WHY I'M SWITCHING BACK TO A NECK STRAP

Wrist strap purchased on Etsy from McMurray and Blonde. The strap is good quality, looks good, is priced right and after eight months of almost daily use, showed little wear.

Eight months ago I switched to a wrist strap, so why am I thinking of reverting back to a neck strap?

First, let me explain some of the advantages of a wrist strap and why I switched. I carry my camera in a backpack every day and the wrist strap makes it much easier to pack in and out of the bag. When I'm shooting on the street, I like to have my camera at the ready and a wrist strap is perfect for that. In fact, when using a neck strap, I used to wrap it around my wrist in similar shooting situations, but the wrist strap is purpose-built for that and gave a sense of security from inadvertently dropping the camera if I suddenly needed to use my hands.

Also when out and about I often stop for a drink or bite to eat and when sitting the camera on a table or bar, the neck strap always seemed to be the way or hanging over the edge, where there was a risk of it getting snagged and pulled to the floor.

So with all the reasons above, why would I even consider switching back? I suppose it came down to options and with a wrist strap, I had only one, the wrist. And even though I just gave a bunch of advantages the wrist strap had over the neck strap, I think I need those options back. If I wasn't carrying a backpack or some other type of bag, then the only option was to have the camera dangling from my wrist, like a one-pound piece of jewelry that you can't take off.

I also like to have the camera at the ready when hiking or backpacking and a wrist strap just isn't practical in those situations. It forced me to keep the camera in a bag or waist pouch.

I suspect like everything else in photography, there isn't a perfect solution to my wrist strap versus neck strap problem. Afterall, there's not one perfect lens or certainly not a perfect camera bag (look in my closet). And is there really a perfect camera, or camera format?

So, why should I expect there to be the perfect camera strap? Please let me know in the comments below if you have found a solution, otherwise stay tuned for another blog post eight months from now titled, "Why I'm Switching Back to a Wrist Strap?".