Camera straps: On or off?

[tuga]

Just had a near miss (again) where I pick up the camera and the strap catches on something and nearly pulls the camera out of my hands. I've never actually dropped one yet, but this has happened multiple times over my years of camera ownership.

I'm wondering if the camera may actually be "safer" with the strap removed? It would also look a lot nicer.

Wondering what other people do? Strap on or off?

(This might just be a personal kink, I fear. I generally hate straps, buckles, cords, baggy things etc and often take scissors to any extraneous, superfluous textile on rucksacks, clothing, tools etc. I even designed a gadget to keep the guitar lead to my side when playing bass guitar 'cos I got fed up standing on it.)

In my film days I used to keep the slim Contax strap short (excess cut off) and wraped it around my wrist.

With APS-C mirrorless cameras I used until recently (Fujifilm, Olympus) I bought the large grip and used the body without strap, but that is easy if you have a pancake as your only lens.

I briefly tried a compact and that worked well with a wrist strap but now I'm back to APS-C mirrorless and have decided to go the tourist and hang my X-T2 from my neck.

For a while I did some books for a few girls and found a sling-strap very convenient with larger lenses (Pentax K-5II + 50-135/2.8) and it fixes onto the tripod mount so easy/quick to take off or put on:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B013LRH11E/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21

 

[davcoll]

Peak design wrist strap if the camera is not in my small courier bag.

Dave

 

[wulbert]

Pick it up by the strap, problem solved.

I have tried that. It usually drags across the table for a bit, or whatever its sitting on, risks scratching table or camera bottom.

Thanks for all the tips about quick release straps, wrist straps and slings etc. I hadn't realised there was such a wide range of accessories out there.

 

[sq225917]

Wrist strap.

 

[cctaylor]

My Peak Design Slide Lite and Anchor Links have arrived. They seem to be well designed and constructed. I am looking forward to using them on a trip to Edinburgh next week.

 

[JTC]

I was conflicted when I ordered my strap. Ended up with this - https://hawkesmill.com/product/westminster-leather-camera-strap-brown/ - which is very nice (if pricy), it arrived with a few marks and they gave me a part refund but managed to get them out (it'll see worse tbf). I wanted something in keeping with the Leica aesthetic...

 

[Cesare]

Old Rolleiflexes have a strap connector which engages with a pin, so the strap clicks onto the camera, and can be easily removed by pushing in a pair of levers - seems to be reliable and simple, and means the camera doesn't have to live with a strap attached. The metal clips do cause some brassing on the camera body, but given mine is 70 years old, and this is the least of it's worries, I think this is an acceptable trade-off.

I wonder why more cameras don't have a system like this?

 

[tuga]

Old Rolleiflexes have a strap connector which engages with a pin, so the strap clicks onto the camera, and can be easily removed by pushing in a pair of levers - seems to be reliable and simple, and means the camera doesn't have to live with a strap attached. The metal clips do cause some brassing on the camera body, but given mine is 70 years old, and this is the least of it's worries, I think this is an acceptable trade-off.

I wonder why more cameras don't have a system like this?

I have used something similar to this with APS and 4/3 mirrorless cameras:

Edit: found them, they're from OpTech:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004N623WK/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21