Backcountry Solutions
Hands-Free Innovations

KEYHOLE® Camera Harness Customer Comments

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Sure enjoying the harness as you can tell from my photos up there. Had a great time with the hike and using the camera while I was snowshoeing all the way to the top of the mountain. 


Merv


Here is the link to more comments and photos of Merv, his dogs, and our KEYHOLE SYSTEM  http://kamiakennels.ca/offleash-hiking-dogs.htm

 

My name is Mark and I just climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa using a keyhole. It made it all the way up and half the way down with a Sony PXW - x70 on it. It was perfect. However on the last day, I semi tumbled and the red "puck" popped off the black camera mount. I tried smashing it back together, but it fell apart again.  Can I get a replacement?


Your product was perfect for what I needed. Here are some photos with me wearing the camera and Keyhole. We had weather a few days so that is why the camera is covered in the very chic "Le Ziploc eau proof" covering. Sorry there are no "I am at the top with my Keyhole" photos. When you get to 19,341 ft, you just want "A" picture.




















Here is a photo I got taken of me with the keyhole and my camera at 13,500 ft in Colorado on Mt. Bierstadt.









Thanks!  Mark



Thank you for the Keyhole System Shoulder Straps which I have received today.

Excellent service and a brilliant product.

 

This hands-free carry system for heavy cameras is an absolute delight to use.

 

And I am grateful that you were willing to sell the harness separately,

 

Kindest regards, - Patrick 


The Keyhole worked great as we walked 475 miles on the Camino de Santiago in Spain last May. I loved it. 3500+ pictures- still editing!!

I dropped the tripod hole knob & it broke. I would like to order another one. Please advise me. I have looked for something like this for hiking for years. Thanks!!

Peter

I purchased one of your products from Never Summer in Grand Lake about a month ago.  It was just what I was looking for as I was planning a hike into the Grand Canyon.  I just wanted to let you know that it worked perfectly and more than met my expectations.  There was no swinging of the camera and yet it was ready for virtually every shot that I wanted to take.  Thank you for designing a great product.
 
Dwight   
I have ordered three harnesses in the past and now I am ordering another three.
 
Reason for these new three is because a lot of people ask me what it is, that harness and when I explain and show them they are very enthousiatic.  As a member of a photographers club I will deliver these harnesses to other member of the club.

The keyhole is the best system for carrying your camera I have seen.

Regards, -dick
I received my camera carrier Friday and got to try it out on a hike Saturday. I absolutely love it! I have other harnesses and methods that I've tried but none have addressed the issue of the telephoto lens extending while you're hiking or securing the lens to your chest so it doesn't bounce. This one does a wonderful job of both and I just wanted you to know how pleased I am with it!
 
Thanks for the great product!

Sherri
Thank you so much for your  'Keyhole' Camera Harness which arrived safely today, and is now firmly attached to my Berghaus backpack.

This product is absolutely brilliant, and no one in the UK ( and probably the whole world) sells anything like it.  I have been looking out for just something like this for several years now and recently, fortunately hit upon your web site. And what a revelation that turned out to be. I do a lot of fell walking and photography in the Lake District here in the North West of England, and I always found it something of an irritation having a heavy DSLR swinging round my neck, but I needed quick and easy access to the camera so had to put up with the downside of it hanging around my neck..  but now, with your wonderful and innovate product, no longer will I find it a problem. A solution so simple and so beautifully designed I can't think why no one else thought of it. Well, top marks to Backcountry Solution for coming up with this design and congratulations on producing such an excellent product! I cannot praise it enough.

Your 'Keyhole' is so good that I shall be returning shortly to purchase another one, as soon as I have decided upon which shoulder harness to buy, for those occasions when I am taking photographs and don't need a backpack.

Thank you so much for your kind attention, speedy service and excellent product.

Kindest regards, - Patrick P.

Just  wanted to tell you I love your product. Picked one up at Neptune Mountaineering here in Boulder prior to going on a trip, and used it for 7 days trekking through Peru last month. It made my camera a whole lot more accessible and easier to manage, and as I result I now have 600+ pictures to sort through from that trip - not your fault, mine ;)  I've also used to hike a few fourteener's here in Co.

