OP/TECH USA Bino/Cam Harness - Webbing, Black

My motivation when shopping for this strap/harness was to find the easiest and most secure way to have access to my camera on an upcoming cycling vacation. I wanted quick access to the camera for photos "on the fly" at times without having to stop and retrieve the camera from a backpack or bike mounted bag. The Op/Tech Bino/Cam Harness fit the bill perfectly! I have not used a lot of Op/Tech products in the past, but I am now a firm believer in their quality and concept. This harness uses their proprietary snap buckle system that allows you to move a camera (or binoculars) from one strap set up to the other with minimal effort. Placing the buckles onto my Canon SX40HS (an absolutely rocking superzoom point and shoot) . Canon SX40 HS 12.1MP Digital Camera with 35x Wide Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.7-Inch Vari-Angle Wide LCD  was a little difficult as the buckle straps were almost too thick for the camera's strap mounts. I've read elsewhere one solution that I will use in the future...tie a length of string to the Op/Tech loop, thread the string through the camera's strap slot and pull the loop through.The most signifant advantage of this harness over a traditional (or padded) neck strap or "sling" style strap is the camera has minimal side to side or back and forth movement. Initial adjustment of the harness is a little cumbersome and the main straps are somewhat stiff, but I believe this contributes to the likely longevity of harness. You initially put it on much as you would a backpack, then snap the camera into place. You can adjust the straps of the harness to fit snug or loose, depending on how close you want to keep the camera to your body. I kept my fairly snug to minimize camera movement while riding my bike. I was still able to slide the camera up into position quickly while standing (straddling) my bike on a quick stop or even lifting it in front of my to shoot while riding (officially not a great idea from a safety standpoint), which allowed for some great video footage. Keep in mind that in order to remove the harness say to take off a laying of clothing requires you to unsnap the camera first, otherwise it's a part of you! I wore this setup for 6 consecutive days of riding totalling over 200 miles with minimal/no discomfort and tons of fantastic shots I would not have otherwise stopped to get.PROS: inexpensive, lightweight, stable/secure, easy to use once you get it adjustedCONS: straps are somewhat stiff, a bit of a learning curve to adjust strapsOverall, I would highly recommend this product for someone who is cycling, walking, hiking, climbing and wants ready access to their camera/binoculars without it flopping all over the place

I bought this to be a simple to use harness for my binoculars. Easy to put, easy to attach to my binoculars. The design allows my binoculars to hang at the ready and easily be brought up to eye level when needed. Fits over jackets with ease.

The harness works well as designed, but I am not using it now. There are four problems with using it with my binoculars or camera. First, the harness arrangement does not naturally offer a good place to attach the binocular eyepiece cover, because the straps are pulled out to the side, rather than straight back, parallel to the line of sight and passing near the eyepieces, as they are with a regular neck strap. Since I want to tether the eyepiece cover so I don't lose it, I would have to tie it onto the binoculars or harness with a separate strap or cord somehow. That is doable but I haven't pursued it. Second, the attachment points on my binoculars are not big enough to accommodate both the fabric loop for the clip for this harness and the fabric loop for the standard binocular strap, to which I currently have the eyepiece cover attached. I can have either the harness clips or the standard strap attached, but not both. Switching between them is a production of threading small webbing strips through the binocular attachment points -- not something you want to do regularly. So you have to commit to leaving the clips on and using this system, probably also buying their plain neck strap that will connect to the clips. Even if you do, you would still have to jury-rig a way to keep the eyepiece cover attached to the binocular or clip (not the neck strap, because you would take that off to clip the binoculars to the harness). Third, the clips that stay on the binoculars are a bit bulky. This is only a minor annoyance with my binoculars, but I tried using the harness with my camera, and then found that I could not close the camera case on the camera when it had the big plastic clips attached to it. Finally, if you use the harness with a camera, the camera will be out and exposed to dirt, water, impact, and acquisitive eyes. (Most binoculars are inherently more tolerant of the elements.) This is a necessary aspect of having the camera ready for near-instant use, but is also a drawback if you are hiking in the woods or the desert, for example. I may yet use this harness if I get around to replacing the hardware with smaller metal clips and webbing loops in some way, but I have not worked out the details yet. Instead, I am currently using a wide webbing belt with both my camera and my binoculars in compact cases attached to the belt, each with a regular neck strap attached. This is not as convenient as the harness (and probably will call for adding suspenders eventually!), but it offers better protection for the two devices, and both are still fairly accessible and can stay out on their neck straps when in active use. This all boils down to the specifics of your uses and your personal preferences. The harness is well made and works as intended, but it just does not quite meet my particular needs and preferences. Fortunately, it is inexpensive enough that if you try it and are not won over, you have not lost much. If you like it, then you have a simple, solid solution.

Exactly what I needed to keep bins accessible but out of the way.

When you have a harness you want one that is elastic, not fixed like this one is. Otherwise, it was a good purchase for the money.

