Rigu's Blog

News from the UK's top camera strap specialist

Category: Advice

  • Will Rigu be at The Photography Show 2026?

    Unfortunately, Rigu will not have a stand at The Photography Show 2026 at the NEC.

    Around this time of year I start getting questions from people asking if Rigu will be exhibiting at the show. I just bought my train ticket to be a visitor, so I thought it was a good idea to let people know ahead of time, so that they don’t hold back on placing an order if they were planning on picking something up at the NEC.

    For most people I’m sure that’s all you need to know, but if you’d like to hear a bit about the reasons for this decision I’ll expand on them below.

    To be clear from the outset, this is not the fault of TPS. It’s a good show, it’s well run, and I do think their prices are pretty reasonable for what you get. Compared to other shows I’ve been invited to you are paying a lot less per visitor for a really targeted demographic of camera users with good staff support. We’re lucky to have something like TPS in the UK at a time when tradeshows are becoming rarer.

    Okay, enough beating around the bush, why isn’t Rigu at The Photography Show in 2026?

    It’s a big disruption for a small business

    Rigu is a small business that has a wide variety of niche products and people expect me to be carrying a wide variety on the stand despite us clearly having a fairly small space. I don’t have the exact numbers but I’m sure we had more than 300 different models of product available last time, and of course multiples of each model to sell, so we’re well over 1000 products being stored in that 3m by 2m space with extras kept in the van so we can restock each morning.

    A lot of planning goes into what to take, how many of each item to take, how it will be stored, and crucially how much is left back in the stock room at the office to keep everything going whilst we’re at the show.

    That’s a big disruption, and it requires a lot of investment in stock throughout the months leading up in the hopes that we sell enough that I’m not then overstocked for the rest of the year (because different things sell well at the show compared to online).

    In those 4 days at the show, the sales tend to be around the same as a good month on the website. That’s a lot of transactions to compress into 4 days, and a lot of product that needs to be moved.

    Beyond just the logistical aspects, I have to ask my brother to look after the online side of the business whilst I’m away, and my partner Liz takes time off work to help on the stand. That means I’m asking other people to disrupt their own lives for my benefit. A larger company with multiple staff can probably spread themselves better to maintain regular service so that there’s less of an impact. Perhaps I was over-ambitious trying to have such a wide range of products on a small stand.

    The show is very stressful & draining

    I don’t think I realised when I first went just how full-on it would be as an experience. From show opening at 10 to closing at 5 we get surrounded by people on 3 sides of the stand, sometimes with a bit of a crowd forming.

    All day I’m rotating on the stand answering questions whilst Liz takes the payments. We’ve estimated that I’ll have a couple of hundred conversations per day. On a few occasions someone will ask a question, I start telling them the answer then look up and realise I’m doing a product demo to a dozen people. As someone that is usually in an office on their own, this isn’t something I’m really used to.

    There’s no chance to really eat lunch, Liz forces a water bottle into my hands every so often, and no time to nip to the loo either. Any downtime between conversations I’m straightening up the stand, checking stock levels, or doing other admin. I’ve had a lot of comments from other exhibitors saying how busy our stand is, so I’m not sure if our experience is out of the ordinary or not, but I found it absolutely exhausting.

    I know how this sounds, I’m complaining about being busy. I chose to have a stand that gives us the maximum frontage, and I chose to bring lots of different products, so I’ve created a situation where we’re attractive to a wide variety of photographers. I’ve noticed that there’s also not a huge amount of stands selling products on the day, and I’m sure lots of people want to leave the show with something, and Rigu products fit the bill well for that, which probably contributes to the amount of people that visit the stand more than once in a day.

    If there was potentially another person on the stand that might alleviate some pressure, but as you can see from the pics above, there’s not really space for a 3rd person, so the other options would be to sell a smaller variety of products, or to have less customer facing sides to the stand so that we’re dealing with less people at the same time. Adding a person adds significant cost (wages, travel, accommodation), restricting product ranges or the amount of stand frontage reduces what we’d sell and makes breaking or becoming profitable harder. There’s probably a balance to be struck, and I’m sure I’d get better at this if I was doing it more often, but there’s not that many opportunities in the UK to exhibit my kind of products.

