If you ever thought having insurance for your camera gear wasn't worth investing into, you should take a minute to read this. It's like the old saying goes, "better safe than sorry." I learned that lesson first hand this weekend, and because of a faulty camera strap, I am now wishing I had insurance.
It was Valentine's Day, my girlfriend and I packed up the car, grabbed our Golden Retriever puppy, and headed for the Grand Canyon. As we watched the sun set over the beautiful red rocks, I proceeded to capture the beauty with my Canon 6D and 35mm L lens. It had been a perfect Valentine's Day. On our way home I stopped several times to try my luck at some long-exposure shots of the night sky. We were finally on our way home when we made a last pit stop to use the restroom. While here, I decide to bust the camera out one last time to get a night shot of the popular lookout spot, Sunset Point in Arizona. With my Slik tripod in my hand, I scurry over to the ledge to set up. As I am walking over to the ledge, I hear the most devastating sound a photographer can imagine: the horrifying sound of my camera gear exploding against the cement. I pretty much freak out at this point as I try to gather the pieces of what is left of my 35mm L lens. I start to assess what happened and realized my Peak Design camera strap had failed me. One of the anchors had broke and let my equipment fall to the ground.
Editor's Update: We now have a comment from Peak Design: "The product issue described in this article was limited to Peak Design straps made before March 2015. Since then, Peak Design has changed the material of their Anchor cords from Vectran® to Dyneema®, a material that is not susceptible to the same kind of abrasion wear. Additionally, Peak Design's new Anchors feature a multi-layered cord design that shows a bright red indicator when wear is present, alerting the user to replace the Anchor. To this date Peak Design has seen zero Anchor cord failures caused by abrasion on the new Anchors. Additionally, the original author was reimbursed in full by Peak Design for repairs made as a result of the incident below." According to Thomas Ingersoll, the aforementioned reimbursement was made after this article was published.
The damage: A Canon 35mm L lens left in pieces. A Canon 6D with possible frame damage and a cracked screen. It will also take a couple weeks to fix everything, which means I have rent a camera for all my jobs until my camera is fixed.
I received the Peak Design Leash about two years ago. I loved how easy to use the strap was, and how fast I could take on and off my camera strap. This was really appealing to me since I shoot landscapes and portraits. The Peak Design Leash has been with me since my 5D and to the 6D I purchased last year.
I also love the low-key design of the strap, with minimal logos, and not having the big "CANON" across the strap (that to me screams "come steal me"). I loved all of these features until Peak Design let me down. Their patent-pending Anchor Link™ system couldn’t even last two years. One of the threads that held the anchors just snapped, allowing my camera and lens (RIP) to fall to the cement. Although I loved the strap while I owned it, I don’t think I will trust Peak Design to hold thousands of dollars worth of my gear again.
Here is a little about the Peak Design Leash system that sells for 35 dollars.
The most versatile and quick-connecting camera strap in the world, Leash™ can adapt to any camera and any shooting situation. Easily configure Leash™ as a sling strap, neck strap, safety tether, video stabilizer and more. When you don’t need a strap, Leash™ quickly disconnects and stores in your pocket, purse or camera bag. Leash uses our patent-pending Anchor Link™ connection system and comes with four Anchors for attachment.
I reached out to Peak Design in hopes of a similar outcome as the Black Rapid story. In my email I explained to them what happened and how I loved their product. This was their response:
Hi Thomas,
Thanks for reaching out to us and so sorry to hear about your camera fall due to an anchor that broke. We are continuously working to improve our anchors and you can read more here about Anchor Strength, Anchor Wear & Anchor Engineering Peak Design is not liable for any damage to your camera while using our products and are not able to refund you for camera repairs, but you can use the code ***** at www.peakdesign.com to receive a new set of anchors for free and I will send you a set of the newly designed anchors once they become available.
Best, Jen
Although I appreciate the gesture of new free anchors, I wish they had the same customer service as Black Rapid. I believe Peak Design needs to take their patent-pending design back to the drawing board. I for one think a camera strap should last more than two years. If any of you use alternative camera straps, make sure they won't leave your lens and spirits in pieces.
