The Spider Camera Holster

After using the BlackRapid R-Strap (http://www.blackrapid.com/) for a few months, I decided to try something different. The BlackRapid R-Strap allows you to hang your camera to the side of your body diagonal strap technique. With that, you would be able to quickly bring up your camera for shooting in a quick fashion. However, due to the strap, your motion is really very limited and position on using your camera is limited as well. I often find myself taking off the strap or unclipping from the strap when I need to take certain shots. Now that I usually have two camera with me, having the dual strap from Black Rapid will make it harder to have a free flow situation.

This led me to try the new Spider Camera Holster (http://www.spiderholster.com/). One thing you've will notice ever before trying this is the price. At the current $109.00 complete set price, it is far more expensive than any type of strap, holder, or holster I've seen or used to date. The complete set comes with a heavy solid metal clip, a light strong aluminum plate, a pretty strong black belt and a pin with a ball head. If you are going to buy the Spider Camera Holster, the complete set make the most sense. Individually they will cost a lot more, especially when the clip on it's own is already $85.00. The belt is optional and is recommended if you use a large heavy lens on your camera. Otherwise you can just use the Spider clip on any typical pants belt. The popular configuration is to use all of these, however you can just use the plate + clip + pin and have your normal belt insert inside it. If you are just using a small simple camera like Nikon D90 with a small lens, you might not even need the plate. A pin to the bottom of the camera base and the clip will work fine as well.

No matter what is used, I suppose the #1 question all photographers will ask is how sturdy is it on the belt and how strong is the plate? The Spider Clip is one amazing piece of metal. It is very rock solid. The plate distribute the weight properly across the camera and when it is clip on the Spider Clip, balanced well. Don't expect to be running the 10k Marathon with this because it will rock back and forth, but for normal walk around photography shooting, this is prefect. I say if you trust the blackrapid tiny screw to hold the weight of your camera, than this is a shoe in. The Spider Clip has an auto lock feature and will lock in the camera as you drop it into the clip. However, the auto-lock can be disable and forgotten, this might result in an accidental pull out of the camera. As for the belt, it comes with what they call the "3-way" lock system. So in order to unlock the belt, you need to press 3 different buttons (see image below). Some typical strap only has the two spring like on the side, but this one took it one step further by adding a third in the middle.

I won't go into detail on the Spider Camera Holster hooked up to my body, I think they have plenty of video on their website for that (http://www.spiderholster.com/). I did include one picture of it hooked up to my side. I did try it on Nikon D300s + Battery Grip + 17-55mm f2.8 lens. In comparison between Spider and BlackRapid, I find the Spider more comfortable. This is because the swing motion is limited by the length of the screw on the clip. As the result, it stick to my side. Where as the BlackRapid R-Strap, it moves more freely as I walk around.

One big setback about this device, similar to the BlackRapid and any type of device that add something to the base of your camera. Your camera ends up not sitting on the table very well.

Overall, I do recommend this for anyone who is interested in a strap alternative. It is a bit pricey, but some will find it well worth it. I will absolutely use it in addition to the BlackRapid System, not as a replacement, but as a compromise add on. With using two camera, having Spider Camera Holster on one side and using BlackRapid on the other side works well. If you plan to stroll at the zoo with your family and decide to grap your Nikon D300 with a family size lens 18-200mm VRII, don't forget to grab the Spider Camera Holster. It is prefect for those type of occasions and camera setup.

Check out Karl Grobl write up about it. He is a photojournalist using it (http://karlgrobl.blogspot.com/2010/03/spider-holster-my-impressions-after-2.html)

You Tube Video Of Product and Demonstration