Leather Camera Harness Review – Rose Anvil

Ease, comfort, & aesthetic are extremely important to wedding photographers. This extends past just our clothing and matters with our outfits too. So, a leather camera harness that feels light as a feather? Sign me up.

Rose Anvil + India Earl launched a Kickstarter back in November. I received my leather camera harness last week before a wedding and decided I had to come home and review it. It was that good. Especially when I realized that I’ve had several harnesses before and it was obvious they were just “ok” up front. This one? Amazing. First night. No shoulder pain on day two and extremely simple to put together.

Note: I wrote this of my own free will. I’m not sponsored and I just love sharing the knowledge when I buy things. I spend so you don’t have to.

Here’s a few disclaimers. Just to be completely up front.

• I have rheumatoid arthritis. Or what they’re calling it for now. I’ve had several fun diagnoses over the years, but the main point of this is, I feel pain on a different scale than most people and have multiple illnesses that affect my day to day baseline.
• I have only used this twice. Once for an engagement session and another time for a wedding I second shot for 8 hours in it. Previously, I have owned a HoldFast Gear Money Maker. I also own a Classic Retro RS4 from Black Rapid. The Money Maker leaves my shoulders feeling sore and stiff after a full day. The Retro RS4 pad slides all around my shoulders meaning the “comfort” never stays in one place and I don’t love using it. Obviously, also, I’m not able to use it with two cameras.
• I am fat. Again, duh. This means that it is difficult to find things that are easily adjustable. The Money Maker fits fine, but the straps pinch, which people constantly complain about.
• I shoot Sony. Again, because I have pains in my pains and my fingers seize up with large DSLRs. This also means my experience is a little different. I did wear the Sony cameras with the Money Maker a few times and did not feel this level of comfort that I do now.
  

  pros so far:

• Completely customizable. Everything can be adjusted. There’s even a video you can watch on their YouTube that is incredibly detailed. Watching it made me feel very good and secure. Here’s a link to their YouTube channel with all of their videos.
• The weight. Holy hell, the distribution method they used must be literal magic. I barely even feel the harness on my body and there’s also a very handy loop that attaches to your belt. I was wearing a dress, obviously, but the videos linked above will show that extra clip in action as well.
• The aesthetic. It’s a GORGEOUS leather camera harness. It’s also got so many colors to choose from. It’s also now available for preorder here. Look for yourself. I picked the Bandit. There is also the Drifter. You can choose the “lone” version for one camera or the full harness for two cameras. They also come in nice bags to package your equipment in.
• The ability to swap from a two camera system to a one camera system. There are videos to show this as well.
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  cons so far:

• I wish the system to swap between one and two cameras was something a bit more instantaneous. Something a little quicker. It’s amazing to have the ability at all, however. Therefore, this is a minor con.
• The instructions are easy to follow, but I am a mess with DIY anything. The need to tighten the Chicago screws when I first got it was a little much, but refer back to the arthritis. Anyone else who finds screwdrivers difficult may just want to consider this.
• There’s no warning about the safety catch. If there is, I missed it. Which, to be fair, is also a problem. It should be PLASTERED everywhere. With my Money Maker, it became second nature to me. The bolt that screws into the bottom of your camera is great. However, it is not perfect. Any harness I’ve ever worn needs a back-up plan. While wearing this on Saturday, the screw came untightened and if I had not had the safety catch attached, my camera would have met the pavement.

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There are an overwhelming number of options of equipment and there’s a finite amount of money to spend things on. I’ll be sure to keep this blog post updated if anything changes, but so far I am impressed. I’ve reached out to their customer service a few times and things were quick and smooth. If you have to pick a leather camera harness and a review to follow, hopefully it’s this one!

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