Customer Reviews

Opteka Professional Wrist Grip Strap for Digital & Film SLR Cameras

5 star:		(74)
4 star:		(52)
3 star:		(24)
2 star:		(21)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

This device is an absolute must-have for any photographer--amateur or professional. I've been shooting professionally for over 30 years and I never take it off my camera except for in-studio tripod work. The strap attaches to the right shoulder strap loop on your camera, and has an attachment plate that screws into the tripod mount on the underside of the camera. Even with the wrist strap connected, there is an additional loop provided on the plate so that you can also attach a shoulder strap if desired. Your hand slides between the padded area of the grip and the camera, and you can adjust the tightness to fit your hand size. Your fingers will naturally curl around the grip of your camera and the Opteka grip holds your hand in place. Even with your hand completely relaxed, your camera will fall out of your hand. I use it on my Canon 5D Mark II with the large 24-105 L lens and it's comfortable enough to carry the camera without a shoulder strap all day without tiring. This is not an exaggeration. When I travel I carry my heavy camera for 6-8 hours this way and I barely notice it. I would never use a professional camera without one of these wrist straps. It's very secure and prevents accidentally dropping the camera while at the same time easing the amount of force necessary to hold or steady the camera while shooting.

Opteka also provides a threaded tripod mount to the bottom of the plate so you don't even have to take it off for tripod work, although I use this feature sparingly because it's not all that robust. If I'm shooting with a tripod a lot, I simply unscrew the bottom plate and let the Opteka grip hang at the side of the camera, then re-screw it when I remove the tripod. Easy, fast and secure.

Speaking of security, if I have my camera in my hand with the grip connected, it's impossible for a thief to snatch it away from me. The physics of my hand and the grip won't allow it. When touring a new city or potentially dangerous urban area, it's much more secure than a shoulder strap that can be cut or grabbed off your shoulder.

Unlike Canon's wrist strap, this unit can be used without the battery pack. A friend recently dropped her camera and did severe damage to it as she wasn't using one of these wrist straps. It's a very inexpensive bit of comfort and insurance that you'll come to love.
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June 2011 update: I've been using this same Opteka wrist grip for over 3 years. It's worked beautifully and is as durable and good looking today as it was when I bought it. I am absolutely delighted with it and have nothing but raves for this product from Opteka. Please note that this product is designed for normal-sized digital and film cameras with interchangeable lenses and should work properly with most brands including Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Pentax, Sigma, etc. It may not fit comfortably on some of the more compact or smaller cameras such as Nikon's D40 unless you have tiny hands. It's also not recommended for point and shoot cameras. Use the manufacturer's included wrist strap for these tiny cameras instead.

As a pro with more than 30 years in the business, I have never used this type of camera strap - I always wiped it away as a "Micey Mouse Thing".
Now, after all these years I finally purchased one and I can't believe the difference...
Okay, much safer than hand carrying - but this is the secondary part - the important difference is the feel, and the sensitivity in the trigger-finger. While normally the fingers merely occupied holding the camera, you have now the weight different distributed and your fingers free for the actual important and sensitive task to push buttons, turn the wheel etc. A must-feel-experience!
I can't believe the difference! I just ordered the second one for another camera....
To go more in detail - my cameras are quite heavy and most of them have a battery grip. This makes the distance between tripod mount and upper strap attachment perfect for this hand strap. On most of my cameras I have about 4+ inches, adequate to have the strap snug around my hand - firm and comfortable at the right length. If I try the strap on a smaller camera with only about 2+ inches height, or without battery grip, the handling appears rather odd.
Therefore, if you have a larger camera, or use a battery grip, the opteka strap does amazing things for you. If your camera does not have a battery grip, you might not absolutely share my exhitement for it.
Either way, it is definitelly worth trying, considering the relative low price.
The quality appears okay and the looks is good. The leather part is actually some type of nylon or artificial leather - let's see how long this is holding up under heavy pro use.
Highly recommendable! Great price!
It takes a lot of hand shaking out of shooting and will definitelly help to get sharper pictures.

I'm not an expert w/handstraps, but this one seems to do the trick. There we no instructions on how to install this handstrap (seemed easy enough to me until I actually started to install it). I recommend referencing the additional pictures when installing. They show the correct front/back of the strap (for comfort purposes, the "Opteka" label should face towards the back). When I pulled mine out of the package, it was backwards, so I had to pull the strap out from the comfort pad and reinstall it.

All in all, a solid product well worth the money. Honestly, it even looks better (and more comfortable) than the other handstraps that are 3x as much. I use mine with my Nikon D80, and it works greak (and no additional "vertical" grip required to fit/feel great).

Canon didn't leave many options for a "back of the hand" strap on its EOS 40D/50D camera's, unless one uses a battery grip that has mounts for a hand strap (and that's just additional extra weight if you don't need it). This hand strap makes use of the tripod mount, and one of the top neck strap loops on the camera to mount the strap to. It's completely adjustable to any length, and I tucked the adjustment buckle and excess strap length inside the padded strap cover to dress it up. Matches the Canon "look" well.

The hand strap adds a mounting loop on the bottom bracket (the one that screws in to the tripod mount) for re-attaching a neck strap if you like. I don't plan to ever use a neck strap again - they are very uncomfortable when I carry a camera as heavy as this. If you want a neck strap, buy a holster and keep your camera in that to carry with its neck strap...

