I’ve reviewed, own and have been a fan of Peak Design for a few years now. If you are a photographer and don’t know who Peak Design is, think of them as the small company in San Francisco that thinks of the wants and needs of a photographer. The company is full of photographers and take pride in providing photography accessories to help make a photographer’s life easier while on a shoot or traveling. I’ve reviewed the company’s backpacks, straps, cuffs and clips previously. And I was please with all of them. But now there’s another product in the Peak Design lineup. The Travel Tripod.
Peak Design Travel Tripod. Image by Peak Design
Travel Tripod Overview
By the time you see this post, you’ll probably have already heard rumblings about the tripod from Peak Design all over the internet. I had hoped my write-up would have been published on TechRepublic by now, but technical difficulties have gotten in the way. D’oh! No worries, I’m still going to share my thoughts. The key feature to note regarding the travel tripod is the the industrial design. It’s beautifully done.
Typical tripods are somewhat bulky when it comes to travel. They never fold down to an efficient size when you’re trying to stow them in your backpack or camera bag. Some usually have flimsy legs or screw-on leg joints which is neither sturdy or intuitive. Even the ball heads on tripods can be an intuitive challenge has they tend to have additional knobs which could confuse the photographer. The beautiful design of the Travel Tripod from Peak Design boasts size that’s roughly the circumference of a water bottle. This makes for easy packing into your backpack or camera bag.
The legs are constructed from sturdy aluminum and include actual clamps between each of the leg joints. These clamps give you immediate feedback for you to know whether the legs are secured or not secured. The legs can be unfolded and locked for standard tripod use or they can expand to allow your camera to capture a super low angle. When collapsed for packing, the legs fit perfectly against each other. Again, this minimizes the actual footprint of the tripod. There’s even a hidden mount you can use to attache your smartphone! For the record, the mount is Arca-Swiss compatible as well as compatible with existing Peak Design mounts.
Image by Peak Design
The industrial design looks to be a real feat for Peak Design. Everything fits perfectly when collapsed. The amount of knobs and switches found has been reduced to the minimum. The weight is insanely light due to the materials as one offering is aluminum designed and the other is carbon fiber designed.
Pricing and Availability
The Travel Tripod will begin shipping in December 2019, approximately. In typical Peak Design fashion, you can pre-order the Travel Tripod at a discount via its successful Kickstarter. The aluminum version will be available for $349. The carbon fiber model is $599. Both coming with a lifetime warranty. Join the Kickstarter via my link to lock in your discounted Travel Tripod. Full disclaimer, the Kickstarter link I mentioned is an affiliate link offering me a small commission to help support my creative endeavors. So thank you for your support of Peak Design and thank you Peak Design for your support of me. I’ve reached out to Peak Design for a pre-production review unit. I hope to get my hands on an aluminum one and hit the trails. If I get a review unit, I’ll definitely share my experience with you all. I’ve shared some other thoughts and images on TechRepublic regarding the Travel Tripod. As soon as it’s published there, I’ll link it here as well.
Congrats to you, Peak Design. You all are doing an amazing job.