Just used one It is serving the purpose

Muy buen articulo mas aun si mantienes por largo tiempo el equipo como está dispuesto, poco practico en comparacion con correas habituales si la mueves de tus hombros con frecuencia, yo la compre para mi pequeño preescolar que le encanta cargar y tomar fotos manteniendolo fijo a su torax en mejor forma, no te preocupas de posible daño a la camara por caida, muy buenos materiales

My 1st impression... work well to hold my Binos & Camera. Keeps what I need tight to my chest, with enough room to life to my eyes. Light weight and comfort while wearing a pack.Needed a light weight system to hold my Binos ready for use while scouting and hunting. I was on a budget and was a little worried about the quality of this product but upon 1st impression im quite happy. It looks more then durable to wearing my Binos and I'm more than confident it will hold up well to the task at hand. Really can't beat the price point either

Vorweg: Ich bin nach wie vor begeistert! Ein recht günstiger Preis im vergleich zu namhaften Marken. Die Verbinderschnallen halten sehr gut auch schwere Gläser oder Kameras. Das baumeln in der Bewegung ist weg. Das Glas liegt ordentlich am Körper an. Auch beim beobachten hilft der ganze Gurt mit. Man kann das Fernglas deutlich ruhiger halten. Eine klare Empfehlung von mir!

REASON FOR PURCHASE: I wanted to try a binocular harness as an alternative to the neck strap that came with the binos. I only have a small pair of binos (Nikon 8x25) so for me it’s not about getting the weight off my neck so much as finding a less irritating way of carrying them hands-free rather than having them swinging round my neck. At present they tend to travel in their pouch attached to a belt. As a result they tend to stay in their pouch and not get much use! I ordered the OP/TECH 5301412 Bino-Cam Harness in the webbing along with both styles A and B of the USCAMEL Harness Strap to see which I preferred.STYLE:I found the USCAMEL style A the most comfortable of the three harnesses, hence why I only gave the Op/Tech 4 stars for ‘comfort’. The weight felt better distributed on my back with the USCAMEL style A and the straps didn’t get twisted. The fabric piece did ride up a little over the course of my test walk but it was much easier to pull back into position than the Op/Tech or USCAMEL style B because it had more structure to it.WEBBING STRAPS OR ELASTIC STRAPS:• I much preferred the webbing straps of the Op/Tech over the elasticated straps of both of the USCAMEL styles.• I felt equally comfortable and confident in carrying my heavier Nikon P900 camera with the Op/Tech as I did my little binos and my camera didn’t end up sitting round my stomach.• In comparison with the USCAMEL style B, the Op/Tech’s webbing straps didn’t seem to get as twisted when putting the harness on and it was far far easier to adjust.• Before I ordered I read that some people had gone for elasticated straps over webbing straps as the elastic has the potential to hold the binos tighter against the chest. I can see this point of view. However, I personally don’t want to feel any resistance when bringing the binos up to my eyes so was very happy to trade in the potential benefit of the stretchy straps for the much greater feeling of security when carrying heavier equipment.• The Op/Tech webbing straps felt shorter than the elastic USCAMEL style B straps and I needed them set at their longest setting to be able to bring the binos up to my eyes without feeling any resistance. The USCAMEL style B straps were actually only marginally longer than the Op/Tech but the ‘give’ in the elastic gave the impression that there was more of a difference than there was. I’ll be ordering some additional Op/Tech uni loop connectors (the x-long size) to give me a little more freedom to hold the camera further from my body.CONNECTORS:• The USCAMEL styles A and B have the same clips. These are pretty chunky and wouldn’t clip directly on to my binos or camera. Both styles come with some loop connectors, similar to the end of my bino/camera neck strap, to which the clips then attach. I couldn’t test these as at 9 mm wide, the connectors were too wide to go through the eyes on either my binos or my camera, which have 5 mm and 7 mm width straps respectively. I decided that this was not enough of an issue to put me off style A so I purchased some 15 mm diameter split rings. The rings go through the binos and then the harness just clips on to the rings. This is actually much easier than taking the connectors off and on.• In comparison, the Op/Tech harness has a quick release mechanism and I preferred this to the clips (and rings) of the USCAMELs. The webbing of the Op/Tech clips needed a bit of encouragement to go through the eyes on my binos and camera but they did go, unlike those provided with the USCAMELs.• The Op/Tech clips supplied with the harness were the ‘short’ versions and I found it hard to get the clips back through the loops once they were threaded through the eyes in my binos/camera. I managed it but was left with sore fingers and thumbs so only gave it 3 stars for ‘easy to use’. I certainly wouldn’t want to be taking the connectors off and on very regularly so will leave the connectors on. Time will tell whether the lose clips dangling at the side of my camera will irritate me when it’s on my monopod rather than connected to the harness. I’m hoping that the x-long connectors will be long enough to clip together (as shown in the advertising photo) to minimise the amount of flapping.OVERALL CONCLUSION:• I’m keeping the Op/Tech harness in the webbing. I much prefer the non stretchy webbing over the elastic to carry anything heavier than my little binos and the superior feeling of security was what earned the Op/Tech a 5 star overall rating. I’ll be ordering some additional Op/Tech uni loop connectors (the x-long size) to make it easier to thread them through my equipment and to give me a little more freedom to hold the camera further from my body.• I’m also keeping the USCAMEL style A which will do the job nicely for my little binos (with the help of a couple of split rings). Both harnesses are priced such that I can keep both, and order the additional connectors, for less than the price of one of the more expensive brands.• I'm returning the USCAMEL style B. It’s not easy to adjust, the connectors provided don’t fit my equipment (without the use of additional rings) and I wouldn't use it to carry my camera. I think the elastic will quickly stretch when used with anything heavier than my little binos. I would definitely recommend the Op/Tech webbing over the USCAMEL style B.