    Thefts are upsetting

    Being an ecommerce business, thefts are rare. There’s occasionally what I’d think of as minor fraud by customers, but generally I’m quite lucky. At the show we have experienced theft a number of times.

    I want people to be able to handle the merchandise, but if they can handle it they can steal it, and our stand has 3 sides so we can’t monitor everything all the time.

    Being a one-person business, it’s hard not to take it personally when someone decides to steal from your stand, because it’s going to impact me personally. These people may have probably had a conversation with me, or possibly even bought from me in the past, and they still think they should take something from my stand.

    People have stolen bags, torches, light painting tools, books, and straps. Everything that gets stolen makes it harder to make a profit at the show, and harder to justify coming back.

    People ask for discounts constantly

    It doesn’t matter what the price is, or if I’ve already got a promotion in place, a lot of people still want a “deal”. I suspect for a lot of people it’s just a game, but it gets boring very quickly, and my responses do get more frustrated over the process of the show. It’s not a big thing, but it does grind me down a bit when I already pride myself on offering fair value all year round to people and don’t run Black Friday or Boxing Day sales. People at the show don’t know that though, so it’s understandable that they don’t care when we’ve all been trained over the years to expect a cycle of sales and show specials.

    Don’t even get me started on influencers…

    It is not profitable.

    This is the big one. I could probably get over all the things above if we were leaving the NEC driving home on the Tuesday night with a healthy profit, but unfortunately that doesn’t happen.

    Working out profit and value from the show is quite hard because there’s no real way of knowing just how many people end up placing an order after the show based on seeing the Rigu stand, and how much value I should put on “brand awareness.”

    I do know that on both of the times I’ve exhibited that sales at the show have not covered the costs. This was to be expected the first time I exhibited, because there was a lot of stuff that needed to be bought and built to has a show-ready stand. There was also the Queen’s funeral which cancelled one of the days and naturally had an impact on our takings. With those sunk costs out of the way and having a full 4 trading days I thought year two would be profitable, but it wasn’t.

    Having done two years on, and one year off (missing the London show in 2025), looking at my revenue trends I suspect that there’s not that much follow-on business after the show for a company like Rigu, but it’s incredibly hard to really know what impact it has.

    Perhaps a few people were more likely to buy a HoldFast MoneyMaker after trying it on at the show, but not enough to make it a noticeable after-show bump.

    Camera companies, service companies, and “big ticket” products probably do better at this than someone selling camera straps and filters at affordable prices. Companies that have lots of experience will know how to be more efficient, and companies that produce their own products will have better margins than I do as an importer of niche goods, so it was always going to be hard.

    Will I try again in the future?

    I’ll never say never. Even with all the reasons not to do it, there’s still part of me that feels like I should be able to make this work. It not working makes me think I’m doing something wrong, and that’s frustrating.

    There is a good buzz to the show, and it is fun talking to lots of people, and seeing people interact with the products. Other than a handful of people visiting the office here in the Lakes this is the only chance I get to meet customers and that is really enjoyable, it makes me think that if it broke even I’d go again. When I look at how I allocate my time and marketing budget, it just doesn’t seem sensible and rational to keep going to the show unless I can find a better way to do it.

    Hopefully this post hasn’t come across as whiny or too much of a pity party. I’ve wanted to get my thoughts on this written down for a while and think it’s good to be honest and transparent with customers since a lot of social media and customer interaction tends to only be about the positive aspects of running a business.

    If you enjoyed this post and think it would be interesting to read more “behind the scenes” type posts please do leave a comment or get in touch directly if you want to chat about it more.

  • HoldFast Gear MoneyMaker Skinny vs Original Comparison

    Holdfast Gear Original and Skinny MoneyMaker camera harnesses
    Holdfast Gear Original and Skinny MoneyMaker camera harnesses

    For almost a decade HoldFast Gear have been producing camera straps and harnesses using high-end leather and components, helping thousands of photographers to improve their workflow whilst looking stylish and being more comfortable than ever before at work.

