Making the Best Camera Strap Ever

1. Intro: Hi. If you have a camera, you probably have one of these things attached to it. This is your standard comes with the camera or you get it in the camera store camera strap. And frankly, they're a pain in the neck. When you put it around their neck, the whole weight of the camera is on your neck, banging against your chest. And if you try and do it like cross body style and tuck it away, then it's it's impossible to get the camera out when you want to take a shot. Plus this strap is attached to it all the time, which is a bit of a hazard. My name is Rob Davidson and I've been our commercial photographer for around 40 years now. I'm in Toronto in Canada, and I specialize in making food look really delicious. I also traveled quite a bit and love taking travel and landscape photography when I'm out. So a camera strap is sort of important. In addition to being a photographer, I also teach photography. I teach in Toronto metropolitan university through Skillshare. And I also have workshops in my own studio. And one of the things that I've seen over the years, unfortunately too often, is what I call strap related camera injuries. Because when you're not using your camera or when you put your camera down, this strap is a hazard. It's easy to catch on a piece of equipment. Someone walking by, kids grab it, boom, down goes your camera smashed on the floor. Strap related camera injury. So I thought about these cameras straps and I've seen some alternatives on the market that struck me as not all that perfect and really expensive. So I started evolving. I tried a couple of different ideas. And in the end, I've come up with what I think is a really good solution. I call it the deluxe sliding camera strap. And it works really well. It allows you to wear your camera cross body if you want to tuck it away, even underneath a jacket so nobody can see it. And yet you can whip the camera out and have it in your hand into your eyes. Absolutely no time at all. Best of all, when you don't need a camera strap, you can just unclip it and it's not hanging around the camera behaving like a hazard. So nice thing about this camera strap is you can make it in any color you want. It's very simple. You just need a length of webbing that you can pick up at an outdoor store. A couple of simple fittings. I'll show you step-by-step how to put it together with a little bit of glue, some scissors that you're away to the races. It's quite amazing. And best of all, it's really inexpensive. So if you like walking around with your camera and you value your cameras security, you like making things with your hands and saving a lot of money. This class is for you and I think you'll really enjoy it. And I know you're going to like the camera strap that result 2. Project: Your project for this class is to build your own camera strap, your de-luxe sliding camera strap. And you're going to have step-by-step instructions. You'll be able to choose the color and the width of strap that you'd like to build. You'll pick up a few things. At the outdoor supply store. You're going to use a few inches off your rear. Existing cameras drop, or you may need to buy an inexpensive one at the store. Or you can buy some thin webbing. And we're going to make loops for the camera, which are very handy and I'll show you why. And then we're going to actually build the sliding camera strap. And you're going to really enjoy the process. And when you're done, you're gonna be so happy with it. Take some pictures of yourself using it, shoot a little video, and posted to the discussion forums for the class so other students can be as inspired by your success. So let's get going and see what you need to put together. 3. Stuff You'll Need: This is everything you'll need. And then some for doing this project for making your deluxe sliding camera strap. So we're going to need first and foremost, the webbing that we're going to actually make the strap out of. And there's a whole bunch of options out there. And they're all available at outdoor stores or climbing supply stores. All kinds of places. And I'll include some links to some online suppliers as well. So the first thing you need to decide is, what color do you want? Webbing comes in a wide variety of colors, but also a wide variety of widths. All right. So I've seen webbing from half-inch webbing like this to 1 " one and quarter 2 ", two-and-a-half inches. And I find I've tried a couple of different widths. And for me, I like the one-inch width. It's small enough to easily slip under your jacket. It's inobtrusive. It supports the camera Well, it's very, very strong. And I find it distributes the weight of the camera just fine. The thicker straps, I find them a little cumbersome, but it's purely to taste. You can try it in a store, see what you like. Now. Webbing comes in a number of different styles or I guess styles, it's called different things. This stuff is called tubular webbing. And it's actually stitched. It's a stitch, two bits glued together. Now, this is used for weight-bearing applications in mountain climbing or rock climbing or indoor climbing. They make slings and all kinds of things out event. It's a little bit more expensive, a couple of dollars a foot in the sort of 1 " side. I find it's a little bit on the thicker side, which you might like, or I prefer it a little bit thinner it but it's