Peak Design Travel Tripod Peak Design announced a new Travel Tripod on Kickstarter today and we were lucky enough to get our hands on a prototype prior to launch. But before we dive into some initial impressions, here's the nitty gritty: the tripod will be available in aluminum for $350 and carbon fiber for $600 – both prices include a ball head – however you can score the tripod for much less by backing it on Kickstarter now.
The Travel Tripod series sits in a pricing bracket of its own, toward the upper end of the market. It's more than double the cost of a lot of other popular entry-level travel tripods, like Manfrotto's Be Free line and MeFOTO's RoadTrip tripods, but still much less expensive than the upper-echelon of the market in the Gitzo Traveler tripods (when factoring in the cost of both legs and head).
Overall design
The Peak Design Travel Tripod (center) is 2. 5" / 6. 35 cm in diameter from top to bottom, making it considerably more streamlined and less bulky than the Manfrotto Be Free (left), MeFOTO RoadTrip (right) and Gitzo Traveler (not shown). Peak Design told us removing unnecessary bulk to save space was the primary goal of developing this tripod. To that regard, they seem to have been successful.
However, just because it's slimmer doesn't mean it's any lighter than the competition. In fact both the aluminum and carbon fiber versions weight about the same as their Manfrotto and MeFOTO counterparts. And Peak Design's collapsed length of 15. 5" / 39 cm is also about the same as the aforementioned tripods.
The ball head
Like most Peak Design products, the ball head accepts Arca Swiss-compatible plates – the two pins on either side can be removed (using an included tool) if you happen to have an Arca plate that is wider than the standard Peak Design-issued one. And a dual-locking mechanism offers piece of mind that your precious gear won't take a tumble.
The top of the plate has a small bubble level that I found generally ends up covered when a camera's attached, but it is useful for leveling prior. Users loosen and tighten down the ball head by turning the lower ring. I was pleased with the throw of this ring, you only need to turn it about 90-degrees to go from fully-locked down, to loose enough to adjust the camera's framing.
Stability
Historically, I haven't been terribly impressed by the level of stability most travel-oriented tripods offer, especially when using cameras with front-heavy lenses. For instance, when trying to photograph the moon with a Nikon P1000 mounted on a Manfrotto Be Free, the camera was prone to sagging forward with the lens fully-extended.
But Peak Design assured me their new tripod is up to the challenge of locking down even the heaviest rigs. To test their claims I went to our gear closet and brought out one of the heaviest setups I could find: a Nikon D5 with a 70-200mm F2. 8 lens. To my surprise, I had no issue locking it down. Even with the front-heavy lens pointed up toward the sky, I witnessed no sag.
The legs and other features
The Peak Design's Travel Tripod's locking levers are easy to open and close thanks to a long throw. This makes it very easy to set up or break down in an instant, something I can definitely appreciate. A hex tool is also included to tighten and loosen the lock joints. This tripod can reach a maximum height of about 60" / 152 cm with its legs and center column fully extended. It also offers a 'low mode' that get you to about 5" / 13 cm off the ground and an 'Inverted Mode' for when you want to shoot straight down.
Peak Design loves including secret little features in their products and the Travel Tripod is no exception. A hook at the bottom of the center column can be used to weigh down the tripod, but turning it also reveals a secret Arca-compatible cellphone mount, tucked away in the column.
Initial impressions
It's encouraging to see brands jumping into new product categories and genuinely trying to innovate and improve. With the Peak Design Travel Tripod, there's no doubt the price alone will have people turning up their noses. But innovation and research doesn't come cheap. And more importantly, even in the little bit of time I used a prototype of this tripod, I found it to be more compact and more stable than what's offered on the lower end of the travel market.
Ultimately, we're looking forward to getting a final version in and taking a proper look at how it compares not only to the ManFrotto and MeFOTO travel tripods, but travel tripods with a similar price, likes those from Benro, as well as the higher-end models from Gitzo.
. dpreview.com2019-5-21 17:00
