Review - Black Rapid Sport

Carry Speed have certainly thought about the portrait aspect shooting problem that I outlined; however in turn they've also made a poor choice. Their arca-swiss style plate has the mounting design but appears to lack the main thing that people get arca swiss for - the lip on the quick release plate to stop rotation around the tripod screwthread.

I also kind of wonder why they make a big deal about all the tripod screwthread holes on the base of the plate as they are all clustered around the normal one anyway and - eh - it kinda just looks like they when crazy with the drill in design for some unknown reason .
 
I have a peak design-think its called 'slide' in the states, as I wanted something that does not require me to connect to the tripod mount on the camera. So I have the connectors on my camera where the neck strap connects, and one on my 70-200 tripod collar. Works well for me. Have not tried the BR though, thanks for the write-up.
 
I use a Blackrapid Metro strap. I probably get laughed at by other photographers when using it with my DSLR. But hey, It's comfortable and stays away from my neck.
 
I never get laughed at when I sling the BR over my shoulder with my D7200 and the Big Sig 150-600 on fully extended at 600mm,I just get the unwanted attention or the stare as is wow or the occasional lame comments but the best one was once from a elderly gentlemen who said it was nice to someone with a real camera these days. Had a few ask about the BR and really like how the camera slide up to the eye on the strap and never in the way of the viewfinder and the little zipped pocket for extras SD cards or whatever else you might want to keep that will fit.
 
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I never get laughed at when I sling the BR over my shoulder with my D7200 and the Big Sig 150-600 on fully extended at 600mm,I just get the unwanted attention or the stare as is wow or the occasional lame comments but the best one was once from a elderly gentlemen who said it was nice to someone with a real camera these days. Had a few ask about the BR and really like how the camera slide up to the eye on the strap and never in the way of the viewfinder and the little zipped pocket for extras SD cards or whatever else you might want to keep that will fit.

Well tried out the optech myself, decided I'm going back to the Black Rapid. I much preferred the optechs quick release system and how it prevented the camera from swinging around quite so much when walking but the strap itself wasn't nearly as comfortable with a heavier lens like the 70-200mm 2.8 attached. After a couple of hours you could really notice a significant difference.
 
I never let mine free hang unless I need two hands for a minute, but I'm not walking either.I always hold the tripod collar handle when on the move so there is no swinging.The last thing you want is heavy glass swinging into the jewels.:345:
 
I never let mine free hang unless I need two hands for a minute, but I'm not walking either.I always hold the tripod collar handle when on the move so there is no swinging.The last thing you want is heavy glass swinging into the jewels.:345:

On my sigma 70-200mm the zoom ring is right below the tripod collar when it's mounted, so I almost never have it mounted. Makes the zoom ring a real pain to try and use with my big bear paws.

I did however come up with a bit of a wild notion - I've ordered a couple of extra optech style quick release attachments, I'm going to try attaching them to the carabiner portion of the black rapid and then attaching their counterparts to the camera and see if maybe that will make for a more stable carrying solution. For the couple of bucks it cost me I thought it would be worth a try.

BR makes a plastic cover for the carabiner to prevent it from scratching the camera and to prevent it from accidentally opening, so I grabbed one of those two. Will make a few modifications and see how that goes. I've always really liked my RS-5 except for the annoying way the camera swings all willy nilly when I walk.
 

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