the Pro A strap-connector for Hasselblad on Ebay.. and I´v tried metallic strap-connectors earlier on my Minolta SRT and they have suddenly just broken off or "slipped out of grip" and the minolta has hit the ground.. :( (did not brake though)<br />Is this something I have to be aware and afraid of when walking, bending forwards, backwards, running and jumping in and out of cars, busses, trains and so forth with the Hasselblad dangling along on my shoulder???<br />Excuse my bad english, I hope you can make out what I´m asking :)<br />Thankyou!</p>

[peterblaise]

<p>.</p>

<p>Ouch -- sorry your gear fell and hit the ground! Perhaps in the future a second tether, as is used as a safety fall-back (so to speak) on airplane gear is in order?</p>

<p>I loop a 72" shoestring ($1) around my neck and through an eyelet on my camera so no matter how I let go of the camera, it never hits the ground, hanging 36" from my neck at the worst.<br>

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<p>I myself have fallen while running with my gear, tumbling face first over an uneven sidewalk, and required thousands of dollars of repair to my knees, but $0 to my cameras in the same incident, which, tethered, did not go flinging out all over the pavement, but, properly connected to me, waited until I had landed first, then sat beside me, unscathed!</p>

<p>I also know of a camera sales person who brags how he dropped two cameras on different days into the same river. Doh! All for the lack of a tether. I see people holding their cameras all the time with the neck/shoulder strap loose, not around their neck, and I wonder, "When -- not IF -- they will drop and loose that thing? Now, or later? It's inevitable."</p>

<p>Like you now, I never "trust" the strap and interlock contraptions, especially as they age, and so I came up with the tether idea to address my fears of loosing the precious services of my camera on demand (it;s not the camera that's precious, it's the services it provides that are precious to me). It's the inconvenience of loosing a working camera and having to get it repaired that bothers me most, when I could just continue shooting if I avoided the crash altogether.</p>

<p>Whenever I hand someone my camera for them to use, I first put the tether strap over their head and around their neck, then I hand them my camera.</p>

<p>It's like seat belt/safety belt in a car. You know you're gonna crash someday, even if it's someone else hitting you (or trying to grab your camera and make a run for it), so why not anticipate keeping your camera safe and tethered all the time?</p>

<p>.</p>

[q.g._de_bakker]

<p>Never had that happen, no.<br>

The Hasselblad clips are well-dimensioned, and can take the strain very well. They also do not slip off accidentally.<br>

The 'weak point' of the Op/Tech Pro-A thingies is that they are loose ends that clip to a strap. So instead of only two connections (possible failures) you have four. ;-)</p>

<p>The thing to watch out for with a camera dangling of your shoulder is that it swings and hits things. When "running and jumping in and out of cars, busses, trains and so forth", put the camera in a well padded bag.</p>

[daniel_h_gberg]

<p>Thankyou Peter, I´ll try the tether idea :D<br />Q.G, I cant have the Blad in a bag, cause then I´ll miss all the goods shots when I have to be fast :) But of course I understand that the bag is the safest place.<br />Actually, I have been running around with my blad for 2 years in the bag or only in my hand, without any "tether" or strap, haha :) Must be lucky that I never dropped it :)<br />I´m looking forward to just be able to have it on my shoulder all day long without the risk of dropping it or loose good pictures because it´s in the bag.<br />Thanks for all the help!<br>

Have a nice day!<br />/Daniel</p>

[stwrtertbsratbs5]

<p>I had a metal strap connector pop loose on a Mamiya 645 once - I hadn't gotten it firmly locked in place when I connected it. But I was lucky - I caught the camera before it hit the ground.</p>

[peterblaise]

<p>.</p>

<p>PS - My Minolta SR T also was tough as a hammer, and survived many abuses that later designed cameras came crumbling down when subjected to. Is there a clue here? :-(</p>

<p>.</p>

[leicaglow]

<p>I have used the OpTechs for a number of years and never had this problem. I use these because they have some stretch to them, which I think absorbs shock. I don't like the fell of the camera bounce on my shoulder, but I think they are the best way to protect the camera.</p>

[martin_dake]

<blockquote>

<p>The thing to watch out for with a camera dangling of your shoulder is that it swings and hits things.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Ain't that the truth.<br>

I once had a camera around my neck and when I bent over it swung around and hit me in the mouth and broke one of my teeth.</p>

[roelof_lucas]

<p>I use an original Hasselblad strap and it has never come loose, even the funky looking leather is very strong. The camera is very sturdy, as Q.G. points out, I managed to put a nice Hasselblad memorial dent in my car with it, not a scratch on the camera.</p>

[paul_neuthaler]

<p>We Hasselblad-strap people never have these problems -- yet.</p>