QuickStrap (Rapidstrap) Review

tim_uk

tim_uk

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I was lucky enough to get one of the Quick/RapidStraps for christmas and have just got round to checking it out !

I don't know the exact seller as it was a present but it was one of the ebay ones - I think it was marked as Version 2 - it would have been about £15 delivered.

First impressions seem very good, strap itself very comfy has a small pouch for memory cards and very long and adjustable.

I was wary of the use of the tripod connection but there is a rubber cushion and this seems to keep the screw really secure - you may see I added a cable tie for added security but I am sure this won't be needed.

The only other area of conern was the spring loaded connector coming open - this has a securing column but I added a simple lock-not to be safe.

All in all am very pleased - I have compared to the genuine rapidstrap and this seems no more secure in the areas I have mentioned above so it looks a good buy if you want such a strap at sensible money.

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sorry if the pics a bit iffy - my D7000 was in the shots so couldn't be used for once !!
 
All looks very hand made and unappealing. Weird looking camera to.
 
Jackwow said:
All looks very hand made and unappealing. Weird looking camera to.
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Yeah those D7000s are weird arent they, with those buttons..and a screen.. :cuckoo:
 
scottthehat said:
had a double one for a year awsome bit of kit, have keyrings around the clasp for extra safty. had my d300 and 50-500mm os on one side and my d300 ith the nikon 18-200mm or 70-200mm on other with no probs.
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You probably felt like you were in the wild west with a holster on each hip. :shake:
 
But surely you must look like a bit of a geek? :thinking:
 
The plate underneath looks a bit ungainly but other than that it looks good. The Blackrapid - or whatever the 'real' brand is called - fasteners that attach to the camera are available on their own for about £15, I'v often thought about getting one and cobbling something together.
 
fixedimage said:
The plate underneath looks a bit ungainly but other than that it looks good. The Blackrapid - or whatever the 'real' brand is called - fasteners that attach to the camera are available on their own for about £15, I'v often thought about getting one and cobbling something together.
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I've just done exactly that, and for a dual setup its cost me 40 quid, that using two black rapid t1's and a shoulder setup made for carrying tactical bags... works a treat... am testing it at the moment but will post up results when I'm happy with it.
 
Ive been using the mark two rapid (off ebay £15) for a couple of months now. I attach it to my manfrotto quick release plate and its great. Much better than spending £50 plus on the same from the UK. The shoulder strap has a couple of zipped pockets which is use for spare battery and flash card. Well worth the money and the 3 week wait.
 
I use these also, 450D gripped with 70-200 and not a bother, does exactly what i expected it to do :)
 
fixedimage said:
The plate underneath looks a bit ungainly but other than that it looks good. The Blackrapid - or whatever the 'real' brand is called - fasteners that attach to the camera are available on their own for about £15, I'v often thought about getting one and cobbling something together.
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exactly what i was going to do
 
all of you that are hoping to make your own... you could do well looking at these....

http://www.ee33.co.uk/Bags-and-Wall...n-Lab-Gossamer-Harness-LT/p-281-287-361-2445/

very well made, super tough and.... if you go in on one between two of you, you have enough for two straps!

all you need to add is some 20mm webbing..

one of these

and a black rapid bolt for the bottom of the camera..

the loops that come on the civilian lab setup are super strong. put one on some webbing and dropped a 25kg weight from it, from head height, and nothing happened...

going to be writing a diy guide on them this week. Mines very cost effective as i already had the harness, and i want to carry two cameras :)
 
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I've been using the Mk1 for sometime now.

It seems as if some of the flaws have been sorted out.

Mine works, only requiring a cable tie around the sprung clip as I just didn't trust it to stay closed.

So much better than a tradtional strap, which managed to ensure the camer was always in the way.
 
I am looking into one of these as the blackrapids seem to expensive but i really dont want a huge plate on the bottom of my camera i would rather the little thing like the black rapid.

