X
CNET logo Why You Can Trust CNET

Our expert, award-winning staff selects the products we cover and rigorously researches and tests our top picks. If you buy through our links, we may get a commission. Reviews ethics statement

BlackRapid Sport Slim (RS-Sport 2) review: A stabler sling strap for active photographers

This strap from BlackRapid helps prevent the camera from sliding around your body and crashing into things.

Lori Grunin Senior Editor / Advice
I've been reviewing hardware and software, devising testing methodology and handed out buying advice for what seems like forever; I'm currently absorbed by computers and gaming hardware, but previously spent many years concentrating on cameras. I've also volunteered with a cat rescue for over 15 years doing adoptions, designing marketing materials, managing volunteers and, of course, photographing cats.
Expertise Photography, PCs and laptops, gaming and gaming accessories
Lori Grunin
3 min read

When it comes to the BlackRapid sling straps, I'm much more a fan of the strap than the connectors, but the Sport Slim is probably my favorite strap out of all the ones I've been using from any company. The company makes a series of straps in a couple of widths -- a standard width and a skinnier version for slighter frames, as well as a curved strap that more comfortably fits women's frontal topography. But the Sport has a particularly nice feature: a second strap that wraps around your left (or right, in the case of the LS version) shoulder to provide additional stability.

7.8

BlackRapid Sport Slim (RS-Sport 2)

The Good

The underarm brace on the <b>BlackRapid Sport Slim RS-Sport 2</b>'s comfortable and well-designed strap gives it extra stability when you're moving a lot or have a heavy camera.

The Bad

The strap's carabiner attachment is awkward at best and at worst abrades the camera.

The Bottom Line

Despite a less-than-perfect connector design, the Black Rapid Sport Slim RS-Sport 2 is a great sling strap for people with more important things to do with their hands when they're not shooting.

Though targeted at the active crowd, the strap makes a big difference when you're doing something that requires both hands or if you've got a relatively heavy pro body. Whe Sport Slim has a movable cam buckle on each side of the carabiner (Connectr) that holds the tripod-mount connector (Fastenr), and the buckles act as stops to prevent the camera from sliding too far in either direction. On slings without the underarm brace, those stoppers become moot, since the whole strap generally slides or flops when you lean forward.

A second strap connects under your arm to prevent the strap from sliding around. When you want it to be able to slide, you simply release the connector.

The main strap's 63 inches long and the shoulder pad is a little over 3 inches at its widest. You can also buy the underarm strap, dubbed BRAD, for use with other BlackRapid straps. I like the webbing, which while lightweight doesn't seem to wear, or show wear, as much as some. The shoulder section is nicely padded covered by polyester and ballistic nylon. It's appropriately stiff -- not too much, not too little -- and very comfortable. The BRAD works best when you can get a snug fit; on nylon jackets, especially those aren't very fitted, it's hard to get the BRAD tight enough and the strap tends to slide off.

The Fastenr tripod-mount attachment isn't the most elegant design, but it works well enough.

While I love the strap, the Connectr and Fastenr pose some problems. The Fastenr works well enough; it's straightforward to attach and doesn't loosen. However, there's no way to set the camera down flat while it's attached, which occasionally annoyed me while trying to stabilize cameras to shoot video. The company offers an optional alternative, the Fastenr Tripod, with a flat bottom and a longer screw designed to fit through a tripod plate.

I have bigger issues with the Connectr, though. I used it (on a different strap) for months with the Canon EOS 7D, cramming it into various bags without disconnecting it, and one day looked at the camera and noticed that the carabiner had abraded off the paint beneath the LCD. The screw on the carabiner also loosens, though even if it does you're not in imminent danger of dropping the camera.

Unfortunately, I'm not a big fan of the carabiner; the closure tends to unscrew slightly and the metal can abrade the camera when in your bag.

Another warning: since it's more harness than strap, you've got to worry about front and back and left and right when putting it on, which means you can't just throw it over your head without thinking. For some of us, that takes a little more forethought than others.

Despite those problems, though, the advantages of the strap outweigh the disadvantages enough to make it my go-to strap for most of the shooting I do with dSLRs and larger cameras.