I am pretty upset about the strap breaking, but this incident has opened up my eyes about looking into buying insurance. Before this, I never really considered buying insurance for my gear. I always thought it was too expensive, or that I would not ever need it. I have always been so careful with my gear, but accidents happen to us all. Whether it is a mistake of your own, or something that you would least expect, like a camera strap breaking, it is always nice to have the comfort of knowing you are not totally screwed when something like this happens.
Well, as of today I am looking into insurance.
Here is a great article by Philip Vukelich that gives more insight about affordable insurance..
And finally, here are some of the last pictures my poor lens took.
This article is going to cost them way more than the replacement cost of your gear. Companies should be better at math and turn tragedies like this into positive advertisements for their customer service the way Black Rapid did. Sucks for them, I'm staying away from anything they make after this read. =)
Did this happen as a single traumatic event, or was there evident wear before the malfunction?
That looks like a crappy design for a strap attachment to me, but can't imagine that there would be no sign of impending failure if inspected frequently unless your camera was too heavy for the strap.
I always inspect my strap; it's really easy to do, especially if you are "attached" to your camera.
I did not notice any signs of stress, but I also never regularly checked the strap. I don't think a camera strap is something a person should be constantly having to check, but in the future I probably should to avoid accidents like this.
I have first generation capture clip from Peak Design, and I've been using it over 2 years now. Back then they didn't have the camera strap, however, I personally am bit paranoid about "quick release" straps. I use another strap which has clips to remove the part of the strap to make it shorter (when needs to be used on tripod, without having to leave the strap hanging).
I was wondering if I should buy Peak Design, but those threads always concerned me and I don't think I'll be buying it after reading this article.
That anchor strap looks pretty worn/deteriorated from use/elements rather than a sudden catastrophic failure. Stuff wears out. The lesson here is to check your equipment regularly and replace it before it fails. An insurance company might even have grounds to deny coverage if it got a look at the amount of wear on that strap.
I'm agreeing with john here. As tough love as it may sound. That cordage is pretty beat. All the pivoting, twisting and weight on those single points obv took its toll. I've been experimenting using s-biners to clip to the camera mounts regardless of the type of strap. Carryspeed's plate and ball mount seems pretty rugged to.
I definitely will be checking my straps from now on, lesson learned.
Regardless, sorry to hear about your damaged gear. You got some great images though.
I'm ashamed that this website would publish a story that is potentially so damaging to a small company. Using the f/stoppers brand to either extract $ from Peak Design or to harm them out of spite is beneath you. The writer calls himself a professional, he should check the state of his gear before use.
I am not using Fstoppers to extract money from Peak Design. I am simply sharing my experience from a piece of faulty equipment.
Sorry I don't buy it. You're calling the company out. If the point of the story was to educate the readers from your experience, a "lesson learned" (see your reply to another thread), your focus would've been on the value of checking gear and/or having professional insurance. The headline and your comparison to the Black Rapid incident reveal your motive. Beware the damage you do to this small company and by extension this website. Your actions are those of a bully.
From the photo, it looks like it ripped around the camera's neckstrap lug. Looks like the cord material used in anchor ties needs to be more durable.
I personally use Op-Tech USA's quick release system. I've had many years of excellent results with whatever material they use for their straps designed for heavy gear.
Please let us know how much it cost to repair your gear.
As for camera insurance, I often wondered how many claims you could make before the insurance company refuses to renew your policy. But, I supposed I rather find that out before I find out what it feels like to get your gear stolen or broken without insurance.
I just invested heavily into Peak Design's ecosystem. There are warnings everywhere telling you to replace your anchor loops with ANY sign of fraying. They'll even send you new anchor loops for free when your current ones have frayed.
The fraying issue isn't specific to Peak Design, I had 3-4 sets of Op/Tech's mini QD loops and they frayed way faster. Not to mention - the latest iteration of PDs anchors are 2 layer, where as the Op/Tech minis are just braided with no core.
Check your gear. Anchor loops are cheap (free), camera repair is not.
FWIW, Op/Tech's mini QDs are meant for light weight like P&S cameras and binoculars; there aren't for DSLR gear.
I do wonder: how often have the Peak Design anchor loops require replacement when the gear is used as frequently as a pro would use his gear? If they do require replacement, I wonder if the camera brand in question matters; the 6D's attachment points are very similar to my 5D3's.