very, very slightly. So it slips under clothes really like under your jacket. It slips along your clothes very easily. And the little slider slides along it very, very easily. So that's one option. Now. The other one is flat webbing. And that's what this stuff is. It's woven. You can see the woven pattern in it. It works perfectly well. I really, really like it. The slider slides along it great. And as I said, I'm going to build the strap for this class out of 1 " flat webbing. It also comes in wider widths, different colors, whatever you'd like. Some some places call it accessory webbing, meaning it's not designed for weight-bearing. For human weight-bearing, this tubular wedding webbing is, but this flat webbing works perfectly well. So you can choose the width and color that you think will work best for you. And you'll need about 6 ft or 2 m at the most. Because basically it's going to go, you're going to want to size it so that you can make it like cross bodies style make a loop and have the cameras sort of sitting on your hip. And sometime you'll shorten it up or make it a little bit longer. So you want to have a little bit of extra, will look when we start to assemble this at how to measure it and cut it. But I got to meters. These are sold by the meter there usually $1 or $2 a meter, so it's not a big expense. And so I usually buy a little bit extra and then I cut it to size. And if you start with it a little bit longer and you find you're not using that length. It's very easy to cut it down and make it a little bit shorter, a little more compact for you. And it will vary depending on your height and what you're wearing underneath it. I like to leave a little bit of extra room. So if I wanted to go out in the winter and I have heavy clothes on, it's not too tight. I still have room to expand. So that's the flat webbing. Now, once you decide on the width of your flat webbing, you're going to have to get two things to match it. The first thing is this sliding clip, right? And this is what's going to actually attach to your camera. And I really like these ones. These are like a heavy-duty plastic. This is the 1 " size to match the webbing that we have. And they come in sizes to match every width of webbing. So we need one of these. I really like this closure because it catches on the opposite side and it really traps Makes it so that your camera is basically fully attached to the strap. It can't slip off. You can't just easily flip it off. So it's a really good fitting. And these, as I say, are available in a wide variety of outdoor supply places. And then the other thing you'll need is one of these little sliding buckle clips. We're going to attach this to one end of the webbing and then have the other end loop through it so that you can adjust the length for longer or shorter depending on what you're doing and what you're wearing the day that you're doing it. So that this is your choices for the actual camera strap itself. Now, in addition, we're going to be making little loops for your camera. Right? There is the little triangular attachment that comes with this camera. And I'm gonna make a little loop just big enough to slip my finger into right now, these are really, really handy because when you don't have the strap attached to your camera, which is how I would advise you have it if you're not actually walking around, you have these little loops to slip over your finger. So when you're shooting, the camera gets bumped or something happens. It's not going to fall, it's going to hang from your finger. And these little loops, we're going to make them very secure. So I prefer to make the loop out of the camera strap that came with the camera because this is designed to exactly fit through this little triangular attachment. Now, if you don't have the camera strap, this is what we're going to use for the class. If you don't have a camera stop, you can buy some flat webbing that fits the attachment to your camera. Or if your camera only has these little openings, the little I don't know what you'd call it. Open with a hole in it, then you could use a properly sized piece of string and just tie it into a loop with a square knot. I really prefer using just a bit of the webbing that came with the camera strap, right? Means the camera strap isn't totally wasted. You can still use it if you do want. But I prefer doing this because it makes a nice sort of stiff loop, very easy for me to slip my finger into. And I make loops for both sides of the camera because I also find these little loops are a great way if you're cameras in a bag or in your knapsack or whatever the loops are a great thing to grab the camera by. It's nice and secure. We're going to make sure that those loops are super secure. They're not going to go anywhere. It's a great way to grab your camera, to pull it out of a bag, slip your finger through it, then you are attached to your camera, which is the most important thing. So that's what this is for. Now, there are a couple of things that you probably have around the house or you can just get at a local dollar store or the hardware store. First thing is we need to glue up these little loops and we'll need to glue this webbing. And I did some experimentations before this class and then making other straps. And for my taste, my favorite glue for doing this is the good old reliable contacts cement. This stuff is amazing. You