How to Choose a Tripod: An In-Depth Review of the Peak Design Travel Tripod

A recent catastrophe led me to acquire a Peak Design Travel Tripod. In reviewing this for you I thought I would describe the process for choosing the best model to suit you.

Many photographers rave about the Peak Design Travel Tripod. As I have always been fond of PD Gear’s excellent quality, I assumed it would stand up to the often harsh conditions I shoot in. However, not everyone’s needs are the same, so here are my reasoning and conclusions about this model.

There’s an old generalization about tripods that mostly holds as true. You must choose the two most important considerations: weight, stability, and price. There's a certain amount of truth in that, but other factors come into play too. Some tripods in all price brackets are better featured than others. Build quality is also important. Despite some photographers never understanding it, style is too.

My Tripod Related Disaster

But I’ll start by telling you the story of my tripod disaster. I was shooting late at night using two tripods. One of my usual models was on loan to a client, and so I took another someone had given me that I was unfamiliar with. As I set the cameras up, a client texted me, and I put one tripod down. With my mind elsewhere, I inadvertently pressed the button for the quick-release plate. I hadn’t locked it and so my camera fell from the tripod.

Like crumple zones on cars in an accident and shear pins on outboard motor propellers that his underwater obstructions, as it was supposed to do to absorb the impact, the lens snapped off its bayonet mount. Sadly, it fell with such force that it tore the electronic ribbon cables that connected the two halves and the front end of the lens rolled into a puddle. IP53 weather sealing doesn’t work if a lens is in bits. The camera was okay. However, my poor, battered, and drowned lens was beyond economical repair.

Luckily, I have a good business insurance cover and this was the first time I had ever needed to claim on any policy.

I don’t blame the tripod for my mishap, but a better locking system would have prevented the camera from falling during my distracted moment. Furthermore, I usually tether my camera to the tripod to avoid such accidents. But on this occasion, I hadn’t.

Don’t Look a Gift Horse in the Mouth

I was relating my lens disaster story to a very kind person I know in the industry. They asked if I had used a Peak Design Travel Tripod. I said I hadn’t. Subsequently, they very nicely sent me one. The tripod arrived and I have put it through its paces. So, for full disclosure, I haven’t bought this; it was a gift. Nevertheless, the person who sent it knew I would review it and point out its good and bad points.

What is a Travel Tripod?

The title Travel Tripod has no fixed boundaries. Given the wide range of specifications of all the different models that claim that designation, one can only suppose that travel means it is portable, unlike a studio tripod designed to stay still. Moreover, “travel” means many different things because traveling is a wide-ranging activity.

Sometimes, one of these factors will be compromised in favor of another. For example, if I am flying or hiking, I am more likely to take a lighter carbon fiber tripod with me because every ounce counts. That’s quite different from overlanding, where durability becomes paramount and weight is less important. I also travel short distances to photograph. I get off my bike or out of my car and walk a few hundred yards to a windswept beach. The version I was sent is the aluminum model, and I’ve found it advantageous to have this slightly heavier model. I live in the windiest county in England, and having a bit of extra weight is good when photographing in gale-force winds.

Unboxing the Tripod

As one would expect from Peak Design, the package arrived with minimal plastic, just a thin shrink-wrapped film around the box. “Box” is probably a misnomer as it came in a solid, thick card container with an elasticated lid, intended to be used as a long-term safe storage for the tripod.

Packed tightly inside that is the soft case that unzips at the top. The case has numerous loops compatible with Peak Design’s range of backpacks.

Within that is the tripod itself.

 A Description of the Peak Design Travel Tripod

In one of Douglas Adams’s Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy books, the heroes gush over and then steal a spaceship that was described as being so black you can hardly make out its shape, and that light seems to fall into it. Peak Design has made a tripod as close to that description as is possible in the real world. If Lockheed made a tripod to travel in the F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter, it would look like this. It’s very black and looks great.

Because the Peak Design Travel Tripod is so compact and solid, it feels heavier than expected. Nonetheless, it is lighter than other alloy tripods I’ve used. Weighing 3.44lbs (1.56 kg), this aluminium alloy version is not ultra-lightweight. Nevertheless, it’s only about half a pound (approx. 300g) heavier than the carbon fiber version. Furthermore, it’s only about 0.4lb (approx. 200g) heavier than my largest carbon fiber tripod but much more compact.

• Folded away, it’s just 15.2 inches long and, at its widest point, 2 ¾” (7cm) across. Its slim profile makes it easy to hold.
• Fully extended it can reach 60.2” (153 cm) with the center column extended or 51.6” (131 cm) without.
• It can carry loads up to 20 lbs (9.1 kg), more than most hefty DSLR and telephoto setups.

The legs open to two positions and each comprises five segments. The sections are released using cam levers. The tripod's feet are rubber held in place with hex-headed machine screws. These have thread-locker paint to stop them from loosening, so only remove them if necessary. Spikes are available separately. A twin hex-key tool is mounted on a bracket on the leg, but I moved it into the tool pocket inside the case designed for that purpose and removed the clamp; I'm good at losing tripod tools.

