Gear Bits
I’m currently neck deep in writing a review for Canon’s 5D mark III–yes I know, I’m a bit late to the party, especially since I’ve had one for more than 2 years now–but in the meantime there were a couple of nifty bits of gear I wanted to talk about and get the word out on.
The first up is Peak Design’s Anchor Links. Camera straps are a pretty big frustration for me. I vacillate between needing a strap and not wanting one, and I do this often enough that quick release systems are the name of my game. The problem with most quick release straps is that the tend to leave big bulky ends on fairly long tails attached to the camera.
For the past 2 years or so, I’ve been using Optech’s Mini QD Loops, which I reviewed. It’s nice, it’s small, the only problem I have with it is that it feels incredibly flimsy, even though it has a 50-pound break strength (and I’ve tested mine to close to that).
Last fall I was involved with a discussion on line that led me to Peak Design’s camera straps, but more importantly their QR strap system. It was everything I wanted in a strap QR system. It’s small; but more importantly, the reinforced cables are rated for at least 200 pounds.
I had contacted them at the time to see if they were offering just the quick release bits instead of having to buy their whole strap. Sadly last year they weren’t. Now, that’s changing. Currently they are offering the strap anchors through a Kickstarter campaign (ends August 15th), then they’ll be going on sale through their website in general.
I’ve preordered 2 sets, which according to Peak Design’s Kickstarter page, I should get sometime in late October. I really hope these are all that I imagine them to be, as they really do look like the solution to my camera strap frustrations.
The second item I want to note is 3D Printed Idea’s updated bayonet adapter for Lee filter holders. I reviewed the first version they did, which I generally approved of, but it turns out after I had published my results, they discovered some issues with the all 3D printed construction, and subsequently pulled them from production.
In the meantime, they designed an all-new adapter, this time for Lee’s holder design, which I consider to be much better than Cokin’s anyway. The new design utilizes an aluminum outer bit with a 3D printed mount adapter.
I’ll be writing up a more detailed review and test of the 3DP Idea’s adapter in near future, but suffice to say I’m even more impressed with this design than I was with the previous one. So much so, in fact, that I’m shelving the 3D printed holder slots I was working on since this adapter provides the same capabilities (3 slots on a 16mm full frame lens, without vignetting or having to remove a protective/UV or thin polarizer filter) for about the same cost in a significantly more robust way.