Introduction: DSLR Wrist Strap (on the Cheap)

About: I’m a mechanical engineer, and I have a technical degree in precision mechanics (mill and lathe), but my interests and skills go a lot farther. Since a short age my father have show me how to fix different thi…

      Since I acquired a DSLR camera, I have found myself wrapping the neck strap around my wrist (like in the 2nd photo) almost always. I do this because let’s face it, the neck strap is useful to carry your camera, but when you are taking pictures is kind of uncomfortable.
      So I decided that I wanted a hand or wrist strap because I don’t feel safe just wrapping the neck strap; but when I looked around I didn’t found something that I liked, some of them you just slide your hand in (very unsafe), some seemed very uncomfortable, complicated and even expensive for something like a strap.
      I also noticed that every single one needed to use the tripod thread and you have to remove completely the neck strap. The big problem is that I use a lot my tripod and the neck strap, and I wanted to keep everything like I already have it and just add the wrist strap.
     So I finally decided to make my own, and I couldn’t be happier with the results, especially because its final cost is less than $1 and I made it in less than 1 hour!!!

Step 1: Tools and Materials

The list of materials and tools is pretty short.
Maybe what is more important is to have sewing skills, by hand or on a sewing machine. 

Materials:
- 0.5m long and ¾ in. wide strap
- One ¾ strap adjuster
- One ¾ quick release buckle

Tools:
- Scissors
- Candle
- Sewing machine (or needle and thread)

Step 2: Planning and Preparing the Strap

       Before I bought the materials I had a pretty good idea of how I wanted to do the strap, but I still had to figure some things out. So one of the first steps I did was to wrap the strap I have just bought around my wrist and taking one end to the camera anchor to see what was the more natural positions for the adjuster and the buckle. One of the things I first notice was that there wasn’t enough space to pass two straps by the camera anchor and since one of my objectives is to have both straps at the same time this was something to keep in mind.

      As you can see in the materials step picture, the nylon strap has begun to take apart. And whenever you cut this kind of straps you will find that after a little handling the ends will do this. Here is where the candle comes in place. As the strap is made of a thermoplastic material it will melt by heat and set when cool down, so you want to use the candle to heat up the ends, just enough to melt a little bit of the end. Try not to put it on top of the flame but to a side so it won’t catch on fire.
This treatment is used whenever I cut the strap.

Step 3: Sewing and Wrist Measuring

      With the strap ends ready, I first sew one end of the strap to the center rod of the adjuster and the other one to the buckle to on the side that only have one rod (the other side have two rods and also serve as a length adjuster).
      Then I put the buckle over my wrist and pass the strap around it, then measure like 5cm more of where the strap meets the other end of the buckle. In this place I cut the strap and try it out, passing the strap around the rod that is nearest to the center of the buckle and making sure that the strap passes by the little teeth that serve as a lock for the adjuster part. (you can see this little teeth or grooves in the materials picture).

Step 4: Placing the Strap Adjuster

      In a previous step I mentioned that there wasn’t enough space to pass the two straps by the camera anchor, so I decided to pass the neck strap through the wrist strap adjuster. So what I need to do first is to remove the neck strap from the camera anchor. I have found that it is easier to remove the length adjuster by pushing one of the ends that goes over the other one, and then pushing the other one (first picture).
      I then pass the neck strap through the wrist strap adjuster, making sure that the neck strap passes over the little teeth and that the wrist strap faces out, or when you put back on the neck strap it will be turned and you don’t want that (second picture).
     Finally I replace the neck strap to its original position. You can find more instructions on how to remove and replace the neck strap in your camera owner manual (last picture).

Step 5: Measuring and Sewing Again

      With the adjuster and the wrist strap in place, I tried where the two pieces of strap should be sew together, and with a helping hand of a friend I placed two sewing pins on (be careful not to “pin” yourself). I then remove the two pieces of the strap, first from my wrist and then from the neck strap, being careful not to move the sewing pins.
      Then I cut the piece of strap that is sewed to the adjuster, long enough to go around the other strap, while keeping it pined to the other piece of strap. After this cut I made the end treatment to both ends I had cut that far (the one in the buckle, and the other in the adjuster).
     Still with the two straps pin together I folded the adjuster strap around the buckle strap and sewed the three layers making a square all around both straps borders.

Step 6: Replace and Try It!

    Now you just have to replace the strap adjuster in the neck strap, and you are finish. The only thing that is left is to try it out and enjoy your new wrist strap.
    Hope you have enjoy this instructable as much as I did making it.

   Note: you may feel that the nylon strap is kind of hard on your skin; you could try finding a nice fluffy fabric and wrap it around the strap and sewed it. I personally don’t have a problem with it, but I still have to try it out after a long photo shot.

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