Camera accessory manufacturer Spider has devised the SpiderPro Hand Strap, a design that improves on the common hand strap. The new strap has a better fit and gives users a more secure grip on the camera.

The new hand strap addresses the problems photographers face by using an S-shaped design that curves back away from the hand grip of the camera. The layout of the strap puts it out of the way of the card compartment and battery door.

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Since the grip is left open at the front of the camera, the user can just pick up the device, point and shoot.

It also has a curve that puts the strap's memory foam closer to the user's wrist for better support and towards the bottom of the hand. A second strap can also be added to prevent the device from slipping and for extra support.

A thin but extremely durable material forms a flat loop lets the user attach the strap to the camera's body between any of the quick-release plates on the bottom of the device. This means the SpiderPro doesn't require any special connector or plate.

The SpiderPro's manufacturer is currently looking for backers for the strap with a campaign on fund raising site Tilt. Interested individuals can preorder a strap for US$55. The strap will retail for US$65 when it comes out.

While Spider's strap lets cameras take pictures easily, a device developed by two academics at the University of Rochester uses lenses to make things disappear.

Physics professor John Howell and graduate student Joseph Choi have developed the Rochester Cloak, a cloaking device that makes things invisible by bending light multidirectionally in three dimensions. The "cloaking device" uses four standard lenses.

The lenses are positioned at specific intervals to let light act in particular ways.

Light is first focused into a fine point through one lens that bends the light. The bent light is then focused through another lens and again through the next until the last lens.

The bend in the light lets an object in the ring-shaped cloaking field appear invisible to a viewer looking through the lenses.

TagsSpider, SpiderPro Hand Strap, camera, Camera hand strap, Camera strap, Lens, Invisibility Cloak, Cloak of Invisibility, Rochester Cloak