One suggestion: I, as I'm sure along with many others, like to hike with a monopod/walking stick. The monopod is useful in low light situations to steady the camera before shooting. Unfortunately, the placement of the keyhole "dongle" means you've got to take that off, and find a pocket or somewhere else to stash it, before being able to attache the camera to a monopod/tripod and shoot.

Have you ever considered adding a pass-through tripod mount on the bottom of that dongle piece? That would mean I could simply attach the camera, with that attached, directly to the monopod and not having to worry about taking it off, potentionally losing it, etc.

I'd be willing to pay $5  - $10 extra for a pass-through tripod mount like that.  - Nick

Thanks Nick.  We have had inquiries about re-designing the (dongle) knob to adapt to tripods/monopods.  Several of our customers use an L-bracket from Really Right Stuff (which has 2 tripod mount holes), but if you don't already have one, it's kind of pricey.  We have looked into incorporating your suggestion into the knob, but haven't been able to find anyone to make it for us at a reasonable price.  We'll keep looking and will let you know if we are able to produce one.  We were trying to keep the cost of the KEYHOLE reasonable.  Thanks for letting us know that this would be worth a few extra dollars. - Backcountry Solutions
 
UPDATE:  We now have tripod useable knobs available for purchase on our KEYHOLE SYSTEM Purchase Page 


I first saw your product at the Christie Sports store in Fraser on a ski trip to Winter Park.  I thought that if I ever went back to using an SLR camera, your product would be pretty nifty.  I purchased a Nikon D90, went back to Winter Park and that store . . . and they no longer carried your product.  I put the camera around my neck on that trip.  I didn't take many pictures.

This past July, we took a Boy Scout Venture Crew on a backpack trip ... in Montana.  I knew I couldn't put the camera around my neck and make it through the ten day trip.  I surfed.  I checked Christie Sports.  I eventually remembered the keyhole word and there you were.

I love your product.  I wore the Keyhole with my Millett backpack and never, ever knew that I had any weight in the front of my pack.  All I knew was that when the mood struck or something caught my eye, the Nikon was available.  I shot pictures without missing a beat on the trail.  Because of your product, I was able to document the ten day trip ... in over 1200 pictures - while "peaking" on a number of fabulous mountains.

When I use your product on the REI Flash day pack ... I am not quite as deliriously happy.  I am a small person - five feet and a hundred pounds.  I'm also pretty creative and crafty, so I understand why I'm less pleased with your product when I use the day pack.  I wear the keyhole as small as it can  possibly be, but it is still too big for my frame, particularly on the less sturdy straps of a day pack.  The clips are probably as small as you can get them.  If you could shrink the length of the webbing or shrink the size of the keyhole . . . even just an inch . . . I'd be deliriously happy every time I used your product.

Don't get me wrong.  I love the Keyhole.  I'm going to recommend it to everyone I know.  If you ever find a way to make it a little bit smaller, I'd buy the petite version.  Thanks for a totally fabulous product.  I can't wait to use it in the winter when we go skiing. Karen

Thanks Karen.  Christy Sports has the KEYHOLE stocked again.  Sorry they ran out.  As for making a petite size,  we made the plate as small as we could without compromising its design features.  May be suggest trying to tighten all the other straps on the pack and then adjust the KEYHOLE straps.  If we are able to make it smaller in the future, we will certainly do so - Backcountry Solutions.


This is Kevon, a very happy keyhole-harness customer for more than two years now.  I've posted pix of your product on the light-hiking forum that I post on (Backcountryforum.com).  I have shown the product to anyone who asks me about it on the trail and believe this is the best harness on the market.

Received my keyhole camera strap and am pleased with the engineering and materials.  Just ordered a second strap for my wifes pack.  Just so you know, your keyhole strap works quite well with an ArcTerex Bora 95 backpack.  In fact, the camera strap is an improvement over the ArcTerex breast strap (which) is a little elastic and lets the pack shift a little too much, your strap firms up the feel of the pack.  Job well done. - Allen

Just used the Keyhole to photograph a folk music festival here in Tucson. (I was the official photographer.) In two days, I photographed 41 acts on four stages. The Keyhole, combined with my Mountainsmith Borealis AT backpack, saved a lot of wear and tear on my neck. - Martha R.

