I just bought myself a very comfy op/tech camera strap. Very nice to have on the shoulder and around the neck. BUT, I dont trust the clips. Are they really secure? I often use my d200 with 70-200 vr, and if ONE clip would fail it would be death for lens and camera. I have my hand on it the whole time at the moment. Is there any smart way to make it More secure?
I haven't had any problems with mine...granted I don't have the amount of weight you do. I've never heard of the clips failing, though... Adrien
I love my Op/Tech strap - it really helps with a heavy load. I've never had any issue with the clips, nor have I heard of anyone reporting failure. When I carry my 70-200 attached though, I still cradle the lens to help relieve the stress on the camera/lens mount.
Long ago I was using a strap with clips, and carrying two cameras each with lenses. The strap of the one camera somehow undid the clip, and I watched my camera and 80-200mm lens bounce down a rock face on a mountain and land on rocks a couple hundred feet below (both were completely destroyed). Since then, I feel that no matter how strong looking a clip may be, if it's designed to be opened fairly easily, it can open when you don't want it to do so. I don't use straps with clips on them any more. If I did, I think I'd duct tape the clip so it could not accidentally open.
I was just thinking, if you were concerned about the straps you could always get some high strength plastic epoxy and glue them closed. Adrien
My Op Tech is 3 years old and in great shape. I bought a second one for the D200 that I just purchased from Alan. I am also testing the Nikon AH40 wrist strap. I purchased an Op Tech equivalent wrist strap too, but I haven't tried it yet. I prefer Op Tech to Nikon straps. They feel more secure...but that is just my opinion. I started a thread about neck/wrist straps last year. Good feedback from everyone.
I've been using the OpTech straps since my F4s days, without issue. I use them on both of my D2Xs bodies with nary a problem..
A clip gate could open if it experienced what rock climbers call "rope slap" where the rope falls across the carabiner gate and opens it, allowing the rope to come out of the carabiner; you'd probably have to jostle it pretty hard (or have pressure from a 2nd strap as in Steve's situation) to encounter it. Buy insurance for your gear - even if the clips hold, there are a multitude of other things that can damage a nice camera body. Sean
I used some ty-wraps to secure I had the same worries so I simply installed a ty-wrap on each clip to prevent them from opening. A ty-wrap is a locking plastic strap used to bundle electrical wires together. Works great.
