Best way to carry your camera
If you've read our articles about the getting your best travel camera and also amazing lenses, as seen in the links below, there is now one question to be answered: How do you best carry your camera? Usually every camera comes with a neck strap but that strap is usually neither comfortable nor does it look good. We'll go through a couple of ways of carrying your camera that are more fitting for specific scenarios and might be more fitting to you! Click on the images to get to the relevant product pages and kindly order through those links if we’ve helped you, as that would really help us.
Hand Sling
Hand slings like Peak Design Cuff are really handy if you are somewhere and just constantly taking shots like a city walk or an early morning stroll through amazing scenery or landscapes. Their advantage is that you have your camera constantly at the ready (preferably with a small lens) but don't have to grip it all the time. You also don't really need to take off the sling if you want to use your camera on a tripod or put it in a bag. One major disadvantage is of course that your camera is connected to your wrist for the entire time, so only use a hand sling if you’re just out and about for taking pictures!
A couple of good slings are:
Shoulder Strap
The classic shoulder strap is there for a reason. It's more convenient to carry around your camera for longer periods of time compared to the hand sling mentioned above, and if you've got the right strap carrying a camera all day isn't a problem at all. The one major tips is to not carry the camera just around your neck but carry it more like you would a bag, so put your neck and an arm through the strap. A couple of straps we like are the following:
One annoyance we have with shoulder straps is that they are usually pretty cumbersome to put on and take off. Nobody wants to have a strap on the camera all the time. Luckily there are a couple of quick release options like the famous PeakDesign anchor links. They are really build to last and we've not had a single bad experience with them while having them in service for close to 5 years now. Other alternatives can be had, like the K&F shoulder sling. But Peakdesign also has shoulder straps available with these anchor links.
PeakDesign Capture Clip
The PeakDesign Capture Clip is kind of revolutionizing the way you can carry your camera on longer hikes: Usually we'd recommend you use a comfortable shoulder strap for carrying your camera all day but this little contraption allows you to fix your camera to the strap of your backpack making it available at all times and also preventing it from dangling around and maybe hitting some rocks! The original PeakDesign Capture Clip has gone through some iterations and is now on version 3, making the safest option on the market. Of course this idea has been copied, but look at the original in the gallery below!
Carrying Bags / Shoulder Bags
Carrying bags like the Think Tank Photo Retrospective 30 V2.0 are the secret tip for everyone wanting to carry a camera but not flaunt it all the time. Nobody needs to see, especially in some more sketchy areas of the world, you're carrying a good amount of money worth of kit. Also if you're just going on a walk with your significant other you might not want to have your camera showing all the time. Our favorite solution is the camera bag: It conceals your camera but if you have a good one it also makes your camera readily available: Just open the bag, get your camera and take the shot. It also allows you to take an extra lens or a small tripod like the Joby JB01507 GorillaPod 3K or a SmallRig Mini Tripod, which we can both recommend.
Additionally you can also take an existing bag and add an insert for protecting your gear. See this insert for example or choose on this search page to get what you need.
Here are a couple of bags we really like:
Backpacks
Carrying your camera in your backpack can have its uses, even if it's not something we would really recommend: If your camera is in your backpack it's pretty hard to get out and take a quick shot. But if you're just travelling from point A to point B with no intention of taking photographs or just want to use it to store your gear, backpacks are of course the primary course of action.
My personal favorite is to use either a shoulder strap or the PeakDesign Capture Clip for your camera and carry all the lenses and other accessories like ND filters and tripods in my backpack. There are a couple of backpacks from "photography companies" like the following that really stand out to us:
But just like with carrying bags you have the option of outfitting your hiking backpack, like the Osprey Nebula Commuter, with an insert to organize and store your gear. Look at this search page to get what you need.
