Since I’ve steadily migrated to shooting with prime lenses, I will most often shoot with two cameras, wide and fast on one, mid-to-long and fast on the other. A comfortable two-strap system has been my holy grail. I want a setup that is quick to manipulate and has good weight distribution. I also want it to be as small as possible and not interfere with clothing.

Before we go into what makes the best two-camera strap setup, let’s just talk about what makes a good strap and the ones that meet my goals.

• OEM Camera Strap – I find the Canon strap to be unusable. I like black straps with no markings. The canon strap is narrow, stiff and uncomfortable. Not even an option.
• Optech Super Classic – My normal shoulder strap of choice. Great for neck or shoulder wear. Good padding, comfortable and that great stretchiness.
• UpStrap -Recommended often by others primarily for its grip on clothing. I’ve never tried it.
• R-Strap – My new favorite strap is the Blackrapid R-Strap. The R-Strap differs from a typical shoulder strap in that it is not mounted to two strap points on the camera, but instead to the tripod base of the body (or lens tripod mount for long lenses.) with a swiveling connection. This connector slides up and down the front of the strap as you raise the camera to shoot. I have seen a similar idea in the wild called the Y-Strap. I really like the hardware and materials used in the R-Strap, and while I would like to see a moderately lower price on it, I feel it was worth the price paid.

NOTE: When using a normal shoulder strap, I had the best luck mounting both ends of the strap to the grip side of the camera. With a gripped-XXD body or a 1 Series, there is a strap mount point on the bottom of the grip on the shutter side. Using that point and the top shutter-side mounting location (instead of the opposite upper point) lets the camera hang more comfortably at your side, but not as advantageous as for neck wear. When I showed this to my Nikon-shooting friend Jamie, she was very excited until she discovered that her Nikons (which includes a D3) have no bottom-grip mounting point. Haha.So now we want to find a way to put two straps together to carry two cameras. These are the methods I have come across so far.

• Two Shoulder Straps – An easy, and often default, two-camera setup is using two typical shoulder straps. Carry one on each shoulder is fine, but only in the most basic sense. Once movement is involved, like crouching or turning, the cameras become dangerous wrecking balls, or fall off your shoulder. Some people wear one on the neck and one over the shoulder. I don’t like a neck strap at all, and a camera hanging there would just bang into my shoulder-side camera too often. I’m already a klutz. You can criss-cross them over opposite shoulders, which will carry better, but pulling a camera up to shoot is impossible without its strap moving too.
• The Reporter - Carrying two cameras in the front might work for two P&S cameras, or a camera and some binoculars, but I’m trying to carry two gripped bodies with lens and flash. Impossible.
• Two-strap harness – So there’s got to be a way of using two shoulder straps effectively, right? ChrisDM in the Fred Miranda forum has probably carried this method to it’s best conclusion. I’ve tried something similar with my Optech straps (as well as un-strechy straps) and various mounting and suspension points. Ultimately, the main problem is that the shoulder straps can still fall off your shoulders and the weight distribution is sub-optimal. There is no stealth in this arrangement either, and I would knock the cameras together too much.
• Two R-Straps then – Ok, well let’s put two R-Straps together then, instead of two shoulder straps. This works pretty well. I’ve tried this with four or five weddings and it’s the closet I’ve gotten to my goals thus far. The downside of this method is where the two straps cross in the front. Not only is it bulky, but it constantly bunches up my shirt, including the collar. I have to constantly pull my shirt from underneath this junction, and it looks a bit ugly too.

So I’ve been staring at my R-Straps and thinking about gun holsters (the under-jacket ones, with a clip holder on one side) and how they go over and under the shoulders, joined in the back (and at the belt on each side). Searching the internet for inspiration, I found this post at photo.net. There has to be a way to make this work with my two R-Straps and I think I finally found it. Stay tuned for Part II, The T-Strap.

And now, Part II, The T-Strap

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