Tutorial: DIY Quick-Release Neck Strap

Ok, it's not much of a tutorial. The pictures explain most of the process.

My parents gave me a hand strap for the camera for my birthday. It's a great way to carry the camera around ready to shoot some pictures without worrying about dropping it. It does not replace the neck strap though; if you're taking a long walk and don't want to put the camera away you need it. But if you just want to take the camera out, take a couple pictures and put it back in the bag, the neck strap can be annoying, specially if you're carrying a small bag. It gets in the way and you have to fold it every time.
Removing it every time is not ideal either without a quick-release mechanism, which brings us to this post's topic: How to build your own quick release for a standard neck strap.

I gathered some ideas from other blogs and sites, but they mostly suggested buying commercial (highly overpriced) quick release systems. One suggested using key rings and carabiners, which are metallic and can scratch the camera. Nevertheless, that was what I had in mind when I went to the harware store, but looking at the stock, I found a hopefully better solution: Strong cable binders and the fasteners you can see in the pictures below (I have no idea what those are called...). It's all made of plastic, yet strong enough to hold the weight of the camera.

I attached the fasteners to the camera using cable binders, which fit perfectly through the cameras loops. I used two binders on each side for additional safety. I Also decided to use the female connector on the camera because it was a bit smaller and looked better, leaving the male on the neck strap.
If you're building this, make sure you dont pull the cable binders too tight. I had to cut one off and use a new one because of that. Pull slowly and try to leave both binders at the same lenght to distribute the weight evenly. The fasteners should be a bit loose to avoid needless strain on them. If they're too tight, moving them might wear them off faster.

I then attached the neck strap to the male connectors the same way it was attached to the camera. Here's the finished quick-release neck strap:

Some info:

• Required time: 5 minutes (not including the time it takes buying the fasteners and cable binders)
• Cost: 3€ for the fasteners, which you can probably get cheaper online, plus whatever 4 cable binders cost (0.01€ each maybe?)

 [Update (2014-03-08)]: You may also find the new quick-release safety leash add-on I wrote useful