painted on both surfaces and then you wait for it to dry and you carefully positioned and press them together and bank they are joined really permanently. This stuff works great. What I like about it is it's also available now in small tubes of contacts. And that because we're, we're only going to use a couple of drops really on this project. So there's no point in running out and buying a full can. What I don't like about these is if they're half-full, they tend to dry out and the little tubes are great. And now they're available in hardware stores and Dollar Stores, stuff like that. Now the only downside to contact cement is it is undeniably a little stinky. It does have that glue smell to it. I don't really mind if I've got a lot of space here, open the door, opened a window, that's not a problem. But if you don't like that smell or if it is particularly sensitive to it. I did a little testing and this stuff is great. This is gorilla superglue gel. Now, I need to warn you here. You can't use regular superglue. I know it holds everything to everything and they advertise it on TV for exactly that. But the problem with your regular superglue is it's very thin and watery. And when you put it on webbing, it tends to just absorb into the webbing and then it doesn't stick to anything. Alright. This gel glue. And I know this is the gorilla brand superglue gel. Alright? I know that the other super glues make thicker versions, but I find that this one is really thick and it doesn't absorb at all into the webbing. It just glues it together really, really well. And it doesn't have any smell. So you can either use contact cement like I do, or use this Gorilla glue I tested them. They both work absolutely perfectly. If you're going to use the Gorilla glue, it takes a little while to set up to be fully attached. So if you have a couple of these little office clips, bulldog clips, um, or a small spring clamp from a hardware store. These things are great for holding the webbing together while this glue is setting up, the contact cement is instantly attached. You let it dry. And then when you attach it, boom, you're done. So you don't necessarily need the clamps, but if you liked the Gorilla glue, the clamp really helps see you are not standing there holding it with the glue sticking to your fingers. So that's that. Now as I mentioned, when we make the little loops for the camera, we're going to make them super secure. I'm just totally paranoid about stuff like this. I've never had any of these loops that have been glued together, come apart in any way. But that doesn't make me any less paranoid. So what I like to do is where the, the, at the ends of the overlap, right at either end, we're going to put in just a stitch or two just to be absolutely sure. And what I like for that is this stuff which is a 25-pound test casting line. It's not like the plastic fishing line that's impossible to tie. This stuff ties beautifully. It's easy to sort of stitch with it. Alternatively, you can just use a good strong, what's called the button thread or any strong thread will do the trick because we're really just doing a secure, we're making ultimate security here in a couple of stitches will just do it. Just to accomplish that. You need a needle with a nice wide hole so that this stuff can fit into it. And I like to use these little needle thread is because my needle threading skills are not that great. Makes it very easy to thread this into a needle. So that's how we're going to make the loops. We're going to use this and this stuff, make it super, super secure. And you'll just need a couple of other things from around the house. A good pair of sharp scissors for cutting the weapon. Or alternatively, you can use a really sharp like box cutter style knife. These both work. And then once you've cut the webbing, you'll want to seal it from unraveling, to prevent it from unraveling and just irregular lighter, you can just melt the end. I'll show you how it works, but you'll need to have a little lighter on hand. Or if you have a barbecue lighter that any little source of flame works just fine. So that's everything we need for this project. It's not going to be inexpensive project. This stuff is quite inexpensive. These fittings or like $1 or something like that, depending on where you order them from. And I will give you some links to order from or just go to your local outdoor store. And they usually have a wide selection. And this is everything. And so in the next lesson, we'll look at how to put it all together 4. Making Camera Loops: Now we're going to make the little loops to attach to the camera. And that's what you will use to attach to your camera strap. Now, if you have these little attachment rings, these little split rings, that's what I prefer to use. But if your cameras didn't come with those and you just have these little holes, you can either you can go out and buy a split ring, a triangular, or a D ring if you want. You might be able to find one in the cameras store or you can just make the loop out of simple. This is in climbing term, this is called static cord. They sell it in outdoor stories in a variety of sizes. And you just need to get one that will fit through the little hole in your camera. And you just slide that. This camera came with. Some cameras have the little slot built right into the camera body. And if you're using the camera strap that came with the camera, that'll fit it absolutely perfectly. That's why I like this. