Gear Reviews
The SpiderPro Hand Strap, A Dream For DSLR Owners
About a month and a half ago, I received the opportunity to get my hands on a pre-production version of the new SpiderPro Hand Strap from Spider Holster. I had been on the lookout for a good hand strap and I was convinced that this would be a great option. I was very excited to give it a try.
Unfortunately, the strap did not work well with my mirrorless kit. So I was actually not able to get much use out of the strap, but being as I work part time at a camera store, I did borrow a Canon DSLR to give the strap a shot, and I was very impressed.
[RELATED: My Review of the Spider Holster Black Widow]
My Thoughts On The SpiderPro Hand Strap
First off, I wanted to talk a bit about the construction and build of this strap. It feels great on your hand; it has just enough padding to be comfortable, but not so much as to feel mushy. Everything from the leather to the stitching on the unit is absolutely top notch – no faults with the construction of this hand strap whatsoever.
Attaching the SpiderPro Hand Strap to your camera is simple enough. I had zero issues getting the strap attached to any of the cameras that I tried putting it on. It does come with some easy instructions on how to properly put the strap on the camera, for those of you who like to read those sort of things.
Once the grip is attached to your camera and you slide your hand inside for the very first time, you will love how it feels. Unlike other straps that I have tried, the SpiderPro Hand Strap fits the shape of my hand well, and is very comfortable. If it doesn’t feel quite right, the design of the strap makes it super easy to adjust to better fit your needs.
My camera felt secure, and I felt comfortable with this strap while walking about on trails and such during my photo walks. Overall, if you own a DSLR, I can’t recommend this hand strap enough. If you own a mirrorless or smaller camera body though, you may want to look elsewhere.
A major positive for this strap is the ability to mount it using the included washer and bolt, or under ANY tripod plate, allowing you to use this strap in conjunction with any tripod your heart desires. I absolutely loved this aspect of the SpiderPro Hand Strap.
The SpiderPro Hand Strap is designed for DSLR bodies, and not just DSLR bodies – Pro DSLR bodies. It does its job really well on cameras of that size, but if you try it on a smaller body such as a Fuji X-T1 or even a small DSLR like a Rebel, you will find that it no longer holds your hand in the correct place, making it very uncomfortable to shoot with. You may feel differently, but with my hands, it really only fit well on full sized DSLRs (7D, 5D, etc)
This is not a knock against the strap as it’s designed for DSLR bodies, and it does its job well on them. It’s just a warning to those of you who, like me, are looking for a good strap for your mirrorless body. Keep looking.
That said, if I owned a DSLR, I would be all over this strap. It is very affordable, coming in at $65 for the basic black version or $75 for a color version. For that reason, I am comfortable giving the SpiderPro Hand Strap a solid 4 our of 5 stars, and recommending it for DSLR owners.
The only thing holding it back in my opinion is the inability to use it on more than just Pro DSLR bodies. If they can come out with another version that works better with cameras of different sizes, surely that would be worthy of a full 5 out of 5 stars.
For more information, you can find all the details about the Spider Pro hand strap over on the Spider Holster Website here.
I see this working well on cameras using the top mounted controls, but my question is what about using the second set of controls when turning the camera to vertical format. I have a Pentax K5 with the battery pack and use the controls on the battery pack for all my adjustments and shutter control. Will hand straps in general allow this? Or does the stral limit you to the top set only?
Not sure if I got this: you said that this strap is not a good choice for smaller dSLRs, like the Rebel, is that right? If so, the title should read “a dream for PRO DSLR owners”… LOL
I’m an amateur photographer and I own a Rebel XSi and a 60D. Each of them has a cheap-generic handstrap, that usually lasts 1 year or so, but for $6, what could I expect? I was looking for a better strap, but for $65, I would expect a fantastic strap, that would be a great fit on my cameras.
I don’t think it would work well on an XSI, but the 60D could probably get away with it.
I have this strap, I bought into it on a Kickstarter/fundme type of thing. Works extremely well, but i guess mine was in a batch of defective straps and am still waiting for a replacement. The best thing is that it works for easily reaching down to grab your camera from holster, without having to fight to get your hand in. It is non-restrictive feeling yet very secure at the same time. On a D810, it’s great; on a d750 it’s kind of a pain with the battery door
“Unfortunately, the strap did not work well with my mirrorless kit.”
Anthony, can you (or anybody else) tell how would this strap work with Pentax K-01 “Brick”?
Sorry Hannu, I don’t have access to a K-01 to test it for you.
My question would be, does installing the layer of material between various tripod plates introduce any flex into the equation? I already dislike that some Nikons have rubber pads on the bottom of the camera, and hunted high and low for a tripod plate that had both a Spider Holster screw hole in the correct place, and a hand strap loop hole on the other side. But I really like this overall design of the Spider Holster strap…
=Matt=
I didn’t experience any issues with flex at all Matt.
I’ve been using Optech USA straps, both the over the shoulder and wrist strap. They have quick release clips so you can switch back and forth between the wrist and shoulder strap quickly. Way cheaper. Plenty secure.
They only attached to one camera strap mount on the body, so they do not interfere with the tripod mount at all.
I usually wear both the wrist strap and the should strap, with the camera on the wrist strap 90% of the time. When my arm gets tired or I have a lot of walking ahead, I’ll unclip the wrist strap and clip it on the shoulder strap.
So many hand-straps use the tripod bush and I like to keep a plate on when I’m out walking with a tripod that’s one reason I like the Peak Design.
I just updated the post Graham, and just wanted to point out to you that this strap is totally usable with ANY tripod plate. It mounts between the camera and the plate, allowing you to use both without any issues.
Thanks, Anthony. That’s good to know
There are a lot of hand straps that are a lot cheaper and are pretty comfortable. I’m not passing judgment on the quality of this strap but, for $65, is it really that much more comfy than the cheap stuff? How cheap you ask? The one I used to own cost me 5 bucks but they’re even cheaper now (around 2 bucks). Granted I’m not really a fan of hand straps but it’s more because I don’t like them attached to my hand the whole time (too tiring) and prefer them hanging by my side on a sling, but I had no issues with the cheap hand strap for the time I had it.
Have you tried the Peak Design Clutch with your mirrorless gear?
Others on the SLR Lounge team have, but no Will, I personally have not.
can it be mounted with a tripod plate? i don’t like the looks of the bottom pic there.
Yes Ed! That is actually one thing I totally neglected to mention, you can mount it under ANY tripod plate (Manfrotto, Arca Swiss, etc). Which makes it so great because you can use it without having to take it off to use a tripod.
That’s the first thing I noticed, no way to attach to a tripod. I have an inexpensive Vello hand strap I bought at Amazon for $12.00 and I can attach a tripod plate at the bottom.
When I know I’m not going to use a tripod, I use a BlackRapid strap, but when using one I use my Vello strap so I can go back and forth.
Anthony, you should do an edit to the article to include this information. I was about to disregard this thing entirely because it appeared to be just another grip that blocks access to mounting a tripod plate (and with a Robertson screw of all things!). If I hadn’t of read the comments I would have never known. The tripod plate capability is a very important aspect like you said. Having said that, I find the price a bit on the high side. And that screw should be a slotted thumb screw so I can use a coin, not a screwdriver, to remove it.
I agree Bill, and just updated the post.
Good job Anthony. After visiting their site I think I might just go ahead and get one of these. It’s a bit pricey, but if it works better than the last two hand straps I’ve tried, then it’s worth it to me.
thanks for the feedback Anthony!