    Over that time, their product range has expanded. Some of these products have a bit of overlap in what they can do and who they’re appropriate for, which can be confusing for some photographers who just aren’t sure what is right for them.

    Being the UK’s leading seller of HoldFast products I talk to a lot of photographers and I know that people are often unsure whether they should go for the skinny MoneyMaker of the original/regular version. I thought that I’d provide some advice and clear up a few misconceptions to help people decide what MoneyMaker dual camera harness is right for them. People are of course still welcome to get in touch for advice because buying a MoneyMaker is an investment, and I know people want to be confident in their choice before making a purchase.

    This article is being written whilst I’m not able to visit my office due to the COVID-19 pandemic (though orders are being dispatched almost as normal), so I’m just using HoldFast’s own product images for now as I don’t have access to the harnesses at the moment to take some nice photos of them. Hopefully when life returns to normal I’ll be able to get some nice side-by-side shots to better illustrate the differences.

    What differences are there between the Original and Skinny MoneyMakers by HoldFast Gear?

    Physical size

    The biggest and most obvious difference is the width of the leather. The main belt of leather on the original MoneyMaker is 1.5″ (38mm) wide. The main belt on the skinny MoneyMaker is 1″ (25mm) wide, with removable leather shoulder pads that are 1.5″ wide.

    Despite the difference in the main belt width, both versions use the same width of leather on the adjustable slider (except with a smaller metal connector to attach to the harness on the skinny version, so ensure a tighter fit and prevent the slider from catching and nipping at your clothes).

    With the main belt being less wide, this of course means it uses less material and is therefore a lighter product, and can also be packed smaller in storage or transport. It’s not a huge difference, but if you are trying to save every gram possible, or have limited packing space in your camera bag then this might be a consideration for you.

    Flexibility with D-rings

    holdfast gear moneymaker D-ring comparison

    The original MoneyMaker comes in two versions; with D-rings or without. They can’t be added or removed after purchase, so it’s important to choose wisely when you place your order. The main use for the front D-rings is adding a 3rd camera with a set of leashes, and I’ve heard of photographers using them for their press pass at gigs and events so that it can be kept easily visible without getting in their way. On my on own MoneyMaker I’ve never actually used the D-rings for anything, but I think they look cool and add to the aesthetic of the product so I’m happy to have them there.

    Why wouldn’t you want D-rings? HoldFast themselves recommend not having the D-rings if you have long hair that you wear down when you’re shooting, and you know you won’t be using the harness with a 3rd camera. I should say I’ve never had someone return a MoneyMaker because their hair was getting tangled in the rings, but it is something to consider. You might also want a more minimal looking MoneyMaker with no D-rings so that it is just leather on your shoulders.

    The skinny MoneyMaker does give a lot more flexibility in this regard. The D-rings are held in place on the skinny MoneyMaker by the removable shoulder pad. You can remove the D-rings and still keep the shoulder pads on the harness (or remove them too) if you are concerned about your hair getting caught in the rings, or you just don’t see the need for them. If you felt you needed them later on then it would just be a few minutes of adjusting the harness to get those rings back on.

    Which is more comfortable?

    This is a tricky question to answer, because it is very dependent on who is wearing it, so what applies to me and some other people might not necessarily be true for you. Comparing one to the other in terms of comfort is hard because very few people will use the original version for an extended period of time and then switch to the skinny as most people are happy with the first kind they get and stick to it. Still, there is some general advice I can provide, as long as it is understood with the overall advice that no matter which you choose, it will probably be more comfortable than what you are using at the moment.

    back of an original holdfast gear moneymaker black bridle leather
    BrandonBurkPhotography.com

    In terms of spreading the weight of your cameras there should be very little difference between the skinny and original MoneyMaker. Your shoulders take the majority of that weight, and the with the width of the shoulder pads on the skinny being the same as the width of the original MoneyMaker band, you’re spreading that weight across the same area.

