Can hiking with a lens twice as heavy as the body cause damage?

[GrumpyMonk]

I have an EOS 40D and just purchased the 70-200mm f/2.8 IS -- my first white lens! I tend to do a lot of hiking. Will carrying that combo using the factory neck strap be harmful to any mounts? Thanks!

[RobertTheFat]

It will be harmful to the mount that connects your head to your shoulders. I'm a strong believer in using a neck strap; but if I were going to be doing a lot of walking with a 70-200, I'd either leave it in my pack until I needed it or try to rig some sort of holster arrangement to keep the camera from being jostled around and keep the weight off my neck. Otherwise, I'd expect to be mighty sore at the end of the day.

[GrumpyMonk]

Thanks for the response, Bob! It's very true, I often suffer from sore neck syndrome with just the 70-300 that I've used until now. I have been thinking about a hip holster system. If I go with something like that, my concerns are whether the movement of walking around (maybe sometimes vigorously) with the camera hanging upside-down at my hip by its tripod mount mount would cause any damage or undue stress to the lens/camera mount. Do you have any experience with this type of configuration? Would it be better to attach the holster plate to the lens' tripod collar instead? Thanks!

[RobertTheFat · Accepted solution]

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@GrumpyMonk wrote:
Thanks for the response, Bob! It's very true, I often suffer from sore neck syndrome with just the 70-300 that I've used until now. I have been thinking about a hip holster system. If I go with something like that, my concerns are whether the movement of walking around (maybe sometimes vigorously) with the camera hanging upside-down at my hip by its tripod mount mount would cause any damage or undue stress to the lens/camera mount. Do you have any experience with this type of configuration? Would it be better to attach the holster plate to the lens' tripod collar instead? Thanks!

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I don't have any such experience. but one reason I've never tried the Black Rapid system is because of reluctance to have a heavy camera dangling from the tripod mount. (There have even been cases where the BR attachment point gave way, but I'm pretty sure BR has fixed that.) In the absence of a purpose-designed solution, your idea of attaching the lens to the holster mount may be a good one. My 70-200 certainly seems to be a lot heavier than any of the camera bodies I've used it on. And the tripod collar would be closer to the center of gravity of the camera/lens system than the camera's tripod mount would.

[ScottyP]

Check out the Cinch shoulder strap. It attaches at TWO points. You pick which two you like between the tripod mount, the lens, or 1 or both neck strap eyelets. The manufacturer is Luma Labs. They make 2 different shoulder straps, but the one I like is the Cinch.

Being attached at two points not only helps reduce strain on a single point, but also makes the camera lay flat against your body, rather than "twirling" on one attachment point.

The "cinch" part is really really great too. Cinch it short for other secure walking. Un-cinch it to make it longer for shooting.

I like almost any shoulder strap over any neck strap. With a neck strap the camera does not travel comfortably, and always seems to want to crack your sternum banging around.

Here's the link: http://www.luma-labs.com/pages/cinch

Good luck1

[GrumpyMonk]

Hi Scott, thanks for the information. It looks like a very versatile system. The problem I have with cross-body straps, however, is that the convenience decreases when I'm also wearing a pack. I'm exploring the Spider Pro holster system; I'll post back what I end up going with. Thanks again everyone!

[TCampbell]

I DO use a Black Rapid strap.

When the lens weighs more than the camera body... you attach the strap to the lens and not to the body. I attach my strap to the tripod-mount bolt hole on the lens... not the bolt hole on the body.

The lens can easily carry the weight of the camera body (ANY camera body.)