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Hello All! As a fan and reader of Mirrorless rumors since its inception, I’m excited to be writing my first guest post here. Some of you may be familiar with me, having done some reviews and tutorials over on my blog, but for those I’ve yet to connect with, my name is Tyson and I love photography. This love of photography and photographic gear has seen my day job merge with my moonlighting job as a photographer and blogger with the building of my new wrist straps.
I’ve been building, and shooting with my own wrist straps for about a year now and have fine tuned the process. I use high performance, yachting rope and nautical rope splicing techniques to build what I think might be the strongest wrist straps out there. While I’m going to stop short of saying they’re indestructible (they’re not) I can say that they are capable of supporting well over 200 lbs, and if you venture over to my blog you can see self depricating and hopefully entertainingly comical video proof.
I’ve got these priced at $30usd delivered within the US, $36 to Canada and Mexico. They’re also available for £25 in the UK or €30 in the EU through my friend Tommaso in Italy.
For more info and ordering, you can visit my T&T Wrist Strap page HERE over on the blog.
Thanks for reading and happy shooting!
Cheers,
Tyson
8 Responses
I appreciate the effort but €30 for what is basically a spliced length of rope adorned with some electrical tape is a bit too rich for my blood.
Hi c0ldc0ne, thanks for the comment and I appreciate your point of view. Allow me to address your assessment.
Firstly, this isn’t standard, run of the mill rope that you could go into a hardware store or outdoor store and buy. Dyneema is cutting edge fiber being used in many high performance and high strength applications as it is about the best strength to weight fiber on the market. This rope literally has a stronger break rating than steel by weight and diameter with remarkable abrasion properties and uv resistance. Like I mentioned, I doubt there is another wrist strap out there that can come close to being as strong as this one, so thank you for the opportunity to reiterate that point. Do we realistically NEED this strength? Perhaps not, but for me, it can offer a good reassurance when I have thousands of dollars hanging off of my wrist.
Secondly, these are very labor intensive, and while the value to one may not need nor appreciate a hand built piece of this nature, they are made by my own hands so that I feel comfortable sending each and every piece I build out. The combination of very high end materials and a labor intensive piece, coupled with my research on anything else on the market, and including shipping charges, delivered door to door, I found this to be A) what I needed to charge to cover material and labor, shipping, etc, and B) a price that I saw as a value considering what else is out there, and what these straps are capable of offering on their own.
I totally understand that $30 may be expensive for many, and I understand those who’d not want to buy one. I saw an opportunity to offer something that I was not able to find, and build it to a standard that I felt comfortable standing behind with no preconceived notion that everyone would agree.
Out of curiosity, what would you consider spending on this strap if you were interested in buying one?
I watched the video in your blog post which covered the assembly part in less than 2 minutes. Now I do realise that this video was edited for brevity, but the process did not strike me as being particularly labor intensive regardless.
I feel that any product should be designed for its intended purpose. While a 200 lbs breaking strength may look good on a spec list, it doesn’t contribute to my perceived value of this strap and hence I wouldn’t be prepared to pay extra for it. I bought into the mirrorless concept for its light weight and it doesn’t make sense to me to marry it with a strap that was designed for the camera to carry me instead of the other way around.
I couldn’t say what I would be prepared to pay for it because like JLo, I personally don’t care for the strap’s aesthetics. The cord’s color pattern doesn’t mesh with my perception of how a wrist strap should look, and the electrical tape makes it look… well… cheap (how’s that for irony?).
And let’s not forget that as a European, I would pay $41.67 instead of $30 (at the current conversion rate).
Again, I do appreciate your effort in bringing an option to the market, but it doesn’t represent a good price/value proposition for me. That’s just my personal opinion.
You’re absolutely entitled to your opinion. The video shows 2 mins in what takes roughly 20+ minutes to do for each strap. While perhaps not the most efficient way to make a strap, I know each one is made well by hand, and again, no one says you need to buy one.
Your conversion is backwards, if paying $30 in Euro, it would be €21.60, but of course the shipping would be a bit more which is why I have a partner in Europe making these, for those in the EU at €30 or £25 delivered.
To each their own.
All my best,
Tyson
You sell these straps in Europe for €30, which means that I pay $41+ for one. There’s nothing backwards about that.
Sure, I could order one from you directly for $30, but if shipping it to the EU is only “a bit more” as you said, then I don’t see how offering them through a local reseller for $10+ premium makes any sense.
Comments like “last time I checked…” and “no one says you need to buy one” just make you sound defensive, so I’ll leave it at this. Best of luck with your venture.
Thanks! You’ve been super helpful. Greatly appreciated anonymous sir or madam.
By the way, I have no input on the price being sold in Europe, but feel it is very fair. Your cost of living compared to your wages will determine the opportunity cost of goods and services, unless of course you choose to buy something from another country, in another currency. $30 to me is going to be very similar to €30 to you assuming we make a comparable living and have comparable costs to satisfy said living.
I have worked with a friend who sells these in Europe. He buys the same rope that I do, from a European manufacturer and prices it out to cover his costs. You can take up your gripes with him.
Your comments have been noted, and I thank you for taking the time.
All the best,
Tyson
I am sorry but this looks like a piece of a dog lead. It might be functional but certainly not desirable.
JLo, please see my response below. If you made a dog leash out of this rope, not only would it cost $75, it would be the strongest and most comfortable dog leash you could find. Feel free to not buy one if you find it undesirable. It’s not my intention to force these upon anyone, merely offer a unique alternative to the standard leather or cheaply made wrist straps. Last time I checked, having a choice and variety was a good thing.