Personally, I can't stand neck/shoulder straps in general, and use the holster's belt strap for infinitely more comfort, and "quick draw" access to my camera with its new hand strap!

This hand strap allows for the tripod mount to still be used, as it provides a separate socket. I tried it on my tripod and it seemed to hold ok. I couldn't get the hand strap mount to the tripod as tight as I could the camera to the tripod though. Something to keep in mind.

You do need to loosen and move the strap tripod bracket to the side in order to access the battery compartment on the EOS 50D. You DON'T have to remove the bracket though, and can leave your hand securely inside the hand strap even for a battery change. Note that loosening/moving the mount bracket would be cumbersome if also mounted on a tripod. Best to temporarily remove the bottom strap bracket from the camera tripod mount, and then secure the camera directly to the tripod in my opinion. For my Slik tripod, I can access the battery EVEN when the camera is tripod mounted.

The length of the tripod mounting bracket on the strap is roughly 3/4 the width of the bottom of the 50D camera, and this allows one to sit the camera "flat" on a table top, without the camera rocking over to one side. Nice for pix that you want to get in when you don't have a tripod with you. Protects the bottom of the camera from getting scratched on rocks or other rough surfaces you have to set it up on to get that stable shot, or one with you in the picture. Lets the lens hood and strap bracket take the abuse...

Final assessment - given the challenge Canon left us, this strap is awesome if you want to use a back-of-the-hand strap. Very comfortable and functional, and EXACTLY what I wanted. My camera will travel around in a holster or camera bag, unless I'm prepped to shoot, in which case it'll be securely attached to my hand via this strap. I could walk for miles with this hand strap as well, knowing there's no way to drop the camera. One other point - if you trip and fall, it's MUCH easier to direct your camera hand in to the air to avoid ground contact, than to quickly grab for a camera wrapped around your neck and THEN try to keep it from hitting the ground (or hanging you by your neck if it catches on something!!!)

Excellent product!

I bought this for the Rebel Xsi (450D). It works as it's supposed to. It feels good and secure and gives me a little more peace of mind about my camera.
The only draw backs for me are that I have long fingers and this strap makes me hold the camera in a slightly different way than I would normally. I also was not able to properly use this and the neck strap at the same time but these two problems are probably applicable only to me.
But all in all I think it's a good buy.

I am using this on my Nikon D300 with no problems. Easy to attach and very comfortable once on. You can adjust it so there is a free range of movement to use both wheels (too tight of a strap and using the front wheel could become an issue.)

The strap seems plenty durable and a nice feature is the ability to slip extra line into the leather pouch portion. Nice bonus if you have small hands and don't want the extra bit of strap flapping about.

It does cover your battery, but all you have to do is unscrew it from the tripod mount to reveal the battery compartment. Easy peasy.

Great buy for the money!

[09/16/11: I use my camera so much that the inside cushion has worn through, exposing the foam. I can probably fix it, but just know...about 3 years of life out of it.]

Thanks to John Kinnison's 4-star review (below), I examined the online pictures, which show the correct front/back of the strap (the "Opteka" label should face towards the wrist). When I pulled my handstrap out of the package, mine was also backwards, at least for a right handed Nikon D60. I followed Kinnison's advice: I pulled the strap out of the comfort pad and reinstalled it. Then the strap was easy to attach to the Nikon, and I like using it. I re-attached the neck strap to the handstap's upper loop. The clever fastener allows me to use my tripod without removing the handstrap.

This is an excellent item for your Canon SLR....I'm not sorry
for buying it. Too bad Canon doesn't include an item like this
besides the neck strap. I put the neck strap in my carrying case
and use this grip all the time.

At first it took a little getting used to pressing the shutter button and using the finger controls with this grip on, but it is also adjustable and feels natural to hold an expensive SLR camera firmly in the right hand. Simply turn the wheel on the bottom of the grip base and slide it out of the way when accessing the battery compartment on the bottom of the camera. (Canon EOS XSi)

You don't know how invaluable this is until you have it! I use it always! I first thought it'd be a silly tack-on piece that I would quickly take off but figured I'd give it a try for its sub $10 price tag. OMG! This thing is spectacular! The grip allows you to feel secure that you not only have your camera in hand, but also that you have the camera in hand for that quickly needed shot! No fumbling, no hand adjusting, no expensive and heavy camera dangling on your neck, just flip on and shoot all with one hand! The connector piece on the bottom is also thick so your pinky rests comfortably on it allowing further stability control and it's padded so your camera is secured to something that won't scratch it - great when you have to take it on and off the tripod. It's on all the time and it won't come off like the UV filter - invaluable!!! I'd easily pay triple the price knowing what I know now!

Here's an update after putting this on the Opteka Battery Grip. It still works great - even tighter feel and very solid in the upright (landscape position). The tall profile, however, may feel awkward as you hold the camera in portrait position as you have a new "appendage" in your palm versus the grip. Smaller hands may have issue with this. Also, the battery grip makes a great heavy stand so the camera doesn't tip over with a lens attached. This "appendage" prevents it from sitting flat and puts "some" angled pressure on the lens when tilt-sitting (though this was already the case without the battery grip). Nothing drastic - just some things to keep in mind - still a great thing and still would recommend as most pictures will be landscape and holding the camera secure is vital - especially now that it's heavier with the extra weight!

excellent addition to your canon EOS.It has become infact indspensable. Great safety measure, too, Eliminates need for "tourist" neck strap.