Camdapter

Usually when I take my SLR somewhere, I plan on shooting a large number of shots with short intervals between shots. For convenience and security reasons, I usually hang my 40D around my neck using the included strap. However, this presents a few problems. First, this solution does not lend itself to quick shooting. There is time lost to bring it up from your waist to your eyes. I also wear belts with metal buckles which usually means when I “drop” the camera, it hits against something hard and that can’t be good for the LCD screen.

I was turned to Jim Garavuso’s invention, the Camdapter by some very convincing photography forum posts. A mechanical design engineer with 18 years of experience, Jim created the Camdapter to solve a personal problem but quickly learned that fellow photographers need a solution as well. The Camdapter is made from hard anodized aluminum and your choice of top grain leathers. It cleverly uses one of your neck strap mounts as well as creating a secondary mount on the bottom using an adapter plate attached to the tripod mount on your camera. The strap is fully adjustable and allows you to securely hold the camera with one hand. I run my Camdapter a bit loose so I am still able to access the thumb controls fully. Once you put one on, you’ll quickly learn the subtle movements of your hand that loosen or tighten the strap. As a bonus, if you still wanted to wear your neck strap, you could still attach it, giving you both options. There are multiple adapters which assure the setup is still tripod mountable regardless of whichever setup you may be running. The cost of the set is completely reasonable, in my opinion, and is a small fraction of the cost of the host and glass setup many of us are running.