LENS CHAIN?

bergstrom

Photographer
Feb 23, 2015
534
398
Weird one this, but thought I saw a picture one time of a guy with lens and collar and there was metal tie or chain from the collar back under the dslr screw mount underneath , so that in case the lens came off the mount, it would still be left dangling from under the camera. I went on to adorama and searched lens chain and lens wire etc, but can't find it, maybe there's a different term. If anyone knows what I'm talking about and can post link, I'd appreciate it, thanks.
 

Del Paso

M3 Singlestroke
CR Pro
Aug 9, 2018
3,298
4,185
DIY !
One fabric strap, safety belt type, 3/4 inch wide
2 tripod 1/4 inch screws, washers underneath, one to camera, one to lens
That's all, folks!
(What still escapes my understanding, is why would you tie a lens to a camera, and with a chain ???:eek:)
Edit: for mountaineering maybe?
 
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Bdbtoys

R5
CR Pro
Jul 16, 2020
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(What still escapes my understanding, is why would you tie a lens to a camera, and with a chain ???:eek:)
Edit: for mountaineering maybe?

I don't get it either... it's not like lenses just pop off. And if you're taking off the lens, the whole point is to remove it from the camera. Also the thought of a metal chain rubbing on camera parts... has me a bit uneasy.

Maybe the guy wore a wallet and belt chain... and he liked it so much he did it to his camera.
 
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Jan 29, 2011
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When you rig remote cameras you have to use safety cables. I have never had to safety cable the lens seperate from the body but if I was required to do it it wouldn’t be difficult if the lens had a foot.

Anyway, lots of companies make dedicated safety cables if you aren’t comfortable rigging something yourself.

 
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bergstrom

Photographer
Feb 23, 2015
534
398
When you rig remote cameras you have to use safety cables. I have never had to safety cable the lens seperate from the body but if I was required to do it it wouldn’t be difficult if the lens had a foot.

Anyway, lots of companies make dedicated safety cables if you aren’t comfortable rigging something yourself.



Nice one bro, something like that. I could slip the cable into the lens ring but what about under the camera? Is there a screw for under the camera that also has an eye hole or (whatever its called) attatched to slip the cable through?
 
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Jan 29, 2011
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Nice one bro, something like that. I could slip the cable into the lens ring but what about under the camera? Is there a screw for under the camera that also has an eye hole or (whatever its called) attatched to slip the cable through?
Normally clip it to or loop it through the strap ring.
 
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AlanF

Desperately seeking birds
CR Pro
Aug 16, 2012
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How did that happen?
The 300/2.8 remained dangling from my shoulder and the top of the 5DIII cracked as it hit the ground. The lock bolt hadn’t engaged well enough. It’s happened again once since but both remained dangling separately as I had adopted connecting both. I like having both the telephoto lens attached to the strap as it is insurance in case one of the connections comes loose or fails and it spreads the weight of the load.
 
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Bdbtoys

R5
CR Pro
Jul 16, 2020
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The 300/2.8 remained dangling from my shoulder and the top of the 5DIII cracked as it hit the ground. The lock bolt hadn’t engaged well enough. It’s happened again once since but both remained dangling separately as I had adopted connecting both. I like having both the telephoto lens attached to the strap as it is insurance in case one of the connections comes loose or fails and it spreads the weight of the load.

I guess I wasn't thinking about big lenses... the thought of the lens coming off, made it sound like a smaller lens, and had me scratching my head wondering why. A larger lens on the other hand, makes more sense.
 
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Jul 28, 2015
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When you rig remote cameras you have to use safety cables. I have never had to safety cable the lens seperate from the body but if I was required to do it it wouldn’t be difficult if the lens had a foot.

Anyway, lots of companies make dedicated safety cables if you aren’t comfortable rigging something yourself.


I used to make those in my dad's company (we make a lot of gear for the theater industry). As they are meant to catch a light falling from a lighting truss in theatres, we also tested them with a dynamic load (ie falling objects) and were the only company in the world doing that testing (still are as far as I am aware). You would be horrified how little weight it takes to break a wire like that when an object falls on it - with 1.5mm wire and a wire length of 18" I would not trust it on a lens more than 1.5-2kg (about 3 pounds). I would say buy 2 and test one of them (fix one end to a beam, attach a weight to the other end and simply drop it).
 
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