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Joby Pro Sling Camera Strap Review

By Stewart Kenny

Joby Sling Professional Strap XXL Package

Joby Sling Professional Strap XXL Package

A few months ago, I wrote some travel photography tips. In this blog one of the pieces of advice I offered up was to think about buying a new camera strap. This is also something I teach in my Travel Photography course in Ireland, with Dublin Photography School.

When we think about camera accessories, I’ll admit that camera straps are not the first gadget that spring to mind, but there a couple of reasons I’m such a big advocate of aftermarket straps.

  1. Comfort: depending on the camera and lens you are carrying around, there could be some serious weight hanging around your neck, now if you have big shoulders like mine, then the out of the box camera straps just don’t fit securely over the shoulder. Also because after market straps like, Joby, Slingshot, Crumpler are much wider they do not cut into you.
  1. Security: because these straps are much longer, they allow you to wear your camera across your body, which make them much harder to snatch off you in an unguarded moment. Also they allow you to wear the camera under a jacket or open top, making it harder to spot.
  1. Walking Advert: because they are generic colours, they do not advertise the model camera you are carrying, which will hopefully deter steal to order thieves that operate in some cities.
  1. Look less like a tourist: a small one, but important to me, a lot of my travel photography is about fitting in and not drawing attention to myself, now if i could only get rid of my socks and sandals, bum bag, I would be setJ

So after losing my last crumpler strap a few months ago, I had no choice to pick up a new strap. I just happened to be in the Camera Centre in the Square Shopping Centre in Tallaght, when I seen one for €79.99, now I know that I could get it online for cheaper on sites like Amazon and Ebay, but I’m a big believer in shopping local and keeping the high street open so it not bother me that I spent a few quid over the odds. Also the staffs there are really good at their jobs and are always nice to me.

The camera strap I bought was a Joby Pro Sling XXL

Things I liked about this strap:

Length: the strap length is designed for someone who is carrying a bit of relaxed muscle like myself so it’s quite comfortable.

Weight Distribution: the strap spreads the weight over the entire chest back and rests on the side of hip, making it quite comfortable to wear.

Strap Width: the width of strap is 50-60mm meaning that the weight of the camera does not cut into you. ( Big one for me.)

Joby Sling Professional Strap XXLWidth

Joby Sling Professional Strap XXLWidth

Anti Slip Covering: This stops the camera moving around too much, but if you’re wearing loose clothing can drag your clothes around a bit as the strap grips the loose fabric.

Swivel lock: the strap comes with a rotating base that allows the camera to move freely. This is easily screwed into any standard tripod socket.

joby pro sling sJoby Sling Professional Strap XXL Swivel Lock

joby pro sling sJoby Sling Professional Strap XXL Swivel Lock

Carbiner Clip: this attaches to the camera strap socket and the other part clips onto the clinch in the strap meaning if for some reason the swivel lock comes undone you will have a back up to stop the camera falling.

Joby Sling Professional Strap XXL Carbiner Clip

Joby Sling Professional Strap XXL Carbiner Clip

Cable tidies: these are a god send for tying of excess strap length you don’t want.

Joby Sling Professional Strap XXL Excess Clips

Joby Sling Professional Strap XXL Excess Clips

Things I did not like about this strap:

Cushion: there is no real padding in the strap meaning that it is not as comfortable as say a crumpler strap.

Anti slip Coating edge: in places the strap has a sharp edge from the plastic slip coating, not a bother except were the strap makes contact with the neck line, can be irritating.

Price: even online the price is a little steep for what essentially a glorified length of fabric.

Overall Score 90/100

Thanks for reading, have a look at some of my other photography tips or think about taking a beginner’s photography course in Dublin with us here.

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