Doug Murdoch started Think Tank Photo in 2005 as a way of bringing feature-rich camera accessories to the market to stand out against the sea of cheaper and stripped-back accessories flooding the market. Since then the company has gone from strength-to-strength and brought out award-winning products that shake up the camera peripherals space including the Rotation180 backpack which won the coveted RedDot award.
The Camera Strap V2.0 seems to follow Think Tank’s methodology, offering features and build quality that are a cut above the standard strap you’d find inside a typical camera box. It’s a little bit smaller than your standard camera strap and has some nice touches including metal and leather hardware, as well as a few different color options to help you put your own stamp on your camera kit.
You’ll find my full review and thoughts of the Think Tank Camera Strap V2.0 below, though you’ll find many of my other reviews of the straps to suit a wider range of budgets in the best camera straps buying guide.
Think Tank Camera Strap V2.0: Specifications
Think Tank Camera Strap V2.0: Price
The Think Tank Camera Strap V2.0 comes in two different colors black and blue, or black and grey and both cost around $30 US or £18.50 UK at the time of writing.
The straps are a simple upgrade on the camera strap and offer some nice updates to a stock camera strap, including better hardware, a thinner design, an anti-slip grippy texture and color variations to make your setup more unique and identifiable. So I think it’s fair to say that the simple but effective Think Tank Camera Strap V2.0 is competing more with the stock camera straps that come included with your camera, rather than camera straps that are offering something completely different such as the OpTech Pro Loop Strap ($15/£16) with its much larger foam neck pad, or the Black Rapid Sport Breathe and Blackline I straps which are designed to be worn over the shoulder.
Think Tank Camera Strap V2.0: Design & Handling
The Think Tank Camera Strap V2.0 has a very simple and effective construction and all feels quite premium. Made in Vietnam, the stitching looked strong and professional under inspection and the strap features two metal attachment rings and leather trim which gives it a high quality feel, too.
It’s available in two colorways both of which are predominantly black but with either blue or grey trim on the neck section – Think Tank suggests you set up two camera bodies with the different colored straps so you can identify them quickly from your kit bag to differentiate between them.
The strap is made from materials including nylon, plastic, metal and leather which gives it a more premium feel (though not suitable for vegetarians or vegans). The main neck section of the strap measures 45cm in length though the whole strap extends to a maximum of 135cm – on myself this meant the lowest I could hang my camera was about 70cm from the back of my neck, taking it down to my stomach, though I could obviously hang it higher up in a more comfortable position.
The neck strap width is one inch (2.5cm) and has a grippy material on both sides which keeps it firmly on your neck or jacket and prevent it slipping. The strap then reduces down to just 9mm wide, which can be threaded through some camera eyelets but on cameras with very small lug straps you’ll likely need to use a split ring to tether it.
Unfortunately, the Think Tank Camera Strap V2.0 doesn’t feature a quick release system as we’ve seen on straps like the Peak Design Slide and Slide Lite, or Urth Core Camera straps, however these do cost notably more. That being said, you could still attach your Think Tank strap to your camera using a product like the Peak Design AL-4 Anchor Links ($30/£25) which would then allow you to remove and reattach it much faster, though it basically doubles your spend.
Think Tank Camera Strap V2.0: Performance
Every camera manufacturer has their own style of making straps but I’m a Canon man so I can only go from my experience here. The neck section of the Think Tank Camera Strap V2.0 is 2.5cm wide, which is certainly a lot smaller than the 4cm of old straps for heavier Canon DSLRs, though it’s not too dissimilar to the newer 3cm wide straps that come with Canon’s mirrorless cameras like the EOS R6 Mark II.
My Canon R6 Mark II strap has a rubberized grippy surface on one side and is fabric on the other, while the Think Tank strap is grippy on both sides and can be used either way around without fussing over which side needs to be the correct way up – I thought this design choice was very clever and worked well.
One thing that has always bothered me with Canon straps is that they are potentially quite eye-catching to thieves with their bright red trim, Canon logo, and some even say the model of camera you’re using. I don’t personally like to advertise this information so I did prefer the Think Tank strap here which is more subtle with no writing, and if you go for the less colorful grey version, it’s also less likely to stand out.
I used a camera setup weighing about 2.5 kg, and although the strap is quite thin at just 2.5cm wide at the thickest neck section, I found it to be quite comfortable as the fabric is very supple and contours to your neck. With larger straps I find there is more surface area for them to dig in against your neck and become uncomfortable and at just 50g you hardly notice you’re wearing it.
As mentioned in the previous section, the V2.0 strap doesn’t have quick release mechanisms, so it is quite slow to attach and remove it from your camera body when needed. You could attach quick release anchors, but these can be a similar price to the strap itself!
Whilst its nice that the Camera Strap V2.0 uses premium materials like metal loops and leather hardware for a luxurious feel, you do need to be careful with the two large metal rings which connect the wider neck strap to the thinner camera strap and these are hard and could potentially ding or scratch your camera, LCD screen or even a front lens element or filter, so you just have to be a little careful to take precautions when packing your kit away that they won’t be rubbing up against anything. Overall, I think the metal gives it a nicer feel than the plastic on most basic straps, but this is the downside of using it.
Think Tank Camera Strap V2.0: Verdict
To call the Think Tank Camera Strap V2.0 a basic neck strap would be a little unfair, it’s definitely not got all of the features and gizmo’s of some of the more expensive straps I’ve looked at recently costing anywhere between fifty and one hundred dollars, but for its pricepoint of just $30 it offers good value for money and packs in some decent upgrades from the strap likely to have come bundled with your camera box.
The strap is low profile, literally with its small width of 2.5cm which improves comfort over old larger DSLR straps, but is also less flashy and doesn’t scream photographer – particularly the grey version, I preferred this to my Canon strap which has an eye catching red trim and tells potential thieves the camera model I’m using which I’ve never been a fan of. It’s also coated with a grippy material on both sides of the neck strap, I thought this might be uncomfortable but it wasn’t and it did help keep the camera in place and stop it slipping off my jacket when worn over the shoulder.
The big drawbacks are that it doesn’t feature a quick release system, though for its budget price, I didn’t expect that. You can buy a quick release system to be used with it, such as the Peak Design AL-4 but these cost about as much as the strap does, so you’re doubling your spend, and for $60, you could be considering the Peak Design Slide Lite or Urth Camera Core.
I really liked the materials and high build quality of the Think Tank Camera Strap V2.0 – using leather and metal hardware really helps make it feel premium, which is impressive given that it’s a fairly budget-friendly model. However, you do have to be a little careful with the metal loops around your camera, lens, and LCD screen as this could potentially scratch it, so you just need to take the time to pack it away safely when loading up your camera bag.