I really like my Peakdesign straps, The anchors could be a little better but I try to inspect them and I make sure I have two attachments to reduce any chances of one breaking and dropping everything. I agree, they should last longer than two years, but they do sell replacements.
A lot of people seem to think it's common sense and obvious to check your camera straps for wear. I find this odd, however, as I know (and own) plenty of straps that really should and do last just about a lifetime. There are materials out there that can really stand the test of time, even with abuse. So I'm wondering why that isn't expected of a premium camera strap brand with premium prices (or at least not cheap "chinese-copy" prices). If you get what you pay for, I'd expect to have gotten a little more than what Thomas seems to have gotten....no? Am I crazy?
^^^^ What he said
I can tell you one thing - the OEM straps that come with your body are probably the most secure straps available. As soon as you put anything third party, you're taking a chance. Even if they advertise lifetime warranty, and guarantees, these are marketing gimmicks designed to lure you in. Who can say for sure if they company will even be around 2-3 years down the line when their strap fails and your beautiful new telephoto hits the pavement?
Your premise is sound, but it still does not relieve you of the obligation to check your equipment. Had he found this wear in time, the company would have replaced them under warranty.
I have used Peak Design's Capture Pro and Leash ever since the Kickstarter in some pretty rough conditions and never had one come close to fail. Count me as one extremely satisfied customer.
I think They have a good product, I just don't think it is as durable as a camera strap should be.
If you have a strap with the original (old) links contact Peak Design about getting them replaced. The new ones are stronger and have wear indicators that could have possibly saved Thomas' camera
That's a pretty weak looking system. Unless there was metal threaded in there I couldn't see using it. I use a different quick release system and it's a lot more robust at the lug.
You got some great photos man. But, I'm surprised you've got enough work lined up that you've got to be renting, and you're writing for a photo blog, but you don't have equipment insurance. As long as you have liability insurance I guess it doesn't really matter. But FWIW - you could look at joining a group like PPA that has a built in equipment policy.
Good luck - bummer about the lens. Sort of not psyched on the idea of shaming the company in the hopes of getting a repair. But, that said I'm a 100% for putting out the experience of equipment failure. It's very useful when people report failures. Sort of like Kelby and Drobo.
Ouch, your comment is a little rough, since the accident last weekend I have had a wedding and several other shoots, plus I had to move a couple shoots back till I get my gear back. Since Photography is my full time profession I shoot and work as much as I can. Just because I write for this site doesn't incline me to have camera insurance, but i will be looking into it now. And this article would have not been written if the strap didn't fail. I am not out there to shame them, in fact I love the product, but I am disappointed in the products durability. I am sharing my experience, I wrote the things I liked about the strap, but I think its fair to let people be aware of when equipment fails.
As a working pro, why no backup gear? If your camera fails in the middle of a wedding, what do you do?
Otherwise I'd agree with others, check your gear. The strap is right on top of the camera, it's not exactly like you have to open a hidden access port to see it.
In the automotive industry a frayed seatbelt gets replaced. Why? Because it can fail. I recently replaced a BlackRapid RS5 that I've had since they came out simply because the strap was fraying.
One other note, I've been using an Op-Tech utility loop to attach my straps to my cameras for several years with no visible fraying or wear. The utility loop connectors are stupid tough and only $6 a pair. ;)
Hey Thomas; I'm not sure if we crossed wires. I'm only surprised that you don't have insurance (because you're already a busy working photographer). As for the rest; when I buy a product that turns out to be crappy I'm mostly angry at myself for buying the shoddy product. I don't expect companies these days to do much. I guess I wouldn't have been hoping for an exceptionally above-and-beyond kind of outcome from their customer service. I think that wasn't a reasonable expectation. That black rapid did at some point (or Spyder holster when they had some mechanical failures) is more the exception than the norm.
I only have good vibes for you man - I wish you the best and it sucks that this happened regardless of the whole insurance or mechanical issues situation.
I think you read that wrong. I think he meant to say that he's surprised that since you are a pro and have alot of gigs that you don't have insurance.
Photographer drops camera and blames someone else besides himself.
That whole kit is all of what, 3k? If your business doesn't have that much liquid capital on hand to buy replacements you should probably charge more, or just close up shop.
