Quick Tip: How to build A Safety Tether for a Camera Sling Strap

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One piece of advice that I’ve gotten from professional photographers both in person and reading their advice online is to ditch the OEM camera strap and that style of strap. The OEM strap is not uncomfortable to wear for long periods of time and its a walking advertisement for the brand of camera you have. Plus, it could make it easier for thieves to target you if they know the brand of camera  you carry. Professionals prefer and recommend a cross body camera sling strap or some sort of harness system. But many of these system attach the camera strap to the tripod mount and not the built camera mount points. For safety reasons, its recommended that camera sling strap users use a safety tether as added protection from strap failure. These straps are expensive and limited in color length and mount system. Today, I want to share a quick and easy how to build your own safety tether camera sling strap.

Why do I Need to Safety Tether for My Camera?

Cameras are expensive, but one drop could turn it into a paperweight. If you are using an OEM Style camera strap you don’t need a safety harness but the way camera harnesses and camera sling straps work, they have some sort of attachment that hooks into the tripod mount. These mounts if designed properly and use the right materials they work great. But eventually as the added mobility twists and moves on the mount the screw loosens enough the camera falls off the mount. With cheaper no name brand straps, the metal may break and the camera falls. This is where a safety comes in.

The safety tether mounts to one of the OEM camera strap hard points with about a foot of strapping or cord connected to a carabiner. The carabiner is normally attached to the camera strap and slides along the strap or the carabiner could be attached to camera bag strap or a hard loop on a shirt. As long as these attachment points are strong and secure, the camera will only fall about a foot.

After some research I found that many camera sling straps fail due to operator error (the users won’t admit it, they blame it on the gear). They don’t have the strap properly fitted or they didn’t have the straps properly setup so they don’t slip out of there holdings. Once these issues are resolved then you shouldn’t have any issues.  However, I still recommend a safety tether. Even the Black Rapid Camera Sling Straps and Harness Setup can have failures at the mount. Companies like Black Rapid use only the best metal for their attachments, but for the lower budget straps, they may use cheaper products. The single mount point creates a lot of stress on the mount.

How to build A Safety Tether for a Camera Sling Strap

During my research for a Safety Tether I realized all they are is a carabiner attached to a cord and I could make several for the about the price of purchasing one.

All you need is…

• Paracord – Should be just thick enough to get  two strands through the camera strap mount.
• Oval Link Screw Link or Screw Gate Carabiner – Small, just wide enough to get your strap through it.
• Scissors or knife
• Lighter to melt paracord end

First step is to measure the width of the camera strap then select a Oval link (I prefer these because they are cheaper, I would use a screw gate for something more heavy duty) that is just bigger than the strap. It needs to easily slip up down the strap but not so big it easily twists on the strap.

Second step is to take your paracord (7 strand worked for me) and cut about a 1 foot section off. You can make it as long as you need it. Remember, if its to long it will hit the ground and if its to short, the harness will tangle with strap.

The 3rd step is to take the paracord and fold it over so it cuts it in half. Take the folded end and loop around oval link. Pull it tight so it makes a knot.

For the 4th step, you need to take the two loose ends to  a match or a lighter and melt the frayed ends of the paracord.  After it cools, take the melted ends and slide it through the camera strap camera mount. Pull enough through that you can tie a knot in the end.

The fifth and final step is optional. If you need to easily remove the safety strap, then leave it tied off. Just check once or twice an hour to make sure it doesn’t come loose. While you are at it, check the harness mount and make sure its tight as well. However, if you need a more reliable solution, you can melt the knot with a lighter or if you have a heat gun you use heat shrink hose to seal the knot shut.

Final Thoughts

I’ve used this safety tether for 3 shoots and haven’t had an issue. When doing a drop test (over the bed) it held securely. For me, this works, you may see different results. I am not responsible if you try my safety tips and it doesn’t work. If you aren’t comfortable making your own I recommend Black Rapid Safety Tether, but they aren’t available at the moment. Below are a few from a few other companies that have similar designs to mine.