Garret has thrown down the gauntlet.

Gordon’s added some new camera straps to his lineup. Any possibility of a Canon E1 equivalent in the future (for big mitts like mine)? Leather breathes, where plastic/vinyl/neoprene doesn’t …

I had heard of hand straps but hadn't looked to closely at them. First I had to understand what Garret was talking about. Off to Google. I found a good picture of it at The-Digital-Picture.com. They had a review of the Canon Hand Strap E1 with a picture.

That review linked to another review of the Nikon AH-4 SLR Leather Accessory Hand Grip

The Nikon unit is pretty elaborate. I was thinking that this type of strap was a new thing until I realized that I already had several cameras with hand straps. They are called press cameras.

This is my 3 1/4 x 4 1/4 Speed Graphic that I refinished. Look! A hand strap! I had a local leather worker make it to replace the old one.

My Mamiya Universal has a hand strap. I added some fleece to soften the plastic. So, hand straps are not a new thing after all. I'm not sure, at this point, how I would do one but it's worth thinking about. I would try and make it to fit 35mm (rangefinder and SLR) and digital cameras that have a strap attachment on top and a tripod attachment on the bottom. And just when I think I'm done with new strap designs. If I can come up with a hand strap I will send one off to Garret for product testing. Interesting...