Quick Strap, in the field

A couple of weekends ago, I had the opportunity to test out this Quick Strap for the first time. A day out at Point Pelee was a good field test of the strap.

For the day, I brought my backpack to carry an extra lens, water and some snacks. The strap would go over my shoulder after the backpack. Well, the strap does what it claims to do. The camera dangles by the right side of my waist, pointing back or pointing down toward the ground, depending on where the metal plate of the Quick Strap system is. Since my heavy 80-400mm has a tripod mount, I decided to move the metal plate from the bottom of the vertical grip of the D7000 to the lens' tripod mount. Connected this way, the camera tends to point back, which makes it easier for me to find the grip of the camera when I need to shoot--my right hand is always in close contact with the camera.

How does it feel? I always felt the camera was secured safely. In the past, I would either throw the Nikon strap around my neck or over my left shoulder. Over a short period, my neck would feel stiff. There is a physical discomfort about it. If the Nikon strap is worn over the left shoulder, the strap tends to slide off my shoulder. There is a mental discomfort here, always having to re-adjust the strap every now and then.

With the Quick Strap, the wide padded strap that goes over my left shoulder was painless. I did not feel the physical discomfort that the normal Nikon strap has on my neck or the mental discomfort that my camera might drop to the floor. I hiked around the entire day feeling good but tired from the hike.

Now, what about the "Quick"ness of it? It does what it is designed to do. The silky, smooth texture of the strap allows for the quick sliding of camera up and down the strap. It works great. My only beef about the strap is that it tends to twist upon itself. If the strap material is a bit stiffer, it probably would not twist upon itself as easily. I kept on having to untwist the strap.

My rating is an 8/10.