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to just cut a piece from either end of this that's sort of the size of my finger plus a little bit. It should be big enough to accommodate your finger with a little bit extra and you want to have a good overlap and that's what we're going to glue. So I'm going to cut it too this length. Then we're going to play with it a little bit from there. But I can just kind of cut it. Now, this end has already been sealed, right? So I don't have to do anything to that. But this end that we just cut, all I do is I grab my lighter things out of the way and just touch the flame to the end, the cut end of the webinar. Sure. Just melts it ever so little bit. And that just seals that shot. And then I'll cut a similar sized piece from the other side just in case I ever want to use that strap, although I can't imagine why I would seal that end. These are formed by two loops. I think they may be a little bit on the long side. But let's see. If I just sort of slipped this in here. Make a good overlap. I think it's a little too long as I showed with the string. You don't want the camera hanging down too much. So I think what I'd like to do is just tighten it up a little bit, like attaching these loops to both sides of the camera. Even though when you use the camera strap, you're only going to clip into one. I like the security of having the two loops because they're very handy for pulling cameras, that camera out of a bag or whatever. If you're if you're holding it on this hand, you can slip your finger through. I often carry them around just by these little loops. So it's very handy having those. So here's how we're going to do this. And to take one last measurement. There we go. So it's overlapped by about three-quarters of an inch. Should do. What I'm going to do is put some contact cement on this side and this side, just enough to allow the overlap. There. We Carol and I just use the context cement container to spread it around a little bit. And then this side, if you don't have your contact cement in a tube like this, you could just use a cotton swab or a Q tip to just dip into the can and spread it around. So this needs to dry for a few minutes. Meanwhile, what I can do is show you how to make the other side with this gorilla glue. That works for my finger, like that. But three-quarters of an inch of overlap. So I'm just going to put the glue on you don't have to put it on both sides. And you can see it's quite gloopy. Probably gone a little overboard on it, but that's okay. Once you've done that, seal it up. Do not put the glute end through the camera parts. That's not a good thing. And you can just line it up, clamp it together with your fingers. And then I like to just clamping it with your fingers is always tricky with superglue because it does tend to stick to your fingers. So I like to just put a little clamp on it. There we go. Meanwhile, the contact cement has dried up nicely. I can still feel it, but it's it's good and dry. So paths ready to go into the loop, overlap, line it up carefully because you only get one shot and squeeze it together. There we go. Now, I'd like to leave it a little bit before I put too much stress on it, just so that it doesn't pull apart well, it's still a little bit damp. But that's the loop made. Now he's can see while loop just fits my finger beautifully. I do like to secure it with thread as well or with this 25-pound test line. Just because I like being absolutely sure. And I never I never trust glue altogether for everything. And since y, I'm going to be wandering around with my camera attached by this little loop. I want to be absolutely sure. So I'm just going to grab my needle and I use these little needle thread, hers. And if you want to be totally, totally secure, a drop of instinct global, definitely make sure that never That's moves. I'll do that at the end. So one more of the other end of the world, as I said, totally, totally safety. But glue, they're storing strings. One of them here. There we go. Now that movie is totally secured. Meanwhile, the glue on this side has dried, nice and solid. It's pretty stiff to and I'm happy with that. So I'll go ahead and just put a couple of stitches in this end, but you don't need to watch me do that. These are two straps for our camera. Finger fits in. It's totally secure. When you're holding your camera, somebody knocks it out of your hand. It's not gonna go anywhere. And then we're also going to clip into these to attach our camera strap. So next, we're going to learn how to measure and make our camera strap 5. Making the Strap: Now that we have the loops attached to our camera and then nice and secure, we now can make the actual strap itself. So the first thing we want to do is attach the little buckle slider, this metal piece to the end of the webinar, to one end of the weapon, doesn't matter which end. And we're going to secure it with glue. And I'll probably put a little stitch in there as well just to make sure this is in place because this is going to be what holds everything together. So let's go ahead with that. I'm just going to grab some of the contexts cement. So the glue has setup on this end. So I can now just press the two surfaces together. And it's glued. There we go. And I know that's not going