More cameras should come with wrist straps because the cameras deserve to always be in your hand.
Dear Manufacturers;
I think you can agree with me that photography (as we’ve traditionally known it) and cameras have become more of a luxury product over the years. We’ve found ways to commodify workshops on a larger scale, phones have decimated your compact camera sales, and you really have to convince someone to actually purchase your camera let alone actually bring it with them. There are of course those big, ugly straps you’ve been using for years that more or less appropriately label your fan boys and girls, but I genuinely think it’s time for a change.
I’m specifically speaking to cameras that are smaller vs larger. I’m thinking Pen F, A6500, XT20, Fujifilm X70, etc. Not the Panasonic GH5s–that’s a really big camera that needs a neck or shoulder strap. But all of those other cameras are small and could mostly benefit from having a smaller wrist strap. If the camera isn’t in a pocket of some sort, then it makes more sense to be in your hand vs being worn around your neck. It’s a small thing–sometimes smaller than your phone. You wouldn’t, for arguments sake, put a neck strap on an iPhone 8 because it’s too small, but you can surely put one on an X Pro 2.
These wrist straps should also have more beauty to them. Your packaging has changed over the years to make a consumer feel like they’re opening up a gift box in some way or another. That excitement will always be with us when we pick up the camera, but you can make that last even more with better straps. Straps are part of the luxury aesthetic that photography in the traditional sense has become. It’s all about the experience that you can’t give someone with a phone.
Enough with the megapickle (yes, spelled this way purposely) wars. Enough with the high ISO wars. Let’s find a way to give photographers a different experience because you’ve already proven that you can outdo phone manufacturers.
