This strap has been a labor of love. Over the last 6 months or so, I’ve worked on a design to keep a camera from swinging all over the place while riding or hiking while also enabling quick and easy one hand operation to swing the camera back and forth. Those with a keen eye may have seen some leaks as we’ve eluded to this design over that time. My friend and collaborator, Randall and I have finally launched the new Speed holster Strap over on his site: MettleCycling.com Head over and check them out!
The Speed Holster Strap focuses on weight (weighs a few ounces) and a low profile, perfect for those that like to blend riding and photography. Meant to carry a small to mid size system camera (or compact) via the quick release clip and heavy duty, 170b split ring attached to the camera. Offered in two sizes, M/L for those riders up to about 5’10” and then and XL for us gangly monsters. The holster piece comes across your chest and under your opposite arm to keep the camera from swinging while riding or hiking around and will relatively stay put when put back.
These are a very labor intensive product, so we’re only able to do small runs at a time. We’ll see how these are received and then try to continue to keep up with any demand. Head over to MettleCycling.com and grab one while they’re still around.
Thanks to all who’ve helped us prototype these, and to Randall for getting these out to the community. Tag us with #trpblography and #onmymettle so we can see and share your shots and of course, we’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences with us via the socials: find me on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and Instagram.
Happy shooting,
Tyson
Tyson Robichaud Photo-blography 
hi tyson, i really like the strap, especially the low weight and low profile aspects. but i’m rarely using a bike and a camera at the same time. does this strap make sense (i.e. would you recommend it) when not on a bike, too?
peter
LikeLike
Hi Peter, probably not. The two things that I think this strap really works for is biking, and hiking where you’d be wanting to keep your hands free and camera fairly stationary without it swinging around while moving if that makes sense. I’m really close to launching an official online store for the current straps, and I am planning on doing a standard “Speed” strap like this without the holster part which I think would make more sense. It will be very light weight/low profile, and quite a bit cheaper because I won’t be building each with the holster portion.
t
LikeLike
thank you, Tyson! i was afraid it would not really be ideal but because i haven’t understood the holster part completely i thought i’d ask. but if you are planning to do a more pedestrian version (:)) this is great news! i’m looking forward to this.
thanks for your super fast reply!
peter
LikeLike
My pleasure man. I am aiming to have two different styles of neck/shoulder strap ready to go when the strap site launches soon 🙂
LikeLike
Hi Tyson, do you have a little post explaining how the system works?
I made myself a DIY leather slider strap that is quite comfortable in ordinarily walking and is very fast to grab and shoot, but can be kind of annoying in more difficult situations (i.e. climbing, shifting weight around, etc…) so I added an additional little S-biner to the clip on an elastic so that I can clip it to a rear belt loop. It works, but it’s fiddly.
What have you done with this strap to prevent the camera from swinging around while it’s behind your back?
LikeLike
It’s a secret 🙂 nah, jk, it’s a combination of the holster design, the positioning of the strap and the material which allows for smooth travel where something like leather or even certain nylons can grab and struggle to slide on itself. The Gif is really the best way to see how it works.
LikeLike
This is a fantastic design, really ingenious.
LikeLike
Thanks Chris! I went through a few prototypes and design changes before we settled on what we did for these. Now, I can’t make them fast enough 🙂
LikeLike