For photographers: saftey cables for your Black Rapid camera straps

I’m taking a break from my wedding blogs to share a DIY project to keep cameras secure for my fellow photographers who use the Black Rapid camera straps. Camera straps made by Black Rapid (and a few other companies out there that I am less familiar with) seemed to be the must-have accessory among my wedding photographer colleagues in Pittsburgh this spring. As we geared up for the coming wedding season we were all looking for ways to save our backs because the equipment we lug around all day can be quite heavy. I know at least a handful of photographers who decided to go with one of the Black Rapid camera strap varieties, so I decided the $130 double camera strap might be worth it if it saved me from having a sore back on Sunday mornings.

The double strap does wonders if you’re a two-camera shooter with one on each arm. The strap balances out the weight—and I’ve found that because you no longer have to hold your body in awkward positions to keep the regular camera strap from slipping off your shoulder, that my lower back and sides are less sore too! That in itself was a major breakthrough in comfort on a wedding day.

The Black Rapid straps were working out very nicely until a few weddings ago when my D700 and 70-200 2.8 lens suddenly (or so it seemed) came unscrewed from the fastener. Luckily, I was in a grassy area so the camera and lens are fine, but I was not a happy camper. How could I continue to trust camera straps that do not securely hold my camera?

Doesn’t this photo make you feel uneasy? Here’s a close-up of the fastener:

The images from this post are SOOC (straight out of the camera) with no special lighting because I just needed to get this post out and move on.

Anyway, I contacted Black Rapid and after an exchange of several emails, they sent me a new double strap since their fasteners had been updated. I can’t complain. That’s pretty good customer service. But I decided that until they come up with some kind of safety feature, no fastener would really hold all day. When you let your cameras hang by your sides and you are moving in and out of limos and up and down stairs, there is a lot of movement that can cause the fastener to slowly unscrew and I wasn’t going to chance dropping my equipment again. If I had been standing on pavement when my camera dropped, it wouldn’t have been pretty.

Oddly enough, I had just finished putting together a leading line on my front porch so that my dog, Brownie, could be outside with me on the porch. He’s a sweet dog, but if he sees anything suspicious, he throws caution to the wind and runs out into the street. Now I keep him tethered to a leading line when we’re relaxing on the porch.

I’m not exactly handy, so to make the leading line, I got my supplies at Home Depot and asked for help with crimping the ferrule and stop set. Now, before this trip to Home Depot, I had no idea of what a ferrule was. Kudos to them for walking me through how I could put it all together! Anyway, this all relates I promise!

I used 1/16″ coated cable and to loop the cable through the pulley. The helpful people at Home Depot showed me that I could use a ferrule to close the loop. This requires a swagging tool to crimp the ferrule tight. Because I didn’t really have a need to purchase the tool, they used one in the store and did it for me. I went away happy knowing that I had found a place to go when I need help with such odd projects.

After some thought, I realized that I could use the same materials for the leading line to make a safety cable to keep my cameras secure with the Black Rapid straps. For $10 in supplies, I can now rest assured that my cameras will be secure.

As you can see above, I attached one of the quick links to the ring that holds the original camera straps and fished the other end through the opening for the nylon strap above the fastener and attached the second quick link to the ring on the other side of the camera.

To make your own safety cable, you’ll need a 1.5 foot piece of 1/16″ coated cable, two 1/8″ quick links, and a 3/32″ ferrule and stop set (they come in pairs). You’ll need to double that if you want to make two safety cables…

Oh, and you need a helpful hardware store employee who has access to a swagging tool and knows how to use it. That last part is free if you’re friendly and know of a good hardware store.

While I’d rather buy ready-made safety cables for this purpose, I feel like they’re not out there. I’ve looked a good bit. If Black Rapid or Think Tank were to sell them, I’d pick some up right away. A friend of mine mentioned that my DIY cables could scratch my camera body where the quick links rub. I’m open to suggestions, so please share! For now, I can at least rest assured that my gear will be safe. I’ve used the safety cables for a couple of weddings now and they don’t really get in the way and when my camera came loose again, the cable supported it until I could screw the fastener into the tripod socket again. My decision making regarding purchasing the camera straps, and the very nature of this blog post, have developed in a very roundabout way, but I think I’m in a happy place for now.