But buying one of them and the ebay blackrapids still adds up. I will wait and see if the ebay ones has a upgrade soon.
 
stokes said:
all of you that are hoping to make your own... you could do well looking at these....

http://www.ee33.co.uk/Bags-and-Wall...n-Lab-Gossamer-Harness-LT/p-281-287-361-2445/

very well made, super tough and.... if you go in on one between two of you, you have enough for two straps!

all you need to add is some 20mm webbing..

one of these

and a black rapid bolt for the bottom of the camera..

the loops that come on the civilian lab setup are super strong. put one on some webbing and dropped a 25kg weight from it, from head height, and nothing happened...

going to be writing a diy guide on them this week. Mines very cost effective as i already had the harness, and i want to carry two cameras :)
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I have always steered well clear of any kind of camera strap with that type of buckle on it.
In my opinion, they open far too easily for me to be trusting them to hold up several grand worth of camera.

They are probably fine though!
 
Tyler138 said:
I am looking into one of these as the blackrapids seem to expensive but i really dont want a huge plate on the bottom of my camera i would rather the little thing like the black rapid.

But buying one of them and the ebay blackrapids still adds up. I will wait and see if the ebay ones has a upgrade soon.
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The genuine ones may seem expensive, but the quality is top-notch. If you buy direct from Black Rapid the difference in price between, say an RS-7, and the ebay clone/R-3 combo is about £13 and personally I'm happy to pay that little bit extra when it has three grands worth of camera and lens hanging from it......
 
:agree:
 
I have got an original black rapid not sure I would trust one of these
 
I'm surprised also the way people penny pinch on something as important as a strap when they are trusting often thousands of quid worth of kit to be securely held.

Judging from the picture there must be little trust anyway as there is an extra strap in case the main one breaks, but this will stop the camera rotating freely.
 
boliston said:
Judging from the picture there must be little trust anyway as there is an extra strap in case the main one breaks, but this will stop the camera rotating freely.
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I've seen plenty of people using black rapid that have an extra strap on for safety.....

I agree mostly with all comments above about not skimping on a strap... but..... do black rapid offer a guarantee that if the strap breaks then they will replace smashed gear? If so, it might be worth the cash..

the main area of concern would be the connections between the camera. the loop and the clip.

I cannot see any difference between the black rapid fastenR 3 and a looped bolt that I picked up at my local yacht chandlery for 2 quid. And believe me, the forces imposed on these are far great than on a camera strap. In both shock loading and constant loading.

The same with the clip. A nice gravity loaded screw gate would sort that out... again, designed for serious loading and not much more than £1.50.
 
stokes said:
I've seen plenty of people using black rapid that have an extra strap on for safety.....

I agree mostly with all comments above about not skimping on a strap... but..... do black rapid offer a guarantee that if the strap breaks then they will replace smashed gear? If so, it might be worth the cash..

the main area of concern would be the connections between the camera. the loop and the clip.....
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From what I've read it would appear that Blackrapid have ironed out the problems with earlier versions of the connctR and fastenR.

The connectR had problems with the spring clip opening as it originally had a plastic tube to keep it shut, but added a thumbscrew to lock it closed, and they had problems with the swivel joint unscrewing but they sent out replacements once the fault was discovered.

The fastenR has been improved with a one piece design with no moving parts, so should be more secure as the only point of failure would be if someone did not properly screw the bolt into their camera tripod socket.
 
sorry started writing before above post..

Reflecting on this since I posted i think the question we should be asking is what makes those vital elements of the black rapid strap worth the extra money?

(Sort of answered above?)

The strapping itself other than the padded bit is exactly the same as the stuff I've seen at my local material shop, and thats less than 60p a metre....
 
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It would be very interesting to find out where the expensive straps are made... In the far east by any chance?
 
Flash In The Pan said:
The genuine ones may seem expensive, but the quality is top-notch. If you buy direct from Black Rapid the difference in price between, say an RS-7, and the ebay clone/R-3 combo is about £13 and personally I'm happy to pay that little bit extra when it has three grands worth of camera and lens hanging from it......
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Really..? Do they have a uk site or do you have to go through the US one, i would of though shipping and tax on the way over would add a bit onto the cost.
 
I am surprised that people think spending over the odds on a strap guarantees its quality.

The bracket on the cheaper version may look a tad unsightly but it is bound to be more secure than the blackrapid one where the force is exerted directly onto the securing bolt, greatly increasing the chances of it coming loose. If you do a search for blackrapid on the internet you will find plenty of occurences of problems with the expensive version.
 
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