I am wondering what advice you guys might have for carrying the camera when active. Specifically, do you have any strap or harness idea that you use when the primary focus is hiking, snowshoeing etc?

Packs of any sort make access slow and a pain. Straps leave the camera swinging around too much unless you are moving at a more leisurely pace and can stick it inside a jacket.

I would like to have something that allowed me to have my camera reasonably accessible with a shorter lens attached. When I snowshoe or hike I sometimes take my DSLR in a pack of some sort. That really isn't all that accessible. The problem goes beyond just missing shots that are only available for a second. I just don't take it out of a pack and use it much because it is too much hassle. I can go with a point and shoot but that has big limitations.

I am taking the family to southern Italy for 10 days in late March and want to take some quality photos but don't have a good idea to make my camera accessible while not swinging around.

Any ideas?

light weight jacket with big pockets?..not joking i carry my older SLR in the fall and winter in the big outside pockets of my parka shell.

I use a variety of OpTech USA straps and a harness. Nice system approach with interchangeable parts, great quality. I have found I use just the hand strap for 75% of my camera use. For hiking I'll use short straps with clips attached to d-rings on the pack harness. Backpack connector

butthead

quote butthead: "I use a variety of OpTech USA straps and a harness. Nice system approach with interchangeable parts, great quality. I have found I use just the hand strap for 75% of my camera use. For hiking I'll use short straps with clips attached to d-rings on the pack harness. Backpack connector

butthead"

Those look like good products. I think the stabilizer strap is what I was looking for, and the reporter/backpack system looks good too.

Thanks for the help.

I always wondered if this would work

Right now all I bring along when outdoors on "rugged" trips is a point and shoot digital camera. For years I kept it in a shirt or coat pocket with a ziploc sandwich bag handy in wet situations. Now in the canoe I use this and find it handy enough to still access quickly for unexpected shots and will protect and keep it dry.