I used to wear 35mm SLR cameras when I freelanced. (I also had a darkroom, black and white processing/printing only.) I had a lot of cameras including several Nikkormat ELs in varying stages of functionality. Wearing any camera all day is a pain in the neck. Wearing several with different film speeds was even more of a pain.
This was the only thing that made it bearable:
Those solid, plain, simple neoprene straps felt like the cameras weighed half as much by the end of a long work day. Try to get the straps that have as much length of neoprene as possible, in case you have to move the camera you’re wearing to a weird position: you’ll still be covered (in neoprene strap). Unseamed, preferably. After 6 or 8 hours of wearing a neoprene that had stitched edges, I chafed even though I wore a collared shirt. The ones with the nylon strap sewn on the outside face of the strap totally defeat the purpose of the neoprene. Don’t bother with those.
I know of steel-cable (very very thin, sewn in nonobviously) reinforced camera straps meant to thwart thieves known to cut cameras off of tourists on trains, buses and other opportunistic crime areas. I had a camera bag by PacSafe that used the same approach. I can’t find the exact model but it looked kinda like this. In the end I went with waist packs because it was faster to change lenses out of, and my neck needed a lighter load to carry.
Since we’re focusing on ugly straps, here are some loud flashy ones in neoprene:
I always chose black straps because they essentially disappeared from view when paired with a black t-shirt or black workshirt. It was pretty hard to tell I was wearing a camera unless you were standing near me and I only shot using available light. Only drawback was on hot days where I couldn’t find shade, I felt really hot. Even the cameras got hot. I had wee cooler stocked with ice packs to keep film in and it was nice to sit on while I felt like I was melting.
