My current favorite camera strap – The Barton Braided leather strap

February 15, 2012 Just for fun, Leica, Leica accessories, News 60

My Favorite Camera Strap!

The Leather Braided Barton Strap 

For the past several months I have been shooting my M9P with a strap that I have fallen in love with for several reasons. You may have seen it in pictures with my M9P, in fact, I know some of you have because I get at least one e-mail a day asking me where to buy this strap! First of all, it is an all leather braided strap and is very well made. It is soft, and stretches so if you are shooting with a heavy lens this stretch takes the strain off of your back/shoulder. I have had zero issues with the strap over the past months and in fact, it has broken in quite well. It also always gets the looks and compliments.

You would think that a strap like this would set you back over $100. With the Artisan & Artist straps fetching well over $100 and more for their silk straps and about $70 for their really good cloth straps (my fave in the A&A line, and they are here) this hand braided leather strap comes in at $79 SHIPPED. Yep, shipped. You can browse the straps at barton1972.com and they come in several colors. Red, brown, blue/grey, black, etc.

I can HIGHLY recommend this strap and it even comes in a cool box. I may order a couple more and even try one of their bags soon. I love a good strap and there are so many out there that are good but this one represents great quality, great price and a great experience.

You can browse ALL of the straps they have to offer at their strap page. Looks like there are quite a few to choose from, even a double braided for $10 more!

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59 Comments

  1. I like the look of all these luxury hand made straps, but the thought of spending upwards of £100 on a strap makes me feel ill. They might make me look cool, actually a hard job as I don’t look cool anyway, but they won’t make me take great photos, or will they?
    I’ve got straps from various camera purchases from years back, I just stick one of them on any new camera I buy. For my DSLR camera, I bought a quick draw sling strap from Amazon for £12.95 which is the height of functionality for me. But you guys don’t really want to know this do you? Like I said, these woven straps look fantastic, but it’s style over substance for me anyway. Good luck and be happy, I hope they make you use your camera more, which is a great outcome, at least.

  2. I have one of these straps and it is nice to use from time to time (a bit springy when using heavier glass) looks nice but I prefer the original – just my opinion.

  3. I love this strap but It’s detached itself 3 times now in a month…. I’ve felt the camera fall twice (with my .95 on!) & I’ve caught it. The third time I was sitting down & when I raised the camera to shoot I noticed it was detached again. Please can any one help? Am I attaching it wrong, like a key ring? It seems simple. I’ve had to go back to the Leica.

    • Ive used three of these straps on three cameras for over a year on a daily basis. Never once, even with my leicas and heavy lenses have they ever come loose or come close to come loose. Not sure how it is even possible.

      • Cheers Steve, I know it’s bizarre. I have the longer strap so the camera rests at the top of my hip. It seems the ring is getting forced open by the lug eye then the motion of my leg, as I walk, is gently swaying the camera just enough to slowly rotate the strap ring round, until it pops off. Anyhow, Ive decided I really want to use this strap so I’m going to fit a different ring attachment I hope it fixes the problem.

  5. Hello Steve,

    I’m always checking your website, keep up the good work!

    One question for you about the Barton1972 leather strap, the one that you are using in the picture with your M9 is the “Braided Style” or “Braided XL”? I just want to make sure I get the correct length.

    Thank you!
    Marcelo.

  6. That strap looks great, I’d love to get my hands on one of those next time I’m in HK ! I currently use a classic Bokeh Leathers strap for my Leica M6 and I still love it, been following me everywhere for the last year or so now, best addition to my gear so far ! check their fb page, they usually post great photography articles too

    http://www.facebook.com/BokehLeathers

  7. Would love to use one of these straps, hell, I’m even trying to buy one but for some reason the ‘Pitch Black’ option is blank on their webpage, so no go.

  8. I like the Leica strap.. For one thing it doesn’t take up much room in the bag. The most comfortable strap I’ve used was probably for a big DSLR.. a crumpler with big sheepskin padding.. Too big and ugly though. I suppose I would like a nice stylish strap but just don’t want to fork over the $$$.

  9. Damn. Not being a huge fan of the default Leica strap, this looks way for interesting. Looks like I’m going to have to try one.

  10. For my compact (LX5), I use a little cord with 2 Valdotin Knob. It’s light, very fast to adjust but can’t be used with heavy camera because the cord might hust the neck.

  11. I know what you mean about this strap, how the design alleviates some of the pressure that normal straps don’t, because it stretches ever so slightly because of the braided design. Its subtle,but makes all the difference in the world.

  12. Thanks. I thought so. I should have brought one when I found it. Now I’d lucky if I can one. It sure looks great.

    Regards

    • Just purchased. Weird transaction though. I’ll wait and see. Got plenty of jeans. 🙂

      Thanks,
      Howard

  13. For the longest time, I just used whatever strap came with the camera. Then I kept my D2H bodies so long that the straps began to fall apart. I happened on an ad in NPPA’s magazine about Wapiti Straps. They use elk leather with nylon webbing and it is some of the softest leather around. I have four straps, one on each of my D2H bodies, one on my Yashica Electro 35 GS, and a spare (hopefully to find a home soon….). You can check them out at http://wapitistraps.com.

