Bowman Leather Vantage Strap Review: Simple Innovation

It’s a well known fact: the Phoblographer has reviewed the most camera straps of any accredited photo publication around. And the reason why we haven’t reviewed that many is because they’re all more or less the same. But when Charles Bowman of Bowman Leather contacted us, we didn’t much of it at first. Like any new entrepreneur, we all don’t know how to market ourselves and our strengths — that comes with time. Buried in his website is the Vantage strap — a hybrid neck and wrist strap that is completely unique amongst anything that I’ve ever seen or experienced. Trust me when I say this: the Bowman Leather Vantage strap is something special. Nothing has given me this much versatility and protection out there. Bowman’s website is pretty simple overall. But the Vantage lineup is really the special stuff. Mine is made from vegetable leather — so it took a while to break in. Originally, Charles told me that he lives on a farm; which I inferred to mean that the straps were being made farm to camera. But that’s not the case, he sources his leather from other places. However, with every purchase of a strap, he’s planting a tree. Charles is also standing by his work with a 10-year warranty. What to Know This can hold an R3, he claims, but not with a telephoto lens Using it on the Nikon F2, it works just fine 10-year warranty A tree planted with every order Comfortable and stretchy. Once you wrap it around correctly, it’s pretty brilliant. It’s bound to get better as you break it in more. In Real Life Use We put the Bowman Leather Vantage strap on a Nikon F2, which is a heaver camera than most digital ones out there. I’ve got my own way of wrapping neck straps around my wrist. But with this one, I had to slip my wrist inside of it. And after a while, I learn how to do that and wrap it around my wrist. Once that was figured out, the straps was very comfortable. By that point, I had pretty thoroughly broken it in. In fact, that’s the most difficult part. Because this strap is vegetable tanned leather, it’s going to hurt the first few times around until you break it in. After running a roll of film through the camera, I wanted to get rid of the strap. But I committed, and halfway through the next roll, the strap started to meld more to my hand and wrist. Now, I really like it. When slung around my chest, the Bowman Leather Vantage strap is very comfortable and slides up and down a variety of clothing with ease. It does this while securely holding the camera and ensuring that it doesn’t fall. But most of the time, I ended up keeping the camera in my hand. That’s because of the wrist strap functionality. To explain this a bit more, I’ll slip my wrist into the dedicated slot. Then I’ll start wrapping the strap around my wrist for more security and to not let the rest of the strap hang around. After this, the camera and strap will be secure in my hand and very comfortable. Now, I can go around and just shoot as much as I wish. My only complain, again, is how long it takes to break the strap in. If Charles used stronger but softer leather, I’d be head over heels. As it is, though, Bowman is making one of the best camera straps I’ve seen in years. We’re giving this one 4 out of 5 stars. Check it out on their website.