Park It With Peak - Pick It Up Later

Sounds like a valet service at a fancy restaurant, doesn't it? Well, you have to do the hard work with this one, but it will be worth it.

Carrying a heavy camera on a neck strap is fine, if you look like He-Man or The Incredible Hulk. They have the necks for DSLRs with battery packs and long zoom lenses. In fact carrying these all day is what turns the Hulk green...

For the rest of us, we try to spread the weight somewhere else - in my case I keep a small servant called Igor to haul the heavy stuff. If you are not so lucky you may choose to try a shoulder sling - and they work to some extent - but will experience the same sort of weight swing that the neck strap does - when you move one way the camera and lens may move another.

Peak Design came up with an answer - park the camera on a belt or on the strap of a backpack. You can keep your hands free for rock climbing, fighting off bears, or getting a really full plate and a beer at the buffet. It is not the only docking system on the market but it is one of the smallest and most convenient if your photo work also involves a tripod.

Okay - it works like this - you slide the dock onto the belt or strap and use the two black side wheels to lock the mechanism in place. It'll fit over a hefty leather belt and is made of strong metal -we're talking large DSLR and a big 70-200 lens here easily. The plate that screws onto the baseplate of your tripod has an Arca Swiss-sized foot on it and you can go clamp it into an Arca head instantly. When you need to dock the camera onto the belt you can point it sideways, down, or backwards just as you please. There's a quick release lock and a positive screw lock in case you are going to be hanging upside down from the cliff face.

Imagine life WITHOUT any neck or shoulder strap at all. Woooo...

Addendum:

Woooo again - looks like you can also configure that camera plate to fit on Manfrotto RC2 quick release holders - so we get a lot more players in the game.