to let loose. But just because I'm very paranoid, I am going to put a stitch in right at the top where the two pieces meet. I'm going to put a stitch a little loop in there and tie it off so that this can never, ever work its way loose. When I'm all done, I'll stick a little dab of the instant glue on there just to seal it off. For now. We are good. Keep that for the other end. So now I have my length of webbing with the buckle on it. The one thing you want to remember to do before you take another step is put the slide and clip on. Because I can't tell you how many times I've done things like this and sealed it all up and then went, Oh, wait a minute, I forgot. Reached down to the end. So this will be the inside of the loop like that. So you want the clip to go so it's hanging on the outside. This way. I have a lot here. So there's the sliding clip with the blue on the inside. And this is now hanging on the outside. So what I'm gonna do is just pass the webbing through the buckle slider. That will make loop and adjustable loop. You can pull it through. But when you try and pull it out, it doesn't go. Now, here's where you want to make. So there's our loop with this on the outside and this will clip to the camera, right? So at this point, you want to measure and fit it to your body. And I always advise, leave a little bit of extra because I don't have a coat on. It's not winter. I don't have a sweater and all this stuff. And you want to have enough room that when you're fully dressed up with all everything, you can adjust the length. So what I recommend, It's just okay. So this is a bit long. This is too long. It's hanging well below and bear in mind, your camera is going to hang down from this, like this. So I like to have the option of putting the camera at about my hip. So I'll just slide this up. And the nice thing is it's easy to adjust the length, but it's not like it's not slipping, it doesn't slip. This works really nicely. I'm just adjusting the length To be at a boat, my hip or a little bit longer like that. And that way, if I attach the camera and the camera clips on, very easily, you just put the loop over the clip and then pass it in there. And that clip catches on the opposite side so you can the camera can't slip out of the clip. So if I have the camera hanging down, that's a little bit low. But it's not so bad. And if you start with it a little bit longer, right? You can always shorten it. If you find you've got too much length, you can shorten it. You know, he just cut it and seal it. And it's very easy to do. So. I think this is a little bit on the long side, but I'm going to leave it that way because I can shorten it up. I'm going to leave a little bit of extra hanging out. All right. And as I say, if I decide later I really find it too long, then I can shorten it. But meanwhile, I can cut this end. There we go. I had a little bit of extra, but not that much. And use the lighter to just seal it up. There we go. And now this is a trick. I want to be absolutely sure that there's no way that this can slide out of this sliding buckle. Alright? So I, I can't imagine it actually happening, but to be super on the safe side, what I am going to do is just glue this over on itself. And this way it cannot get through the buckle slider, right? So as secure as this end is, I want this end to be secure as well. So just put a little bit of glue on the last little end of this. Just let that set up and I'll be back in a moment. Okay? So the glue has magically set up. I'm just going to fold this over to the two surfaces meet. And what I like about contexts, and that is when it's bound, it's bound, That's it. Now this is not a stress point. So I don't really feel compelled to put a stitch on there because I mean, I could, but this isn't going to come undone and it's not taking any actual stress. So if it ever shows any sign of letting loose stitch on it, but I don't think so. So now we have it very secure. I can move it. This is not going to slide out of this at all. So this is now totally secured. We have a stitch in here making sure that this never releases. This is folded over and glued. And so we can slide to adjust our length up and down depending on how we want to where the camera. So you can put this over your shoulder, adjust the length. And what I like about the way this hangs is because this is attached to this loop. It hangs with the cameras, so to flat against your body, which I really like if I have the camera here, comes up to my eye and it's ready to shoot instantly can have it ready to shoot. I could drop it down, tuck it in behind me. It's lies nice and flat. And it really, really works nicely. There you have your deluxe sliding camera strap, right? You're all ready to go and make one for yourself. Choose your color, choose your width. And I think you'll enjoy making it. And I know you're going to enjoy using it 6. Using Your Strap: So now that you've made your deluxe sliding cameras strap, you probably want to know how to use it. Well, first off, these little loops on your camera are really handy. They're great for cameras in a bag. You want to quickly pull it out, just hook a finger through and out. It comes nice and secure hold of your camera. Your hands aren't going to slip off if they're slippery. And then when I'm shooting what I like to do, and this is why we size the loop to our finger. I put my finger