mod. Camera Strap & Giveaway!

 

My friend Femi Corazon at Coralily Photography reviewed the mod. strap and here are her thoughts:

Here is my must-have list for a camera strap when I am using just one camera body:

The strap:
1) must be able to safely bear the weight of my camera (Nikon D700 + MBD10 battery grip) and heaviest lens (Nikkor 70-200 ) and an on-camera flash (the Nikon SB-900)
2) must feel sturdy and secure
3) must be comfortable to wear
4) must be able to be worn across my body

Liz gave me the Mod. Premium Strap in Houndstooth to review.  I've gotta say - it's a lovely-looking little thing. Once I got it, I checked out their website to get the scoop. Mod. is primarily about "designer style"... specifically geared towards women photographers who may want straps that are a bit more stylish than "basic black with camera brand logo".

In all fairness, since "style" is not even on my list of camera-strap requirements, Mod. had a bit of an uphill climb to convince me that it's a good strap. However... it's still a camera-strap, right? So it better do
everything a strap is supposed to do - while being stylish.

Mod. comes in a whole host of different colors and designs. Right off the bat, it beat my Nikon strap in the looks department. My sample was lined with a very plush bright red fabric which made for a striking contrast with the black and white houndstooth pattern. Setup was quick. Attaching the strap to my camera was fairly easy, since it attached exactly like the standard Nikon strap. The decorative part of the strap is 1.75" wide - a bit wider than my Nikon strap. It also has a bit of padding, and the plush fabric lining is soft to touch. Even though decorative section of the strap is slightly wider than Nikon's strap, the part that attaches to the camera itself is thinner than Nikon's. Mod Strap's strap-connections are about 3/8" wide and Nikon's are about 1/2".

Besides being thinner in width, it's also thinner than the Nikon strap in thickness. The Nikon strap-connection to camera is about 1/16" thick and the Mod. is approximately half that. What this means is that this portion of the strap doesn't feel very substantial, especially when compared to the standard-issue Nikon strap.

The Mod. Premium Strap has a "quick release" buckle on both ends that is highlighted as a feature on the Mod Strap website ... apparently, these allow you to disconnect your camera from the strap quickly. It's essentially a hard plastic buckle on both strap ends.

So now, let's get to my list. My ideal strap - in no particular order:

1) must feel sturdy and secure
Yes. The Mod. works in this regard. I am not a huge fan of the thin part of the strap that connects it directly to the camera, but it isn't flimsy either. However, I still wish they had used a wider and thicker material.
2) must be comfortable:
Yes. The Mod.’s plush lining felt extremely comfortable against my skin and the width and thickness of the padding of the strap distributes the weight of the camera on my neck pretty nicely. However, since it is still a neck strap, it's not really going to change the way my body carries the weight of the camera. So if I had to carry around my camera for longer than three hours, my neck is still going to feel sore. However, that is not a flaw in the Mod. - that's just the way all neck straps work.
3) must be able to be worn across my body.

Yes. At 48" maximum length, (which is adjustable) the Mod. Premium is long enough to fit across my body so I can wear the strap off my neck, and still lift the camera to my face with no trouble at all.

4) must be able to safely bear the weight of my camera (Nikon D700 + MBD10 battery grip) and heaviest lens (Nikkor 70-200 ) and an on-camera flash (the Nikon SB-900), since this is a fairly common

configuration for photographers who may need on-camera flash occasionally. Mod.'s website states that the straps can bear 70lbs. From my calculations, a Nikon D700+grip, with batteries and the SB-900 flash and 70-200 lens is around 8lbs. So on paper, the Mod. meets this requirement. However, here are my concerns about this critical item on my list: I guess there are people out there who would find the quick-release feature useful - but for me, a "quick-release" in the form of two plastic snap-buckles on either side of my camera is not a feature, but rather, two points of weakness. From reading the website, the non premium versions of the Mod. do not appear to have the quick-release feature, and so if you are like me, and never take your strap off your camera, there is no reason to pay extra for this feature - except perhaps to wash the strap, or change it out with a different strap design.  Also, the quick-release doesn't take the strap completely off your camera. It just separates the decorative portion of the strap from the camera, and still leaves the two quick release straps attached to the camera. So the quick-release straps sections are not completely out of your way and have the potential to dangle in front of your lens if you use the camera like this.

My Recommendation:

The Mod. is an attractive camera strap that does what their website says it is designed to do and it does it fairly well - if style and a comfortable-feeling strap around your neck are your primary criteria for a camera strap. If you are looking for a bit more functionality and durability, the Mod. also meets these needs - to a point. My favorite feature of the Mod. is the plush lining and light padding of the decorative portion of the strap. I am not a fan of the quick release and don't really see a practical need for it.

Most of all, I don't like the thin strap connections to the camera. Thinner, in this case, does not mean better.

However, I feel that Mod. does deliver what they say on their website: style and comfort against your neck with a very basic functionality.

If the designer look of the Mod. appeals to you, you like to accessorize your gear and you are a light-duty user, then Mod. is not a bad option.Consider that you may have to wash or spot-clean the strap if the fabric portion gets dirty so choose a fabric or design accordingly.

Choose a Classic Mod. if you don't need the quick-release. Spend the extra cash on a Premium if you ALSO want to be able to take the decorative part of your strap off for whatever reason and you don't use really heavy lenses.

However, if you want something other than a neck strap, especially for pros who work long days shooting events, or you want to be sure your straps are built for durability and function and you could care less about your cameras looking designer-cute as long as it getthe job done? Then I'd spend a bit more money and look for a heavy-duty strap.

PROMO CODE:  1FREECS gets you 1 cap saver for free when you buy 1 premium strap (good until July 31, 2012)

Buy It:  You can purchase the Premium Strap for $48.50.

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One Winner will Receive a $35 gift certificate to mod.

(Open to US and Canada)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The product(s) in this review was provided to me free of cost for the purpose of conducting this review. All opinions expressed in this review are my my friend's and are not influenced by monetary compensation.