Sometimes a big strap for your camera is just too much. You want simplicity. You want to talk around with your camera in your hand and just shoot. Turns out Tap & Dye makes just the leather wrist strap for you.
For dedicated photography missions I prefer not to have the bulky neck strap slowing me down. A neck strap is great if you are spending the day with your camera and you need to keep it safe when you are not holding it but for intentional photographic wandering a simple leather wrist strap works great.
My wrist strap from Tap & Dye arrived only four days after ordering, quite quick for a leather product made to order. The first impression you get is the packaging. Justin, the founder of Tap & Dye, is degreed in product design and it shows. The cotton bag and the tags are just as classy as the Leica you can put this strap on.
I am impressed with the thickness of the leather That Tap & Dye uses. They handmake their goods. Each strap is cut from our full grain hides and their brand is stamped by hand and not by a machine press. The underside of each strap is bevel edged and sanded by hand as well for smoothness against your skin. No chafing on longs days of shooting.
The keyring is made from nickel plated tempered steel with excellent memory.
The rivet holding the strap together is also massively strong. It won’t be failing for decades.
The old adage, “you get what you pay for” is most often true when it comes to leather goods. The cost of high quality materials and components drives cost and prices up quickly.
The design of both the packaging and the strap are very classic and well thought through. I can detect nothing about the simple construction that I would improve. The leather is not dyed all the way though but that does not affect the durability or functionality of the strap at all. If you want a darker color all you have to do is apply some Neatsfoot oil.
There is a nickel plated brass d-ring to adjust the tightness of the strap on your wrist. This takes a little worry off your mind that the strap is going to slip off your hand indadvertedly with the camera.
The only annoying thing that I encountered (and to be fair this is common with new thick leather products) was the break in period. After walking around for several hours I did get a bit of chafing. My solution for this was to flex it quite a bit at home and apply a lot of Neatsfoot oil to soften the leather a bit. Now it is entirely comfortable.
compatibility
It’s important to make sure your camera will be compatible with this sort of lug mount. It is worth noting that the Nikon and Canon bar mount DO NOT work with this kind of wrist strap.
– Each strap is compatible will ALL Round-Strap LUG mounts: Film SLRs, DSLRs,
Rangefinders, Micro 4/3, Compact Mirrorless.
– Canon FILM SLR: Canon AE-1, AV-1, EF, AT-1, Canonet models
– Nikon FILM SLR: FE, FE2, FM, FM2, F100, F3, F2, FM2N, F6
– Nikon DSLR: D300, D700, D200, D3, D3S, D3X, D4, D800/E, D7000, D600
– Nikon 1 Compact: V1, V2, COOLPIX P7700
– Olympus Micro 4/3: EP1, EP2, EP3, EPL-5, OMD-EM 5, E-PM 1, E-PM 2
– Leica: ALL M rangefinders: M2, M3, M4, M5, M6, M7, M8, M9, MP
– SONY NEX: NEX6, NEX5R, NEX 7
– Fuji X-E1, X100, X100s, X-Pro 1, X10, X20
– Panasonic LUMIX: DMC-GH2, GH3
– Voigtlander Bessa M Rangefinders: RM2, RM3, RM4
BestLeather conclusion
This is a premium wrist strap. No, it is not cheap and yes you can probably replicate the design. If you want a durable and functional wrist strap made from high quality leather, this is a good one.