Product Review: Peak Design - Slide camera strap

Photo from Peak Design website

As a gear head who can't resist new photographic tools, over the years I have wasted thousands of dollars on equipment that was "cool" or the lastest and greatest innovation. While new toys are fun they don't always end up being useful tools (for example LensBabys back when I shot weddings). Here I will share my thoughts on new gear as well as gear that I've found have become valuable tools in my kit that I reach for again and again.

Lately I've been shooting some bonus motion footage for product clients and have found it cumbersome to remove the neck strap or wrist strap from my camera. If I leave it on while using my Trexo Wheels or Slider then it sometimes catches and causes bumps or jerks in my footage so I have been looking for a better strap system that removes quickly without a bunch of tools. I have been foolishly risking my equipment by not having any straps on my cameras at all. I know it's not a wise choice so the search was on, after days of combing the internet looking for an answer, I settled on the Peak Design slide neckstrap and here is my product review:

My First Impression of the Peak Design Slide

Right off I was impressed by the well built hardware, the anodized aluminum slides and sturdy strapping seems high quality and durable, the leather on the attachment tabs give it a little touch of luxury and nice understated branding. I like that it didn't take much fiddling withit to install it on my camera and seems easy to adjust.

How I Tested It

I tried the Slide strap on both my Nikon D4 and my Nikon Z7. I attached and removed it via the little eyelet loops multiple times and it was so easy! I just leave the eyelets attached to the camera and it basically snaps on and off the neck strap. If you've ever put on a stock camera stap included with Nikon or Canon then you probably know how something that should be so simple is actually complicated. I personally had a brand new camera crash to the ground and destroy the LCD screen when I had threaded the camera strap on incorrectly. It was an expensive mistake and left me a bit apprehensive about taking a strap on and off, so much that my cameras never had them removed even though they were in the way when using on a tripod or other mount. I have spent years wrapping the strap around the camera or tripod or both in attempts to keep the strap out of the way without removing it.

Pros and Cons

Pros : The Peak Design Slide strap is lightweight, the base plate attachment is very low profile, its easily adjustable and it comes in five colors: black, ash, midnight blue, sage and coyote (which is a tan shade). I especially like that you can attach it to your camera multiple ways. I chose to attach it to the bottom base plate and the top edge opposite the hand grip which made it so I could access the thumb roller and top buttons without the strap getting in the way. It also makes it so the lens is directed down instead of out from my body. The dual adjustible slides make it very easy to quickly adjust it close to my body while hiking but also easy to loosen up to take a shot along the trail. It has a non slip surface on one side of the strap so when you are carrying your camera over your shoulder it wont slide off as easily.

Cons : It's not only very lightly padded so it may wear on my shoulder if I use it for long periods of time, which I tend to do on hikes etc. The base plate is low profile but I swapped it out for the baseplate that came with my wrist strap also from Peak Design (review coming soon), it is not as low profile but it fits on my Arca Swiss style tripod mount which is awesome, I just wish they offered it as an option instead of having to order the tripod plate separately.

And last there is the price - uh.... who spends 70 bucks on a camera strap? Well actually I did, while I would love a well built strap that didn't set me back that many of my hard earned dollars, I will be keeping this strap. I keep telling myself I get what I pay for and seriously its been over 5 years since I purchased a camera strap the didn't come with the camera, so I doubt I will regret buying something of this good quality.

Product Review Final Score - 4.8 out of 5 stars

I have been carrying a camera around for 35+ years and I've tried a lot of camera straps. I am impressed with the ease of use, durability and design so I give this a 4.8 star rating.

I will update this after I've used it a little while but I am so happy with this strap by Peak Design that I am going to order one for each of my cameras although I may try the Slide-lite version for my Z7 mirrorless since its more compact and lightweight.

If you would like to check out the Peak Design slide camera strap for yourself here is the link Disclaimer: it is an amazon affiliate link and I may receive a small commission if you buy using this link, which would be nice for me and won't cost you more.

Please leave a comment and let me know which camera strap you use and why you chose it. Thanks - Carole