    If you remove the shoulder pads in theory it could be less comfortable, but I think the difference would be fairly negligible except for in extreme cases with very heavy camera setups and extended periods of use without being able to take a break.

    The crossover on the back does also take some of the strain, but I am of the belief that the sizing of this shouldn’t make too much of a difference to the level of comfort.

    Overall, I think it’s very even in comfort between the two versions for most men and some women, but in the next section I’ll be discussing how for some women there are a few other considerations to make in terms of comfort.

    Which is the best HoldFast MoneyMaker for women?

    skinny tan water buffalo leather holdfast gear moneymaker worn by model

    I have had anecdotal evidence from a few female photographers that the skinny MoneyMaker is more comfortable for them. For some women using the original MoneyMaker the width of the harness can end up rubbing under the armpit or generally being a bit of a bother pushing against their bra.

    To be clear, no one has ever returned an original MoneyMaker due to this being an issue, so I don’t want anyone to worry too much. I suspect that as the leather gets worn in and more pliable with use that this issue would subside, but when asked by customers I do tend to recommend the skinny version to female photographers.

    Some female photographers (and male too) that are slim or petite tend to prefer the look of the skinny MoneyMaker since it is less bulky. I’m a big guy and the original version looks right on me, so it makes sense that the skinny version would be more appropriate for slimmer people. With this in mind, for people that are slim it can sometimes make sense to go for a smaller size than the sizing chart recommends for your height. In these cases if you are unsure I would recommend contacting me for personalised advice.

    Is the Skinny MoneyMaker strong enough for my DSLR cameras?

    Yes! I’m not sure where this idea came from, but occasionally I get asked if the Skinny MoneyMaker is just for photographers that have more lightweight camera setups like using a pair of mirrorless cameras or just sticking to using short prime lenses which tend to be lighter.

    From a practical point of view, the skinny and original versions of the MoneyMaker can carry the same amount of weight. They are both strong enough that they will carry far more than your cameras could weigh, so you can confidently put a couple of big full-frame DSLRs on there with heavy telephoto lenses mounted without any concerns.

    It’s slightly more rare, but I do also get asked if the original MoneyMaker wil handle having a 24-70mm lens on one side and a 70-200mm lens on the other with a pair of full frame DSLRs. The answer remains the same; yes. The MoneyMaker is designed with event and wedding photographers in mind, and so it can carry any setup that would typically be used in those professions.

    Is the sizing different?

    The sizing chart is the same for both kinds of MoneyMaker. This comes with the usual caveats that height is not the only concern when deciding what size is right for you. Slimmer people sometimes need to size down, and bigger people sometimes need to go for a larger size than the sizing chart indicates. Generally, it tends to be that if you fit into a medium original MoneyMaker then the medium skinny will be the right fit for you too.

    Conclusion

    Let’s be clear, as someone that sells the MoneyMaker and other HoldFast products I recognise that I am biased, but I do hope this article has provided some guidance and advice that can help you make a better informed decision if you are thinking about buying a HoldFast Gear MoneyMaker.

    As I said earlier, every person is different. Different taste, different height, different body shape, different camera setup and that means conclusions are hard to draw. The stats are that the majority of my skinny MoneyMaker sales are to women, whereas men are much more likely to order the original MoneyMaker, but I wouldn’t want anyone to feel that they shouldn’t buy either kind based on gender when the most important thing is you purchasing a harness that you will be happy and comfortable using for many years.

    If you’re unsure which MoneyMaker is right for you, give me a message or call and I’ll do my best to make sure you get the right MoneyMaker.

    Rigu has the largest selection of HoldFast Gear products in the UK, offering same day dispatch and next day delivery, along with excellent customer service and knowledge of their products. It is considerably cheaper to purchase a MoneyMaker via Rigu than importing one direct from HoldFast the USA after you take account for import taxes and fees. The saving is usually around £50 depending on the exchange rate.