Some additional information on our new sponsor EDDYCAM – a German manufacturer of high-end leather camera straps:
At what age are you considered old?
When your pension is around the corner?
When you begin to count the weeks and days until your last day of work? For Edlef Wienen or Eddy as we all call him, the grind doesn’t stop even though technically he could have retired by now. His photography shop in Geisenheim, which he ran for over a decade was passed down to the next generation. This would have been a perfect opportunity to dedicate some time towards his passions like hiking but sometimes things done exactly work out as planned.
Humans and technology
Edlef “Eddy” Wienen likes to make one thing best: camera straps. In more than a hundred designs. The condition: they have to be made of elk leather. The portrait of an extraordinary passion for a handmade product made in Germany.
MR. EDDYCAM: Edlef “Eddy” Wienen started with his camera straps made of elk leather when he was 62. By then he had already had a respectable professional career as a photo dealer, enthusiastic photographer and specialist for professional camera systems.
Belt for belt a unique: Because each piece of elk leather tells its own story. Small scratches testify to earlier injuries of the animal, pressure marks to territorial fights and tiny scars to insect bites.
Coincidence and the elk
Eddy was at an expo with a friend who was looking for materials for a handbags. This is when they stumbled upon the elf leather. Eddy precisely remembers how soft it felt, and how surprised he was when he found out not only about how soft it is but also that this leather is one of the finest, toughest, longest lasting leathers in the world.
In today’s world it’s possible to order almost everything online including elk leathers but Edlef Wienen wants to know for himself: he is going to travel to Finland to find out from elk leather specialist exactly what makes this exavt product so unique and special. He is remembering the many conversations with photographers about the nuisance of a camera-strap.
Eddy went ahead and met with a doctors to inform himself about a couple of related problems such as the muscles, bones and ergonomics relating to the issue of the camera strap. Eddy is becoming an expert on the subject and was putting in more debt research and effort than done before.
Elk leather is a living material that adapts to the shape of the body during use. This creates a high level of wearing comfort.
Back in Germany he started to built a himself a handy, competent team. A small manufacturer in Bayern transforms the handpicked items and components into the exclusive camera strap. Here, thermofixed connection straps made of robust PP material are sewn together with high-quality cowhide using special yarn, and unbreakable stainless steel clamps are attached for length adjustment. Only the consistently high quality of all components ensures the enormous resilience of the camera straps and makes them virtually indestructible – even under the roughest climatic and operating conditions. In 2012, he presented his first elk leather camera straps at the Photokina in Cologne.
EDDYCAM Edition 35mm many colors, with leather camera protector and triangle rings.
Handmade: in a small Finnish tannery the elk leather is tanned and dyed. A manufactory in Bavaria processes the leather into camera straps.
Comfortable to wear and everlasting
The soft, skin-friendly surface, the ergonomic shape of the straps, an infinitely variable length adjustment and the solvent-free glued padding made of pure natural rubber ensure that Eddycam neither pulls nor pinches. Not in the neck, not on the shoulder -even after hours of wear, raves Eddy Wienen about his product, for which he holds several patents. So much know-how, high-quality materials and manual work have naturally also their price. An Eddycam elk leather camera strap will cost between 90 and 200 euros / dollar. However, Eddy is definitely on trend with the idea of producing long-lasting products. Quality is experiencing a renaissance in times of rethinking towards more sustainability and resource awareness.
The EDDYCAM SLiNG is the special hand strap made of elastic elk leather
Unique material and workmanship
Production of our elk-skin straps doesn’t start with the actual manufacturing in Germany, but much earlier – somewhere in the Scandinavian boreal forest. This is the home of the elk whose leather is responsible for EDDYCAM’s high quality.
Contact:
EDDYCAM
info@eddycam.com
www.eddycam.com
