DIY Guide: Make a neck strap into a shoulder strap

[Parptarf]

Some of us prefer having your camera around your shoulder instead of around your neck. I'm one of those people, so back when I upgraded to a heavier camera, a D7000 with a battery grip at the time, I shelled out the money to buy a Black Rapid strap. That strap connects to the tripod mount of the camera, and it's been with me for around 4 years now. But what do you do if you don't wanna shell out the money for one? Or if you need one right now?

Well, it's quite simply actually, and all you need is your bog-standard neck strap. Most likely your camera already came with one. And if it did, this will cost you nothing but 5 minutes of your time. I saw review of a lens on youtube and noticed the presenter having his shoulder strap like this. After a few minutes of trying, I managed to get it to work. Here's how I did it:

Since my D800 is using my Black Rapid, I needed something for my Nikon FE. I didn't want to shell out the money for a new shoulder strap, nor did I want the modern look of BR on this vintage SLR. I simply too my vintage Nikon strap and made a shoulder strap with it. So here's the finished pictures of what I did to the orignal strap.

As I wrote earlier, all you need is the strap your camera came with. You don't even have to cut it up or do any non-reverseble modifications. Here's an old D200 strap I found laying around.

Step 1: Take off the buckles on your strap.

Step 2: Put one of the bucles on backwards
On this Nikon strap, the front side says "Nikon" on it. All you do is put it on backwards. If you have the small rubbery things that keeps your strap down after it's been through the buckle, you can put both on after it.

Step 3: Put the second buckle on normally
The second bucle should be put with the forward side the oposite way of the first one.

Step 4: Take the second end of the strap and put it into the first buckle
When you take the other end of the strap and put it in the first you'll make the loop to put around your shoulder.

Step 5: Mount in on your camera and you're done!
Simply mount the strap back on your camera using the second buckle and you have a shoulder strap!

NB: I wouldn't use this on a Pro-body full frame DSLR or if you use a very heavy lens. keep in mind this is only using one of the eye-hooks.


Link to the article on my website: How to make your neck strap into a shoulder strap for free! (DIY guide)

 

[jaomul]

Looks ok but I wouldn't hang my camera off one eye hook when its designed to be hung from two

 

[480sparky]

Looks ok but I wouldn't hang my camera off one eye hook when its designed to be hung from two

Do you always carry a camera with a neck strap so that the weight is evenly distributed between the two attachment points?

 

[jaomul]

Looks ok but I wouldn't hang my camera off one eye hook when its designed to be hung from two

Do you always carry a camera with a neck strap so that the weight is evenly distributed between the two attachment points?

No but if one went the other would stop it hitting the deck, if it was just held by one and it goes , well....

 

[Parptarf]

I wouldn't do this on a Pro body full frame DSLR with a huge lens, but chances are, if you have that you're gonna use a strap that's connected to the tripod mount anyways. That's why I use a black rapid for my D800.

But for a consumer camera, or an old analog, this is great. No way in hell that FE's weight is gonan ruin one of the hooks.

 

[480sparky]

Looks ok but I wouldn't hang my camera off one eye hook when its designed to be hung from two

Do you always carry a camera with a neck strap so that the weight is evenly distributed between the two attachment points?

No but if one went the other would stop it hitting the deck, if it was just held by one and it goes , well....

Really? How? Do tell.

 

[jaomul]

Looks ok but I wouldn't hang my camera off one eye hook when its designed to be hung from two

Do you always carry a camera with a neck strap so that the weight is evenly distributed between the two attachment points?

No but if one went the other would stop it hitting the deck, if it was just held by one and it goes , well....

Really? How? Do tell.

You know what, I didn't think that one through. You got me

 

[Braineack]

that strap would kill your neck. spend $20 and buy a proper one.

 

[Parptarf]

that strap would kill your neck. spend $20 and buy a proper one.

Funny, becuase I havent had that problem at all. As I said earlier, it's really only made for lighter cameras. If I did this to a D800 with my 24-70 f/2.8 I'd ruin my neck though.

And I'll quote the blogpost here so you can see it.

 

[otherprof]

Looks ok but I wouldn't hang my camera off one eye hook when its designed to be hung from two

Do you always carry a camera with a neck strap so that the weight is evenly distributed between the two attachment points?

No but if one went the other would stop it hitting the deck, if it was just held by one and it goes , well....

I don't think so. If one went, the strap slithers around your neck, weighed down by the other end with camera still attached, and look out below. One reason I like my SpeedCarry strap is an extra little safety strap which would act as a fail-safe option, though it is not designed to carry all the weight around. That strap is the suspenders I wear with my belt.

 

[Parptarf]

Edited the op.

Walked around all day with my FE like this today, first time really testing it for more than 10-15 minutes. It works great for that camera. And I can't even wear that thing for 10 minutes around my neck without it starting to get uncomfortable. The newer and wider straps is most likely even better.