  16. Thanks for the hint, Steve. I was actually looking into leather straps and find A&A as well as Luigi’s straps on leicatime.com too expensive. I am not a Leica owner, can only dream of one currently, but I’m sure the normal leather strap I ordered now will look great on one of my old classic Yashica and Minolta rangefinders.

  17. Strap? Bah! First get me a camera body and lenses! I’ve been on waiting lists for months and no new Leica product is available.

    • Only Bah? I think you missed out ‘ Humbug! ‘ here. As in – Bah, Humbug!

      How can any modern curmudgeon possibly use only one of the generally accepted correct grammatical terms in this context – particularly in Charles Dickens bicentennial year …. ?

      Prithee gentlefolk – mark thy speech!

      OK – LOL, RAOFL.

  20. I know this is not about straps, but do you have any more information about the SLR Magic 23 1.7? It seemed like a really nice lens for the NEX-series and I was hoping that they would have starting to ship the lens this month

    Thanks for all your good work!

    Kristian

  21. dont like at all. dont like any strechable straps. i use the straps as carry over my shoulder, but when shooting wrap the strap under my elbow underarm for extra camera stability. strecthabvle straps only look cool but not very functional

    • It’s functional otherwise I wouldn’t be using it. 🙂 It’s not stretchy as in you can pull it and yank it and the strap will stretch – it has a slight give to it. If you push down on your camera the strap gives a little, just enough to make it more comfortable.

    • Ive owned a Luigi case and strap. I hated the case but loved the strap. The actual case was bulky, fat, did not fit right and seemed to be more about looks than function. BUT could have been my copy as I have seen others who had cases that fit a bit better and others whose case was even worse than mine. I did like the strap though. It was very soft, comfy and long, so yea, the Luigi straps are great as well but more $$.

      • Wow, that’s pretty harsh Steve, but one can tell from afar indeed how handmade and therefore not perfect Luigis are.

        I still prefer the simplicity of the original strap. Plane, unspectacular, to really concentrate on what’s essential.

  25. I use the larger braided strap for my DSLR for over a year now. It’s a really fantastic product. And it hasn’t that ugly screaming camera logo on it 🙂

  26. Nice looking strap, I will take a look at it once the site is up 🙂

    BTW I guess the lens on your camera is 75 Lux. I am planning to buy one. Can we expect a review of the lens soon? If not what’s your take on the lens – in few words?

    • A friend of mine sent me his 75 Lux to try out. Strangely enough, I have never in my life shot with or even held a 75 Lux. So I will be shooting with it for the next week or two and will have a full review up soon 🙂

      • It maybe just me, but I found 75mm to be just a little bit too short. I have a summarit but hardly use it, prefering the 90mm cron.

        • I too found the 75mm to be too short. I find that range just sort of neither here nor there and an odd working distance for most applications, except perhaps portraits. I had a 75 Lux for several months when I first got into Leica because I wanted something fast, shallow dof, longer than my 50 cron, and with a unique look like the 85 1.2 L. It has the unique bokeh, but isn’t sharp wide open like the contemporary M lenses. Stop it down a couple clicks and it is. The focus throw is also a very long twist, so it’s relatively slow to focus. It’s also huge and heavy, and since I’m not primarily a portrait shooter, I’m much happier with a light weight 90 summarit. I like the compression of a 90 better, too. I knew this going into it but didn’t realize how much of a difference those 15mm would make.

  28. I’ve used Leica’s since the early 80’s and I have to admit I prefer the current oem Leica strap to any other strap as far as actually using the camera. But I admit the Barton strap has more visual appeal. 😉

    • I have been a Leica user for about two months and I have the OEM strap, it seems to be perfectly adequate, my camera hasn’t fallen off yet anyway. 🙂

      I don’t get it but then, what do I know?

      Apart from the fact that I would be pushing up daisies if the wife spotted a fancy leather strap after just spending £1000’s on the camera/lenses.

  29. I own the Wotancraft Ryker as one of the bags you might be considering to try out. it has a purple swede material inside. The bag is well made and the interior foam is very dense. WAAAY more dense than any of the A&A bags. It comes with 2 large dividers and 1 small divider. My only complaint is that the Main flap does not have any material to cover the sides, so rain and debris can find it’s way in. I also own the Wotancraft Messenger and Grenadier which are very well made, however not for everyone. Wotancraft is the maker of the bags. This is the primary site : http://www.wotancraft.com/shop/category/bag/camara-bag

    • Nice – but do you remember when virtually all QUALITY cameras came with nice leather straps – as standard ….

  31. For anyone visiting Hong Kong, it’s worth stopping by their shop tucked away in a side street in Central; an interesting perspective on a camera accessory store. I also have a number of straps and bag – good quality stuff

      • Flat 204, 2nd floor, 6-10 Kau U Fong,
        Lam’s Building, Central
        tel : +852 2518 8098

        Not easy to find 1st time as the shop does not have a street level window, when you think you’re there look up and you will see the window/sign, take a narrow entrance and lift in what appears to be a residential building. The staff are very welcoming, some great vintage cameras to look at too!

        • In addition to the shop in Lam’s Building that Chris identified, I am happy to report that there is a boutique bookstore in the IFC Mall that appears to sell Barton straps. If anyone is interested I’ll look up the name and exact floor location for you.

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