It must be true. Read it on the Internet. And I quote: “The quickest way to tell an amateur with a fancy DSLR from a pro before they even begin shooting is to watch where they hang their strap (…) Amateurs put it over their necks, like the woman in the photo:
Must be the reason why my photography sucks big time. Am just a fucking strap-caused amateur. Always carrying it around the neck.
Science reporter Rafi Letzter of Business Insider tells us with the certainty of the Ten Commandments, Way too many people make the same dangerous mistake with fancy cameras:
Pros hang their straps from their shoulders for some very good reasons.
Those reasons being:
- Back pain. Big gear can cause real damage to the neck and spine.
- A camera swinging from your neck takes a two-handed motion to grab, stabilize and bring up to your face. But if you let it rest against your hip you can catch it mid-swing, lift, aim and shoot in a single fluid motion like an old-school movie cowboy.
- Shoulder-strapping lets you dual-wield cameras with different capabilities. I’ve never met a pro who does it any other way.
Well our science reporter truly is a roving reporter. He’s in constant motion when shooting:
I might chase a shot down to the floor and up to my feet and then climb a chair — all in the span of 30 seconds. And then I’ll likely repeat those motions without a break for the next eight hours. If I tried to do that with a $2,000 pendulum flailing wildly from one of the weakest points on my spine I’d have to file for disability after my first day of shooting.
Fair enough. I take it way easier when on a job.
Guess my camera is just too small. Like my hands. They’re big enough, the wife comforts me.
I lose every shoulder-carried bag. It’s the anatomy. Just slips down the shoulder. NOT WITH MY CAMERA.
Guess I need bigger gear. For the strap. To look pro.
Next time you’re out shooting, just watch that strap and you’re easily mistaken for a pro.
Don’t tell me you’ve always been a shoulder-strap shooter.