through the loop and then I hold the camera so that the camera is attached to my hand. If somebody knocks into the camera or if your hands slips for whatever reason, it's not going to fall. It's going to stay attached to your hand and you're just going to grab it again and be nice and safe. So I really like these little loops. Now in terms of the actual camera strap, I tend to like to wear it cross body style. You can wear it one shoulder if that's comfortable for you. I have sloped shoulders so it tends to slide off now. I like so I like to wear it cross body. It's also the most secure way of wearing it. So you just slip it over. I like to adjust the length so that the camera is going to sit approximately on my hip. So it's very easy to adjust the length. You just grab the little sliding bracket and pull the webbing, threw it up or down. And once it's adjusted, it doesn't slide anymore, which is really nice. It's super secure. Then flipping the camera into the loop is really simple. These clips are really great because they're very easy to attach to the camera, but they're actually hard to unattached. You just slip the clip through the loop and then pull. And that opens the little gate. And your camera is securely attached to the strap. Now to undo it, you have to hold the little gate open and then like work the loop around to get it out. It's a little trickier getting it out, which is very frankly a good thing. So putting the camera onto the strap, very simply just slip the clip through the loop and Paul, and it's attached nice and securely, then it's ready to takeaway. I could use it a little bit shorter. So I just slide it up like that. And I tend to put the buckle on my back so it's out of the way. The camera tucks just behind me. When I want to take a picture, it slides up the strap really easily. I'm ready to take a picture and then just tuck it away again. I love that action or just bringing the camera out. It's ready to shoot at anytime, but it's completely out of your way at other times. So that's perfect. The other great thing is if you're wearing a jacket or if it's raining like it's just going to start doing now. You can have a rain jacket or a heavier jacket over the camera. And that way, nobody can see that you're carrying an expensive piece of equipment on your hip. But all you have to do is take your hand and brush open the jacket, grabbed the camera, pull it up, take your shot, slider back away. And if it's raining, that means your camera only has to come out when you want to actually take a picture. Other than that, it stays tucked underneath your jacket, safe and secure. So that's why I really like this sliding camera strap and I'm sure you will too 7. Conclusion: Okay, So here is your beautiful new deluxe sliding camera strap. And I'm sure you're going to have fun making it. And I know you're gonna love using it because it really does work well. It's nice because it's adjustable for your height, your clothes that you're wearing, you can wear it around your neck if you want, over one shoulder, over two shoulders, which is how I usually carry it, holds the camera very securely. And when you don't need a strap, you just slip the webbing out of the little clip. And you still have a nice secure way to hold your camera without a strap. But it's nice and securely held to your hand, which I really like. So I think you'll enjoy it. So in terms of cost for this, now, I'm quoting Canadian dollars because I'm here in Toronto. But basically here's how it went. I got 2 m of this webbing, which was plenty enough to make a strap big enough for me with room enough for clothing underneath it or whatever I need. So a little bit of extra space to meters covered that. And this webbing goes for $2.50 Canadian per meter. So $5. This little clip was at dollar 75. This slider was $1.50. And then the glue, the thread, the needle came to around $10. All told. So basically for under $20, I've put together this whole cameras drop and cameras securing system. And I've been using these for years now and it really, really works well. So I think you'll enjoy making it and I know you're going to enjoy using it. So when you make it and when you enjoy using it, take a couple of pictures or shoot a little video of yourself using your camera strap and post it to the discussions section of this class so other students can see it and be inspired by your work. Also, if you have any questions, if you run into any snags and making it posts something on the discussions forum. And I will respond as quickly as I see it. So I have other classes available on Skillshare, which I think you will enjoy if you've enjoyed this class. So you can subscribe to and you'll be notified when I published new classes. And you can also check out the existing classes I have. I have a couple of courses in black and white photography. One in color grading your photographs. For those of you who make artwork, I have a great class on how to photograph your own artwork and create beautiful, high-quality photographs of your art work. That can be really handy if you want to create your website or may put your workup for sale. And I also have a fun little course on how to create a setup to shoot modern photographs. If you're familiar with what those are, if not, have a look, you might enjoy it. Have fun building your deluxe sliding camera strap. And I will see you in other classes.