Zero Cost Off The Neck Harness

Nikolai

Even with the OpTech straps, carrying two bodies with a heavy telephoto glass can be tiresome.:



Regardless of strap type, just two simple carabiners and your backpack can literaly save your neck.:



Cameras can be picked up instantly:



With the OpTech Pro Loop, your options are even better, since you can remove the strap's middle part and still hook it up through the ribbon on the shoulder pads.:



Just make sure you can use your camera on this short leash:



Enjoy you zero cost off-the-neck harness!:



The album is here: http://nik.smugmug.com/gallery/3257625

Many thanks to Natalie for taking these pictures!

Sam

The problem isn't with the straps. It's that ya got too much stuff!

In some neighborhods you'd look like a walking ATM.

But thanks for the post, if I every have too much stuff, I'll remeber this and give it a try.

Sam

Nikolai

Sam,

Sam wrote:

The problem isn't with the straps. It's that ya got too much stuff!

In some neighborhods you'd look like a walking ATM.

But thanks for the post, if I every have too much stuff, I'll remeber this and give it a try.

Sam

Whether you have it off your neck or off your backpack - it doesn't matter.
I wouldn't go to South Central like this, but for a public event where a lot of shooters go anyway (fair, airshow, sporting event) it should be alright. Smugmug shootout is one of them:-)

pathfinder

ChatKat

Harness - but this wil lwork too!

pathfinder wrote:

Brilliant. I was looking for some kind of harness device where the camera hung low about the waist but she would still pick it up.and you could be hands free off the camera for walking around. A lady I saw made one - as a way of carrying the camera easily. I was looking for a simple way to keep my camera off my neck.

I don't use the Optech. I use a Camdapter hand strap. But I also keep a neck strap on the camera too. I can use the carabiner on the strap to connect it to any of the other bags I might be carrying for the day! Sometimes I use a Kata bag slung across my front, sometimes I use the Lowepro Sling, or I also have a special bag for shooting events called a Shootsac and sometimes I just use a plain canvas bag like a purse over my shoulder (good for being more discreet). But the carabiner would give me a bit more security and the camera wouldn't be able to fall to the ground either (not that it's happened). Great solution, for even ONE camera! I frequently use a carbiner connecting the straps of the bag to keep the canvas bag closed.

David_S85

Only two? Pfffffft.

I'd bet with the harness you could add three to five more. Easy. And if that proves too heavy, add more to the back to balance it out.

dangin

too bad my tactical vest doesn't have something i can hook the carabiners to on both shoulders. that way i can lug two bodies and a 9mm for "shooting"...

Nikolai

dangin wrote:

too bad my tactical vest doesn't have something i can hook the carabiners to on both shoulders. that way i can lug two bodies and a 9mm for "shooting"...

Funny that you mentioned that... I actually borrowed the idea from the tactical harness :-)

dangin

i just looked... i DO have rings on each side!
cameras kinda get in the way of the cross draw holster though.
although i hope then can hold up... nikon d200 + 70-200mm lens + flash = kinda heavy

Nikolai

dangin wrote:

i just looked... i DO have rings on each side!
cameras kinda get in the way of the cross draw holster though.
although i hope then can hold up... nikon d200 + 70-200mm lens + flash = kinda heavy

See? Perfect! Think of how many CF cards and spare batteries you can keep in ol those pockets

Great picture, btw!

dangin

it's a stock picture of the vest; i'm at work and don't have it here.
i'm SO going to try this when i get home tonite though. thx, nik!

Nikolai

dangin wrote:

it's a stock picture of the vest; i'm at work and don't have it here.
i'm SO going to try this when i get home tonite though. thx, nik!

Dan, I'm positive you'll find it VERY convenient. I did. It's great even for one body, and for two - it's a life (er, neck:-)-saver

wxwax

Funny!

Nikolai

wxwax wrote:

Funny!

Thanks Sid, good to hear from you!
Actually one of the biggest advantages of "harnessing" two bodies onto shoulders is that otherwise thiy gonna beat each other constantly, thus causing external dents and more important internal damages..
At first I was carrying one camera around my neck and another on the "harness", but after a while I realized that I can easily use both shoulders, thus avoiding any neck load.

GREAPER

I like the setup, but ... maybe a new model?

Nikolai

GREAPER wrote:

I like the setup, but ... maybe a new model?

ChatKat

optech Harness
Optech makes a harness for a single slr...I ordered it from B&H. Thanks for propmting that with this thread. I'd been looking for the exact thing for a while!

I can use my Camadapter handstrap for the first body or my Kata Sling case and the 2nd can be on harness - no clinking of glass!

We girls have enough things in pairs across our chest that two cameras on two carbiners on two backpack straps are just two too many.

largelylivin

Try Kenesis ?
I don't have experience with the other brand but I bought an X-Harness, gear belt and some accessories from Kenesis photo grear http://www.kgear.com/. Super, tough quality, lots of options, and worth every penny.

jdryan3

GREAPER wrote:

I like the setup, but ... maybe a new model?

Nikolai wrote:

You could have taken the shots and let Natalie be the model

Nikolai

jdryan3 wrote:

You could have taken the shots and let Natalie be the model

... yeah... wearing bikiny, right ....

heatherfeather

We girls have enough things in pairs across our chest that two cameras on two carbiners on two backpack straps are just two too many.

