TimeOut

Great accessory to have: OP/TECH Pro Strap

 

When I first got into photography I was given a Nikon D40X digital SLR camera.  It wasn't very fancy but it's a great starter camera and I learned a lot with it.  When I felt that I improved my skills I upgraded to a Nikon D300S.  The D300S was much bigger and definitely a lot heavier.  When I had the D40X I used the OEM Nikon strap that came with it.  Since I got a better camera I also bought some nicer lenses.  All this added up and I felt it during my many travel trips.  One of the things I did to help with the increase in weight was to change the factory supplied strap.  Since I do a lot of shooting (the firearms kind) I was familiar with a brand called OP/TECH USA.  They make these nice and durable Action Slings for rifles and I knew they also made straps for binoculars.  I checked out their website and found out they also make a lot of items for cameras.  

From the above picture, you can see that the OP/TECH has a curved design.  This makes it more comfortable and assists with the ergonomics when it is slung over the shoulder.  Since the top part of the strap is made of neoprene, there is a small bit of stretch, according to the manufacturer it acts like a shock absorber and reduces felt weight.  There is a another layer of material across the wide neoprene to restrict the amount of stretch and has the OP/TECH logo. The Pro Strap comes in 8 different colors (Black, Red, Navy, Royal, Wine, Nature, Steel, and Forest).

On the bottom side where it contacts your shoulder, the neoprene has these little nubs (the Non Slip Grip).  They are there to prevent the strap from slipping off your shoulder.  It has the right amount of texture where it is good enough to have the strap stay put but not overly clingy that it snags on clothing when you need to take it off.

The Pro Strap utilizes a 3/8" webbing and plastic hardware to secure the strap to the camera sling points:

The other option is the Pro Loop Strap but I felt the Pro Strap was more secure as the webbing was thicker and seemed more durable than the loop version.