The default camera strap that comes with most DSLRs is generally functional, but can quickly become a tangled nuisance at best and a literal pain in the neck at worst.

 

That is where third party camera straps, such as Black Rapid’s RS-Sport sling camera strap, comes to the fore and can make a world of difference.

 

However, increased comfort is not the only aim of the Black Rapid offering – ensuring that photographers can lift their camera from their hip to their eye as quickly as possible is another important feature of its design.

 

 

The RS-Sport owes its comfort to a wide, padded section which rests on the user’s left shoulder and crosses over their body, leaving the camera hanging at their right hip. The strap itself is secured to the camera using a small carabiner, that hooks into a solid steel attachment which firmly screws into the camera’s tripod mount.

 

The strap’s design enables photographers to simply curl their hand around the camera grip and lift the camera to start shooting. In use, we found this meant we were able to more quickly respond to photographic opportunities unfolding before us.  

 

 

 

 

What we particularly appreciated about this design is that the RS-Sport strap doesn’t get in one’s way, hang in front of the lens or become entangled at the most inopportune moments; a pet peeve that previously hampered our photography when using the default strap.

 

Additionally, the camera can be secured in place on the strap, using two cleverly integrated ‘bumpers’ which prevent the camera from swinging too far behind one and thus inadvertently smashing into an unnoticed wall or tree.

 

Unique to the RS-Sport is also an underarm strap that is secured under one’s left armpit, providing additional support to the strap as a whole.

 

While the strap padding itself is fairly wide, we found this to be noticeably comfortable, especially when on moderate hikes. In both very hot weather as well as in a much cooler climate, the strap never once resulted in chafing or irritation on our shoulder. For those who would prefer a slimmer strip of cushioning, there is a RS-Sport Slim option as well (not tested here).

 

 

We favoured adjusting the strap such that the camera practically hugged our hip, particularly when we had a longer telephoto lens attached. Thankfully, doing these minor length adjustments to take into account using longer or shorter lenses proved to be quick and easy.

 

The only apparent fault we could find with the strap setup is that it essentially occupies the tripod mount at all times. If you are a tripod or monopod shooter, you either have to unscrew the carabiner mount, or use the tripod mount on your lens collar, if it has one. There is however, an extra accessory for use with Manfrotto tripod baseplates, that obviates this altogether and makes using the strap much more tripod friendly.