{"id":15821,"date":"2012-01-30T21:07:46","date_gmt":"2012-01-30T13:07:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/?p=15821"},"modified":"2017-02-25T19:48:40","modified_gmt":"2017-02-25T11:48:40","slug":"herringbone-leather-handgrip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/2012\/01\/30\/herringbone-leather-handgrip\/","title":{"rendered":"Herringbone Leather Handgrip"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here\u2019s another one of those \u2018boys with toys\u2019 posts, so if you have no interest in photographic gadgets, skip ahead.=)<\/p>\n

Just about ever camera comes supplied with its own fabric strap. Those straps do what they need to do but they\u2019re not usually very well-designed nor conducive for long usage. These straps are also often emblazoned with the manufacturer, like this:<\/p>\n

\"blog-strap\"<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a personal thing, but for me it\u2019s bad enough when you\u2019re traveling around with a large attention-attracting DSLR that you really don\u2019t want to also wear a strap that tells everyone on loudhailer too. And that\u2019s to say nothing of that these straps are really uncomfortable and quickly cause abrasion around your neck and cramps as they put the entire camera\u2019s weight around your neck.<\/p>\n

The first strap I got as replacement for the D300 years ago was from Optech, a USA-based company that produces a range of weight-distributing straps that help reduce neck and shoulder fatigue. Camera equipment actually felt lighter, and that was one of the best SGD28 I\u2019ve ever spent.<\/p>\n

The strap had one problem that\u2019s inherent in all neck straps though: they get into the way of the lens and viewfinder! I\u2019ve lost count of the number of times when I bring the DSLR to eye level ready to take a picture, only to face a strap smack right in front of the viewfinder. I\u2019m certain Ling knows exactly what I mean here. More than a couple of times when I\u2019m about to take a picture of Hannah, she\u2019s chuckled to say, \u201cEr dear, the strap is blocking your lens\u2026!\u201d<\/p>\n

So, for the D7000, I\u2019ve decided to try something else. Since the only time when I use the full neck strap is when I\u2019m traveling, I\u2019ve gone minimalist this time and picked up the Herringbone Leather Handgrip, made by a South-Korean company. The package came yesterday from a local distributor, and seems very well-made and feels quite luxurious.<\/p>\n

\"blog-2012-photography-OLYP5392-herringbone-handgrip\"\"blog-2012-photography-OLYP5396-herringbone-handgrip\"<\/p>\n

The included instruction leaflet describing assembly is in Korean though, and I couldn\u2019t make much sense of the diagrammatic illustrations. It\u2019s not rocket science, but it still took me nearly half an hour to figure out where how to assemble the handgrip properly. The handgrip when properly put on works quite exactly like the handgrip strap you find on typical camcorders: pretty comfortable, and very secure.<\/p>\n

\"blog-2012-photography-OLYP5404-herringbone-handgrip\"\"blog-2012-photography-OLYP5397-herringbone-handgrip\"\"blog-2012-photography-OLYP5405-herringbone-handgrip\"<\/p>\n

So, on the overall, pretty satisfactory. The one downside is that when I\u2019m taking portrait-orientation pictures, I\u2019ll have to either use an overhand grip, or get my hand out of the strap and hold the battery grip instead. Oh well; it\u2019s a necessary design limitation for this sort of handgrip, so I can\u2019t complain.<\/p>\n

Oh yep; pictures all taken using the E-PL2 @ 20mm \u2013 I\u2019m still loving this compact camera.=)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here\u2019s another one of those \u2018boys with toys\u2019 posts, so if you have no interest in photographic gadgets, skip ahead.=) Just about ever camera comes supplied with its own fabric strap. Those straps do what they need to do but<\/p>\n

Read More Herringbone Leather Handgrip<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15810,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,13],"tags":[518],"class_list":["post-15821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-at-home","category-photography-cameras","tag-d7000","wpcat-6-id","wpcat-13-id"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/blog-strap_thumb.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}