The ball head is compact. It moves just enough to level the camera in most circumstances. However, if you raise the center column slightly, it will tilt by 90° so the camera is in portrait orientation. It uses an Arca Swiss-style quick-release (QR) system and is compatible with PD’s Standard Plate, which is used with its other products.

The column flips for low-angle shooting, and be reduced in length using a hex screw mounted below the ballhead.

The tripod supported my OM-1 camera with the longest lens I own and it would have taken something much bulkier. There were two removable pegs on the QR bracket that I transferred to the screw holes in my lens foot. These then sat on either side of the bracket thus acting like an additional failsafe, preventing the camera from sliding off forward or backward should the bracket fixing be loose.

Hidden within the center column, and above the removable counterbalance hook (for hanging your bag on for extra weight), is a bracket for holding your phone that attaches via the QR system.

Another nice feature is the ability to attach PD’s anchors to the tripod and thus carry it using a Slide or Slide Lite camera strap.

The tripod is dismantlable using the supplied double hex key and the bushing removal tool.

In Use

This tripod oozes quality. Not only does it look good – one can be assured if extra effort has gone into how a product looks its entire design will be outstanding – but all the parts seem strong.  All the moving parts run smoothly, and even with the legs and center column fully extended it is stable. I rarely use a center column on a tripod. However, if fully extended, this one is more stable than any tripod I have used.

The irregular hexagonal legs offer good support.

With the center column removed and the legs fully extended and opened to their widest, there is some vertical bounce if one presses the camera. However, in this position, you are more likely to have the legs retracted. Moreover, it’s possible to reverse the center column and hang the camera below the tripod.

In the field, it was fast and easy to deploy and didn’t walk in a strong wind as some lighter tripods can do.

What I Liked and What Could Be Improved

What I Liked

• Stable platform.
• Robust construction.
• Legs, cam leavers, the quick-release bracket, the adjustment ring, and the center column knob are made from anodized aluminum and aluminum alloy to prevent corrosion.
• Light enough to carry but heavy enough to stay still in a strong wind.
• Excellent design.
• Quick to set up.
• Great quality storage

What Could Be Improved Next Time

• Including spiked feet in the package would be a bonus.
• Intermediate leg-angle positions would be useful
• Simple single-action ballhead operation.

In Conclusion

Having solely used carbon fiber tripods for years, I was impressed by how good this tripod was. It won’t be my first choice to take on a place, and it won’t be what I go hiking up mountains with. If I were to buy the carbon fiber version, I would take that instead. However, for the short walk to the beach from here and for driving into the wilds of England’s North East, it has already become my first choice.

At $379.95, it’s not the cheapest tripod on the planet, but you do get what you pay for and that’s quality.

Hopefully, that has taken you through some of the considerations when choosing what to buy.

Specifications:

Weight

Alloy: 1.56 kg (3.44 lbs)

Carbon: 1.27 kg (2.81 lbs)

Weight Capacity 9.1 kg (20 lbs)

Dimensions

Collapsed Dimensions

Length: 39.4 cm (15.5”)

Max Diameter: 8.3 cm (3.25”)

Deployed Dimensions

Max height (center column raised): 152.4 cm (60")

Max height (center column down): 130.2 cm (51.25")

Min height (low mode): 14 cm (5.5”)

Construction

Leg sections: 5

Leg locks: Aluminum cams

 Ball head, hub, load hook: Powder-coated A380 aluminum

 Legs: Anodized 6061-T6 aluminum (Alloy)

 Quick release, adjustment ring, center column knob: Anodized 6061-T6 aluminum

 Locking ring: Polycarbonate/ABS blend

 Feet: ShoreA60 TPU

The Package

Tripod (legs + ball head)

Soft case

Standard Plate

Mobile mount

Load hook

4mm + 2.5mm hex wrench

Bushing removal tool

Storage box

Considerations for Buying a Tripod

Hopefully, that has given you some idea of what to think about when buying a tripod. Sometimes your priorities will work against each other, and you must decide what works best for you.

• Weight: Light isn’t always best especially if, like me, you work in a windy environment.
• Stability: Besides weight, the size of the triangle the legs can make, the low windage of the legs, plus the grippiness of the feet are important.
• Portability: Do you need it to be packed away into a small package?
• Simplicity and ease of use: This affects the speed of deployment.
• Versatility: Able to suit different shooting situations.
• Maximum and minimum camera heights: I don’t use a very tall tripod because I prefer a lower shooting height, but the ability to get the camera inches from the ground is important to me.
• Robustness: If you clamber over rocks on a rugged terrain, you don’t want a tripod that will break.
• Maintenance: You may need to be able to clean your tripod’s moving parts, including internal components.
• Price: Most of us work to a budget.