Christ "Professional" photographers (aka BS blog writers) are getting whiney these days.
Yup, kinda agree with you there about filing a claim for mere $3k worth of damage. When it comes time to renew your insurance policy, they're going to bump your premiums if they notice you filing claims for such small dollar amounts in the past. Save your insurance for $10k+ claims, and liability suits, and take better care of your gear.
Now imagine the sound of a Canon EOS 6D + Grip + EF 135 f/2 L smashing the ground...i still don't know how mine doesn't have a single scratch or problem...
A friend dropped my 5DM3 + Grip + 16-35L out of a truck and aside from a few scratches it is perfect still. It probably has something to do with the angle it hits. Mine landed on the hotshoe, which didn't bend.
Yeah man, it's like a year worth of salaries smashing the concrete (at least around here) hahaha
I think its the Canon mount. Works very nicely on Nikon's triangles!
This! Point of pivot on nikons is the metal triangle. Using the anchor on any locked surface, EVEN PEAK DESIGNS OWN PLATES, will result in accelerated wear and tear. I carry my camera with the one anchor on the left nikon triangle mount and one on the PD plate at the bottom, and the plate anchor showed fraying while the triangle anchor is pristine within months of use.
Thomas, looking at the pictures, it looks like your strap was directly attached to the loop on the camera body? Mind you, that's going to cause friction, and ultimately the fibers on the strap will just tear, resulting in.... this sad accident. I don't know about Canon bodies, but Nikon ones come with triangular hooks that go through the loop. These have smoother edges and a plastic clip that don't cause any friction. Been using my $15 Op-Tech strap on my D4 for years, and it shows no wear. Just a thought.
Sorry to hear about you experience and I hope you get your repaired gear back soon. I have the Peak Design stuff too, and have always worried about the anchors. They are made with Kevlar and Kevlar + sunlight is a bad combination. DuPont says of Kevlar exposure to sunlight, "[S]hould be considered when specifying outdoor use of unprotected KEVLAR...for effective protection of KEVLAR from UV degradation, this kind of light must be excluded." It's bullet resistant, but UV "can cause fiber degradation". Seeing your shots in the desert makes this a likely culprit. See page 21 of this PDF: http://www.dupont.com/content/dam/dupont/products-and-services/fabrics-f...
I'm really sorry about your loss. I always fear that sound of camera/pavement contact. There are some lessons for all of us here:
First, insurance could not have saved your camera, it only might have compensated you for the loss, then boosted your premiums to cover their loss.
Second, we need to take a page from basis flight training where accidents have terrible consequences and thoroughly check our gear before use (this would have prevented your accident). I know you shouldn't have to, but our straps are all that keeps our gear from crashing into the pavement.
And third, also from aviation is redundancy, always have a backup body. What if this had happened a wedding shoot? It could have just been a trip/fall that wrecked your camera. We owe it to our clients to see that they are served regardless of any of our unfortunate circumstances.
All that doesn't mitigate your loss, I know, and I am sorry about it.
I feel for you here but that strap is VERY clearly worn and you had to have been aware of this. To expect any more of the manufacturer than what they offered is a little silly. You really shouldn't be painting them in a bad light, self accountability absolutely comes into play here. The Canon attachment points are more to blame than the strap itself, very poor design Nikon does it a lot better. Your landscapes are really cool by the way
I agree, and I confess I was pretty taken aback by Thomas's approach - whereby he paces blame squarely elsewhere for something that was primarily his own failing (ie failure to take the most basic care of his own equipment, to even glance at it to see how badly frayed the anchors were becoming, or to read or heed the product information and numerous warnings that say to check anchors periodically and replace them if they show any signs of wear).
Setting about publicly shaming a small company in these circumstances is pretty low and reflects poorly on this site as well as the author.
Insurance can be had for about $400 a year, covers over $20k of gear plus overseas work too [selected countries]. That strap was frayed before it broke. A company can't be held accountable for this type of wear and disappointed FS would feature this.
I agree with the premise here, but why is the article mostly about bashing Peak Design when it's supposed to be about insurance? I get it, you're upset. I would be too! But stuff happens. That's the whole point. Maybe gather some other examples from yourself or either other photographers to illustrate that. Even the best stuff just breaks sometimes. Unfortunate but true.
