Whether you ride your bicycle for commuting, touring, or adventuring along rugged trails, photographic opportunities always come up. And you don’t take advantage of many of them because you’ve got the camera in the bag and it’s a hassle having to take it out for a single photograph. While there’s no shortage of straps for carrying your camera on your body so you can be ready to shoot on the fly, we have a feeling cyclists are going to appreciate the Mettle Speed Strap much better.
Like other straps, it lets you hang the camera on your body, ensuring there’s no need to dig through the bag when a photographic opportunity comes up. Unlike them, it’s optimized for use while you’re on a bike, enabling you to draw the camera quickly to take a quick snap even while you’re moving.
The Mettle Speed Strap mounts over the shoulder to securely carry your camera, with a length that hangs it over your back just above the tailbone. It’s made from a 50-50 braid of high-tenacity polyester and Vectran, ensuring it delivers the strength, abrasion resistance, and comfort you’ll need while on the road. To use the camera, simply slide the magnetic clip to disengage it and bring the camera out front with one hand, then simply slide the clip back to stow the camera in place once you’re done. Easy.
While you can, technically, use it for large DSLRs, they recommend sticking to mid-size gear, like mirrorless shooters and bridge cameras. That’s because while the strap uses a magnetic clip to keep the camera in place during a ride, it can’t quite prevent it from swinging in place when you’re making large motions on your bike. It’s a minor annoyance with mid-sized cameras, but can be really annoying for larger rigs. Oh yeah, if you want to prevent the swinging, they recommend filling up the left and right pockets on your cycling jersey (the camera goes in the center).
Available now, the Mettle Speed Strap is priced at $78.