Bags of Room

Page 3

The Shoulder Camera Straps

One of the problems of field photography is rapid camera access. For nature work, the glimpse of a butterfly or dragonfly is often fleeting and the camera must be turned on, flash installed, lens hooded and ready to go. This places quite a strain on the neck over a long period of time. Kata’s solution is to place a pair of straps, one from each shoulder, and attached to the main harness strapping. This transfers the load to the shoulders, away from the neck and is a huge improvement in comfort. The concept is a little let down by the quick-release attachments. The thin end of the straps are attached through the eyelet holders, directly attached to the camera. When they are ‘quick released’ you are left with two straps dangling down either side of the camera – plenty large enough to frighten off a ground-located insect. The bag is so heavy when laden that it destabilises the user when they bend over a subject – solution – drop the bag off. Problem – the camera is attached to the bag? A better solution would be to have fast-release buckles at the camera end to release the camera entirely from the bag and its straps. Another problem is that the Kata attachment shackles are too small and the D-ring does not clear the spring-loaded catch. This made it very hard to re-attach the camera to the shoulder harness.

ABOVE: A fullyladen Kata 502 is just too heavy to be left on the back for this type of work; the photographer is destabilised by the weight.

Locking, quick-release snap links allow the camera to be detached from the shoulder harness reasonably quickly. They are difficult to find in the shops though; these are very old and much treasured!

ABOVE: The snap link provided by Kata is a little on the mean side for easy re-attachment.

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