This article makes me sick, and I cannot BELIEVE that this sites editors allowed it to go up in its current form.
There's only one place to assign blame, and it's not on the company who manufactures the strap. Maintenance of your gear is, and always will be, your own responsibility. If this was a case of a manufacturing defect, then Peak Design would probably be more inclined to help you out, but for god's sake, the part that broke was a wear item! They sell and give out replacements of this part FOR THIS EXACT REASON! This is like complaining that your car's brakes failed even though you never changed the pads!
This kind of public calling-out of a company, who isn't responsible for your mistakes, is completely reprehensible. If this article was REALLY about how your epiphany about how you should insure your gear, then you would have had the decency to not use company names. As it is, it's a thinly-veiled public bitching session in the hope that someone from Peak Design will decide that they need to shell out a bunch of money to make the unfounded bad publicity go away.
Entitled folks like you made my life a living hell when I worked in customer service. For the record, I am not a shill for Peak Design--I use Blackrapid straps myself--but this kind of BS just pisses me off.
I got a review version of their new neck strap and had an anchor snap after about 3 weeks of use. I caught the end of the strap just in time to save my 5D from hitting the ground. Peak told me that I was using the wrong camera attachment plate. Indeed the newer plate has rounded edges that is supposed to keep the anchor from wearing out. I don't think I can trust it though, especially after reading that it's happened to others.
Mr. During, You took the high road and have my respect. I stand by my statements that the author was using intimidation, bullying and harassment in search of a self serving end at your expense. While your customer service department could've handled this matter better I still contend that the editors of this website made a poor decision when they published this hit piece. As their readership grows their power increases and as they say "With great power comes great responsibility". I'd like the f/stoppers editors to at the very least change the title of this post. The weight of it in search results damages the manufacturer and is irresponsible. For the record I have no association with Peak Design and have never used/tried/seen their products.
Hi Everyone,
Peter Dering here, the founder of Peak Design and co-inventor of the Anchor Link system. First off…I’d like to thank those in the comment string here who have come to our defense. We owe our company’s success to our loyal supporters, and it is deeply felt and appreciated.
But…when a story like this breaks, we can't blame the messenger…we take full responsibility. Fstoppers have done a wonderful job telling the world about our products when they’ve come out. Telling the world about their failures is simply fair and honest journalism, which we hold in high regard.
In my view, there are two issues here Peak Design needs to address. First off, we had a product failure. Secondly, we had a customer service failure and a policy discussion on our hands. Insurance is an interesting topic, but is outside our expertise or right to comment on.
Apologies for the forthcoming novela - there's just a lot I'd like to address...
Product Failure: Here's the history behind all this...
1. We've upgraded our Anchor design 2 (soon to be 3) times. The Kevlar/Delrin connectors that broke on Thomas’ strap are v1 Anchors, launched at the end of 2012. This is indicated by the old logo on them.
2. We heard about the first Anchor breakage in early 2014. We paid close attention to the issue and worked closely with the customer who experienced it. We previously thought the system would stand the test of time no matter what. This incident made it clear that Anchors were subject to wear in certain use cases.
3. This realization prompted three actions:
a) We immediately put warning tags directly on Anchors, so that everyone using these products would know that these are a “wear item”, that could require eventual replacement. We were able to get this warning into the product stream quickly.
b) We wrote a blog post and help article (http://support.peakdesign.com/hc/en-us/articles/203702175-Anchor-Strengt...) about the need to check Anchors for wear, and implored people to do so.
c) We re-examined high performance cords to see if there was a better option.
4. Within a month, our v2 Anchors began being produced, using Vectran instead of Kevlar. Vectran is better against UV and abrasion. As soon as we could, we inserted these new Anchors into the product stream, and began issuing free replacements to those with frayed v1 Anchors.
5. These v2 Anchors were an improvement, but not the panacea we were seeking. The material is better, but the weave of the Vectran is looser, which fought against the its abrasion resistance. We still wanted to do better.
6. We are now in production of our v3 Anchors, which are actively being inserted into all new products. At significant cost, we scrapped 50,000 Vectran Anchors so that we could switch more quickly.