I received my keyhole harness just before I went to the Grand Canyon for a two day hike to the bottom and back up.  I wanted to bring my camera but I didn't want to have to deal with it swinging and the weight of it on my neck.  The keyhole thing seems like the perfect answer.  Unfortunately, just as we started the hike, I was still trying to get situated when I dropped my camera.  It landed on the camera attachment and broke the red knob.  The red knob actually saved the camera (thank you very much).  There was just enough of the red knob left to hook into the keyhole and it worked.  I love this dorky looking thing because it saved my neck, my camera and it worked brilliantly!  But the broken red knob ruined my shirt (a small price to pay) and I would like to replace 'the red knob' if possible.  Is it possible to replace the camera attachment without buying a whole new harness?  Martha P.

Thanks for the great comments from Martha.  Replacement knobs are available on our purchase page. - Backcountry Solutions

Just letting you know I love this devise.  I've hiked twice now where we had to rock climb, and it has worked perfectly staying in place -  Penney

A friend sent me one of these as a gift when I lived in Miami (last March), before I moved to Denver.  I've used it on several hiking trips, the most recent a segment of the CT last week.  It is a fantastic thing!  Before I got this thing, I couldn't handle a camera banging on my chest by the strap, so I had it in my hand that often went "to sleep" from holding it.  (It isn't easy taking a quick shot with your fingers numb.)...
It truly is a great product and I recommend it to everyone, including the people on my UL hiking forum...This has proven to be the greatest invention since the hydration bladder (for thirsty hikers) or wag bag (for pooping climbers), except it's for obsessed hiking photographers. It's a "local" Colorado product. - Kevon

The Keyhole worked absolutely fabulously for us on our trip. We actually improved upon the setup by running the camera strap through one side of the backpack strap, attaching it with a carbineer on the back side of the shoulder. I think it was even more secure, and there was no annoying strap around the neck at all! ...I would love to see the Keyhole in a more neutral color - black or khaki? - Lynn

Lynn, we will add black to our product line in our next production run - Backcountry Solutions
 
UPDATE:  Black is now available

I am SO happy I found your site!  There simply is no comparable product on the market.  I look forward to many happy hours backpacking with my dSLR now. - Chris


Want to write and say thanks. Just got back from a week of cross-country sking and snow shoeing, the strap was great,better that I hoped. - Ed

My Keyhole just arrived (without any problems with customs) and today I performed a quick field test of the thing.  I'm still getting used to it but it works. I tried some jumps around tree trunks etc. and my camera stayed close to my body without dangling. The weight of the camera is no longer entirely on my neck.  In a couple of days I will go for a longer trek. I'll report the results of a full day test. I hope I'm not going to miss a shot of wildlife this time.  Thank you very much for you invention.  Piotr

I received it yesterday and can’t wait to put it to use.  What a great product.  Thank you so much. - Bruce

I certainly hope this works as good as your ad and website indicate.  I’ve struggled with hiking and snow shoeing with my camera bag attached to the waist belt of my backpack.  One of my hiking buddies gave me the article from the Rocky Mtn News last Friday when we went snow shoeing and I was tickled to see a camera “contraption” was available.   For several years I have checked with photography stores to see if they carried any special gear and apparently they gave that up years ago.  - Barb

My husband noticed your article in the Rocky mtn. (News) and show(ed) it to me. I thought what a great Valentine's present!  It's very frustrating at times while hiking and having to get your camera and I'm looking forward very much to receiving the KEYHOLE. - Janice

FYI. I went to (****** Camera shop) asking for such a holder.  They never heard of one and anything like it.  This was 3 days ago. I know there is one made for binoculars and I was hoping a camera shop would have one for cameras. I was really disappointed but three days later your product appeared in the Rocky Mtn News.  I was really excited and ordered one right away. Thanks for thinking and developing the product. - Ralph

I've been looking for quite some time and happened to come across your website last night.  I backpack/hike regularly and it's always a chore with the camera (DSLR)  I'm heading back to the Grand Canyon in a couple months and hopefully this will work out much better. - Brian
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KEYHOLE® Hands-Free Camera Harness

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