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I recently bought a second hand camera, an Olympus OM-1n film camera, and decided I needed to get a strap for it. I searched online and in-store but found what was being offered was either too expensive or just didn't suit my needs.

I own a Fujifilm X-T1 and love it: at the time purchase I looked at alternatives to the supplied strap from Fujifilm, and chose the Camera Strap V2.0 from ThinkTankPhoto. It is a mix of leather and man made fabrics and is very comfortable in use, and works well, but I still had that urge to get something a little better and more in line with the quality of this fine camera, but chose not to for time being.

So, here I was back looking for a strap but for the film camera this time. I again found it difficult to find what I wanted, even in the cheaper end of the market, to suit me.

Over the years, I've had a few cameras... well, in truth, a lot of cameras as I have had a touch of G.A.S. and have owned quite a few brands of cameras including the likes of Leica, Sony Fujifilm and Canon so I've accumulated a long list of websites which cater for the needs of those who suffer from G.A.S (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) and those included many that made hand crafted products, one of which is the 595Strapco.

This is UK based company that, obviously, hand make a variety of products such as straps, wrist straps and other accessories, so a search of the web site found me eyeing up a black leather strap at a reasonable £18. Now, you can buy off the shelf straps at this price or higher but none will be made to order as this one was and due to it being made in the UK, there wasn't the shock of import taxes and high delivery cost that can make a reasonable purchase become ridiculously expensive.

The delivery time was very good if you consider this was a hand made item, ordered on the 31st March and delivered on the 6th April. It arrived in a Jiffy bag with the order receipt enclosed, nothing fancy or superfluous. The finish is very nice indeed with clean sharp edges to the leather, and a high gloss chrome finish to the rivets and eye rings. the leather too is very nice indeed and leaves nothing to complain about.

Now this is where I changed my mind as to where this strap was going to be used. I decided that it would look and feel better on my Black Fujifilm X-T1 rather than on the OM-1n.

To say it was a bit fiddly to fit would be an understatement but that's a problem with any of these split rings, especially if you have fat old arthritic fingers like mine, I might send some feedback to 595Strapco and suggest using larger rings. Once on, the strap sat just nice with the leather protecting the body from the metal parts of the strap.

I went for the Classic Leather Neck Strap at 36" in length and in Black. There are four sizes of strap with the largest being the 46" and all can be ordered in Black, Tan or Brown. It's a nice simple plain strap augmented by the chrome eye rings and stud finished in a high quality chrome.

To say I'm please with this item is an understatement as I think it is very good value for the money. Normally sold for £19.99, but if you sign up for email updates you can receive a 10% discount like I did.

All in all, this is most definitely a very good value product and with some care, will last a long time. Hand made to order, natural materials, and to some degree an individual product that shouldn't be seen everywhere you go... check them out.

Author

James Ormiston

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