Too funny!
Ha Ha Ha

Bendr

Thanks, Nikolai!
Great setup, Nice pictures too!

Nikolai

Bendr wrote:

Thanks, Nikolai!
Great setup, Nice pictures too!

You're welcome, glad you liked it!

Hindsight

I do the same thing, caribiner with the shoulder harness loops. Takes the weight off, and during 3+ hour sessions on your feet in the hot sun, that's a huuuge load off. I still get sore, mind you, but I can shift things around. I don't carry both bodies at once, keep one at basecamp so when one side gets tired I can move it over. Then when both sides are sore I can use it in the middle.

wellman

Maybe another tip for one body...

For hiking, I use a caribeaner to latch the neckstrap to the top handle of the backpack. The weight of the camera is transferred to back+shoulders instead of my neck. Handy as long as I have someone along to unlatch me.

rpcrowe

This is how I carry my gear and other rants and raves...
When I am doing serious magazine photography or photojournalism, I tend to carry three 1.6x bodies and three lenses.

I carry two bodies (12-24mm Tokina ATX f/4 and 24-70mm f/2.8L) around my neck using an OPTECH Reporter strap.

I carry the last body with a 70-200mm f/4L IS lens in a TAMRAC "Zoom 19" top loading holster bag. The body is equipped with a hand strap and I use a screw-in, round, metal lens hood instead of the Canon OEM hood. The screw-in hood is smaller and I can get the camera in and out of the bag quicker with this type of hood. Additionally, the round hood facilitates the use of a CPL (when I want to use one) and it also makes using a OPTECH Hood Hat easier. The neoprene Hood Hat really protects the lens but is very quick to remove and replace. A small perk with this round style hood is that the 70-200mm f/4L IS zoom doesn't look as imposing as it does with the OEM hood.

With these three lenses I have a continuous focal range from 12mm to 200mm with excellent imagery and with IS in the longer focal range. I like having optimum quality glass and I don believe that I can get that type of quality in a one-lens-does-it-all glass. I also don't like switching lenses in the field with dangers of sensor dust and even dropping a lens.

I carry the TAMRAC bag at my left hip, so I can use my right hand to easily retrieve and replace the body with the tele zoom lens. I use the strap in two different ways. Normally, I have the strap slung over my left shoulder. My wife has sewn velcro epaulettes on the shoulders of my shooting vest so the strap doesn't fall off my shoulder. However, if I am really going to do something physical and don't want the holster case to swing around. I will put my head through the strap so that it is slung over my right shoulder with the strap across my chest and back. That can get a little hot so I tend to use the left shoulder carry for the strap but, the strap across my chest really secures the case when I am running or climbing.

If I know that I will be using very long lenses, such as recently when I was shooting the Thunderboat Unlimited Hydroplanes at San Diego's Mission Bay, I will carry a 400mm f/5.6L on a Giottos MT8180 tripod using a Manfrotto "U" shaped gimbal head. I carry that rig over my shoulder. I will carry also the 70-200mm f/4L IS lens in the TAMRAC case. When I am shooting the 400mm using the tripod I sling the holster case under the apex of the tripod using one of those mountain climbing caribiners. The Giottos tripod has a ring that is designed to hold a weight or to tie down the tripod. It is a great place to sling the holster case with the 70-200mm lens. It keeps it from being a tripping danger and also keeps it secure from some sticky fingered individuals.

Carrying camera equipment is a very personal thing. Each photographer tends to modify his carry style to his or her own needs.

By the way, I am very cognizant regarding where I am going when I shoot with all this equipment. Photographers tend to worry about carrying their gear in emerging nations but, there are a LOT OF PLACES in the USA where I wouldn't want to walk - much less walk with couple of grand worth of photo equipment on my person.

If I am in areas where I don't get good vibes (and my vibes have been pretty accurate over 50 years of photography); I will limit my gear to the bare essentials and usually carry it in a Coleman Soft Sided Cooler bag (This is when a lens like the 17-55mm f/2.8 IS is really handy). The rational behind using the cooler bag is that I will probably not be mugged for what is likely my lunch in the bag. Anyway, I haven't been mugged so far.

A camera case does invite thieves. My wife was showing one of our dogs at a Southern California dog show when she realized that she had forgotten the little case in which she carries combs, scissors, spray bottles, etc. I emptied a small TAMRAC bag in our motorhome and loaned the bag to her. Sure enough, while she was grooming the dog, someone slipped off with the camera case. I found the case later in the day in a trash can on the show grounds. Imagine the thief's thoughts when he opened a bag of what he thought was camera gear and found a water filled spray bottle and a couple of combs!

By the way, people ask me if the load I am carrying isn't too heavy. I am no stranger to carrying a bit of heavy photo gear. I cut my photographic teeth on a Graflex SLR camera like this illustration. I am guessing that the camera weighed twelve pounds with another ten or fifteen pounds of flash-gun, flash-bulbs and cut-film holders. That is purely a guestimation but the load was pretty heavy! I also shot motion pictures for many years, including occasionally shooting 35mm format mopix. Now that is a heavy load. Even though I am growing older; a few DSLR cameras and lenses doesn't seem like such a big load in comparison!

JMGracen

Dan, this is a cool looking vest, I like the fact that you can pack a pistol too. Where did you get this from?