Black Rapid SnapR 10 Slim Compact Digital Camera Bag and Strap - Black Rapid -UK

I just received this today and I've been trying to find a way to make it work. We're soon going to Disneyland, and I'm trying to decide which camera to take and how I'm going to carry it.

My hope was that I'd be able to use the case for my phone, tickets, etc., and hang the camera from the slider loop. I quickly found out that will not work well for me. When attached to my camera, the slider loop hangs down below the bottom of the bag. If I have the bag at a comfortable length, the camera flops around too low and hits my leg. If I have the camera on the slider at a comfortable height, the bag is under my armpit. My camera hangs lower than it appears it would in the photos (see photo 5 in the product description).

Since the case/slider combo wasn't going to work, I tried using the strap without the case. While more easily adjustable and functional, I quickly learned that the neckstrap is not at all comfortable around the neck. It's stiff and has no padding. I searched around the house for some sort of padding that would make it more useful--but haven't found anything yet. Perhaps with a slide-on padded cover of some sort it would be all right.

The handstrap seems quite useless to me, as most cameras already have a handstrap. The only way I could see using it would be for quick changes between the bag, neckstrap, and handstrap, but it would mean carrying all three pieces with you on an outing.

The bag itself, however, is well-sized and I may have found a good use for it. The bag will hold my camera (Panasonic DMC-ZS7) or my camcorder (Sony HDR-CX110 with FV50 battery) nicely. With the camcorder, the top flap won't fit perfectly, but will catch enough of the velcro to close securely. The camera is a perfect fit. There are two pockets in the bag, one in the back, which is shown with a phone in the photo, and a small slit pocket on the inside front that would fit a few memory cards. The phone pocket is misleading in the photo; my iPhone 4 will fit, but very snugly, and only without the thin plastic cover I have on it. With both the camera and the phone inside, the case will not close.

So, the use I've found for the bag? The strap fits nicely around my waist. There is a belt loop on the case, but I rarely wear a belt. Instead, I've strapped the neckstrap around my waist and turned it into a very comfortable small waistpack for my camera. In this fashion, my camera will be at the ready when I need it (instead of trapped in my backpack while walking around the parks) yet easily stowed when on a ride. For me, I believe this will work quite well. If I hadn't found this use for the Snapr10, I'd be returning it because the neckstrap just doesn't work for me.

I bought the Snapr10 bag for its wrist strap with small attachment fastener (smaller than the one for their larger wrist strap) for use as a safety strap with my DSLR when I'm taking handheld photos while leaning over the edge of bridges, steep trailsides, or streams... but it's worked out even better than I antcipated or planned.

Instead of using the compact but strong ¼-20 threaded fastener, I discovered I could instead easily and securely thread the camera end of the wrist strap thru a slot on my L-bracket (or thru either of the small triangular metal strap loops on the camera itself) in such a way that the wrist strap is out of the way when mounted on a tripod. And because there are no metal parts on the strap I can leave it attached to the camera all the time and not worry about it scratching the camera when stowed in my DSLR camera bag.

Although this strap is intended for use with point and shoot cameras it is more than strong enough for use with my D300 DSLR with even my heaviest lens attached. And the clip in the middle of the wrist strap provides a quick and easy way to leave part of the strap around your wrist when the camera is on a tripod or while changing lenses.

Although I did not originally intend to use the bag portion of the SNAPR10, I found that my trusty pair of Zeiss 8x20 folding binocs fits perfectly in the bag, along with a small microfiber cleaning cloth in the pocket inside the bag; and that I could attach the SNAPR10 bag thru its waist belt loop to my camera bag in such a way that the binocs are quickly accessible, without having to worry about misplacing the pouch for them. There's even just enough room in the SNAPR10 bag to put both my iPhone4s and the binocs together in the bag, keeping the phone handier than ever too.

The bag half of the SNAPR10 neck strap clips are nicely hidden inside two tiny pockets where they are permanently attached to the outside of the SNAPR10 bag - meaning they are completely out of the way when used on a waist belt or attached to a larger camera bag strap.

Finally Blackrapid gets big kudos and deserves a sixth star for their superb and timely customer service. Recently after I lost the wrist half the wrist strap - forgot that it was hanging around my glove when I took it off - when I contacted Blackrapid about buying a replacement, they immediately sent one first class at no charge, arriving in time for my next photographic outing.

I purchased the BlackRapid Snapr 10 for my new Sony RX-100. I just returned from a long weekend trip to KY to visit a number of bourbon distilleries with the Sony and Snapr 10. Here are my observations:

Pros:
+ Very convenient bag to sling over a shoulder. Strap is long enough that it hung by my right hip and I did not need to hang the bag over just my neck.
+ Camera connection was very strong. Using the tripod mount is brilliant. However, during a long day, putting the camera away and taking it out did start to loosen the tripod screw as the cord is tight enough to start turning the mounting screw.
+ Safety: Having the camera continually connected to the shoulder strap meant that I felt very secure pulling the camera out for a quick photo, even with one hand.
+ Fastex connectors are very simple to use and secure.
+ Included wrist strap was a nice bonus.

Cons:
- Velcro sound. In the louder parts of the distilleries, the sound was no big deal. Walking into the quiet, dark storage warehouses and hearing the loud rip of the Velcro was somewhat embarrassing.
- Tripod mounting screw blocks the battery & SD card compartment, along with the HDMI port. This is just a conflict of design between the Snapr 10 and the RX-100.
- Shoulder strap to bag mounting is awkward. The shoulder strap connects to the bag with 2 Fastex buckles. The amount of play between the 2 buckles can be adjusted, but I could never get it both snug and neat. Either it would be tight and both buckles would be pulled out of their sleeves on the bag or the buckles would fit in the sleeves, but there would be a lot of play.

Overall, I was pleased with this case. If I were going to a party or other noisier environment, I would not hesitate to bring this bag. It is small, convenient and easy to use. However, for quieter areas, I am looking for a new case/bag, probably with buckles instead of Velcro.