Thread mount shoulder/sling strap causes damage to tripod mount on D800?

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carguy

Senior Member
Not mine, saw this on another forum.

Shoulder strap ruins D-800: Nikon FX SLR (D1-D4, D600-D800) Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review

After taking my beautiful D 800 to four or five events suspended by a shoulder strap I noted that the bottom of the camera at the tripod thread had bent the base plate of the camera down. Never had a large lens on the camera only small primes.Sent it to Melville and they claimed it was "impact" damage and billed me$280.00. A month went by and finally after I called several times they reported that it could not be fixed.

Now what do I do?
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Apparently using it with a 50 mm 1.8 prime and maybe once a 24 - 70mm.

Appears while using a sling/shoulder strap, there must have been some abnormal force someplace causing the damage to the tripod mount/base of the body. You'd think if this was more of an issue, we'd have read more about it?

Image: http://www.dpreview.com/files/t/E~7a023d3995cd447b963f8bf37d88fb4a

That site is so hard to follow. They should step up to the year 2000 with their forum design :)

Thoughts?
 
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Horoscope Fish

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
I guess my only thought's are these. If I ever buy a D800 I'll use the camera's tripod mount for, oh... I dunno... Maybe mounting the camera on a tripod or something like that. Now, if some people manage to use the tripod socket as shoulder-strap anchor, and get away without damage, well, jolly good for them! Seems to me, though, Nikon probably refers to that socket as a tripod mount for a reason. I also don't really see Nikon crying in their beer over this fellows issue. Seems to me he took a gamble, his horse lost, and now he's upset about it.
 
BackdoorArts

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
I don't think the guy is sore with Nikon for not being able to fix it as much as he's perplexed by the propensity of tripod mounted strap devices and the assorted devotees, and not a story to be heard about something like this. I'd need to really look at it to see what's what in terms of the construction, but it would see to me that companies like Black Rapid and others would have been out of business ages ago if this was commonplace. I suspect that camera took a bad hit somewhere that the guy's either not will to own up to or never noticed. I've always been leery of it myself, and use rings on the strap links for my Black Rapid, but I don't blame someone for thinking that a pro camera and a pro strap system would not work together as designed. I know I'd want answers.
 
AC016

AC016

Senior Member
Why do people post this stuff expecting us to beleive that there was absolutley no force behind it??? Yes, Nikon D800s just mysteriously come apart at the seems!! That is right folks, no force required. Just wait and your D800 and your lenses will just fall apart in front of your eyes! For every reaction (the bending of the plate), there is an action (force to bend it). Was there not a post on here not long ago where somebody's lens mount came off? and of course, it just happened without physics at play, lol.
 
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PapaST

Senior Member
It's hard to surmise what happened from the pics. The entire bottom seemed to pull away from the body. Blaming the BR camera strap makes the most sense but from what I gather the poor guy is fairly certain but not 100% that an impact did not occur. Stuff happens all the time. Sure the tripod mount is not designed for a camera strap anchor but I'd venture to say the D800 (and D600 for that matter) is secure enough to anchor a camera and fairly heavy lens with no problem. Even with bouncing and jostling around. If I had to guess, I'd say there was some type of external force that caused that separation.

The guy was genuinely trying to warn others of a potential issue. But IMHO the damage wasn't caused by the strap and has given all the "anti-tripod strap guys" fodder for their argument. Either way, I'll hedge my bet with a battery grip. Those are cheaper to replace.
 
Watoh

Watoh

Senior Member
Hmmm i was looking to get a Black Rapid Sport shoulder strap that uses the tripod mount... with my D600.. makes me think.
 
Horoscope Fish

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
Watoh said:
Hmmm i was looking to get a Black Rapid Sport shoulder strap that uses the tripod mount... with my D600.. makes me think.
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I love my Black Rapid sling, but I like it even better when I attach it to the strap lug instead of using the tripod mount. My camera has a much better feel when it hangs at my side using this method since it swings away from my body less when using the strap lug. Some people use a BosTail for this, I use a pair of ninety-seven cent split-rings from Home Depot.
 
BackdoorArts

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
I'm with you on the rings on the strap mound, HF. I'm looking to devise something a little slicker, but this works just fine for now.

I have to believe that something tugged really hard on that guy's camera - like he was moving fast and it got stuck on a door jamb, or he tried to lift the camera by the strap and something was blocking it so he tugged hard without thinking. That's a decent metal plate on the bottom and to bend it like that requires not just pulling force but also some torque, which you're not going to get from it just hanging at your side.
 
C

carguy

Senior Member
BackdoorHippie said:
I have to believe that something tugged really hard on that guy's camera - like he was moving fast and it got stuck on a door jamb, or he tried to lift the camera by the strap and something was blocking it so he tugged hard without thinking. That's a decent metal plate on the bottom and to bend it like that requires not just pulling force but also some torque, which you're not going to get from it just hanging at your side.
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I'm with you on this Jake.
 
BackdoorArts

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
The more I stare at this the more I have to think that if this had anything to do with the strap it would be on the back end, not the front since that's the closer point to where it attaches and all the weight is in the front.

E~7a023d3995cd447b963f8bf37d88fb4a



If 5 semesters of Physics has taught me anything it's that in order for that gap to open up in the front the bottom plate needed to be secured and something pushed up on the front of the camera. Stick it on a tripod/monopod with a lens of any type and have something come up underneath it against the lens. Only strap scenario I can come up with has the camera on its back (like that) and something on top of the mounting screw (i.e. camera bottom flush against something with substantial weight) and you grab the camera by the lens to pick it up and it rotates on the prism. Or maybe the guy is jumping up and down with the camera at his side since the weight is all up front causing the torque.

I see nothing​ here that would make me worry about a strap mount.
 
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