7. The new Anchors are made with Dyneema…a material that has shown to be 10x stronger than Vectran and 15x stronger in Kevlar in our reciprocating and vibratory tests.
8. v3 Anchors cords consist of three layers: a black exterior, a yellow middle core, and a red inner core. They come with instructions to seek replacement when yellow shows, and immediately cease using at the first sight of red.
9. As soon as our fulfillment centers are stocked, we intend to release this news as far and wide as we can, and provide a very cost effective way of getting these v3 Anchors into the hands of those who are already using products with the Anchor Link system.
In our biased opinion, Anchor Links remain the most innovative and convenient way to connect a camera to a strap, and we are committed as a company to never stop improving on the products we have.
Customer Service Failure:
I hesitate to label this as a customer service failure, if only because it reflects poorly on our customer service manager who I have extraordinary respect for. But as I take responsibility for the failure of any of our products, I also take responsibility for the our customer service. In this case we failed to give you the service that one deserves in such a serious situation, and I'll be following up with you directly to make things right.
Peak Design has been lucky enough to see a huge uptick in the popularity of our products and the number of people using them. With that has come a huge influx of customer service needs. We have been meeting that demand by trying to create efficient systems that let us handle a large volume of issues, as typically we see most questions and issues come in waves. Broken Anchors, however, are not a common issue to be handled by a response we’ve created using ZenDesk. This issue should have been handled with extreme delicacy and personal attention, and it wasn’t.
Peak Design products are carrying the gear of about 250,000 photographers now. Certainly, we’ve had breaks in the past. Thank goodness, very few. And in most cases, I have personally engaged with customers, with the aim of learning more about the situation people were in that led to a failure, shared with them the plan for v3 Anchors, and have also paid our fair share of insurance deductibles and repair charges. These are painful discussions to have to have, but the confidence that’s rebuilt in the consumer is worth every penny.
That said, the policy we have in place is that Peak Design is not responsible for damage to equipment. We need to have this blanket policy in place, mostly to protect against fraud. The consumers’ protection against Peak Design is that if we are negligent or fraudulent….we will cease to exist far more quickly than we were born.
This community has my assurance that we will be taking steps to improve our customer service and not have this type of failure. We’ll be increasing capacity, eliminating any process based replies for something as serious as a camera drop, and making sure that we have the bandwidth to speak with everyone who wants their voice heard. These changes won’t come overnight, but by April of this year, I hope to be staffed up and ready to give the service our customers deserve.
I’d like to close with a heartfelt thanks to all of those in the community of writers, bloggers, and readers of this content. There is a whole ecosystem around photography that Peak Design is pleased and humbled to be a part of. Thanks for your efforts, and your enthusiasm.
Mr. Dering, You took the high road and have my respect. I stand by my statements that the author was using intimidation, bullying and harassment in search of a self serving end at your expense. While your customer service department could've handled this matter better I still contend that the editors of this website made a poor decision when they published this hit piece. As their readership grows their power increases and as they say "With great power comes great responsibility". I'd like the f/stoppers editors to at the very least change the title of this post. The weight of it in search results damages the manufacturer and is irresponsible. For the record I have no association with Peak Design and have never used/tried/seen their products.
I agree with Pedro, this article is an absolute hit piece and I find it an incredibly shameful use of this site. Your reaction, given what the author has done here is commendable.
Wow, I actually feel worse after reading your response. Here are the two things I got out of this:
1. You've been knowing about this issue and chose to inform new customers with a warning in the package, but chose to leave older customers in the dark even though their connectors may have years of use and may already be showing wear.
2. You knew about this issue when you sent out mass emails about the spring failures on the Slide and still chose not to notify users of the potential failure with the connectors.
I ordered a Leash in 2012 and am still using that product with the original connectors. I ordered a Slide in 2014 and am still using that product. I see wear on my connectors, but reading this article was the first time I have heard of a failure. This is not the way I should have found out about the problem.
I didn't like Peak Design's clip system due to design flaws. And now I know their strap system is flawed... who is surprised? Black Rapid for best straps in my opinion... no issues on my end using them for 2 years.
okay, this scares me. i have the new peak design strap that uses the same attachment mechanism. I have 4 of the anchors; so to be safe, I may start changing them out once a year. thank you for this update. I have a 6D as well, and would hate to drop it!