Backpacking with the Peak Design Tripod
I bought the Peak Design Travel Tripod, carbon version, several years ago. It has been a great travel companion due to its light weight (2.81lbs — 1.27kg advertised, 2.95lbs — 1.34kg in my measurements), compact dimensions, and a number of clever features. But like all travel tripods, it comes with some compromises.
In this post, I want to share my experiences using this tripod for backpacking, especially the useful Ultralight Conversion Kit, where you remove all but the top leg sections and replace them with special feet, effectively creating a desktop-size tripod, although with the center column, you can get up to 22.5" — 57.2cm in height (but we’ll return to this below…).
This configuration reduces the weight to 1.81lbs — 0.82kgs (my measurements, as are the rest of them in this post). Almost two pounds is still a lot for an ultralight hiker, but I took this configuration with me on my recent backpacking trip to the Wyoming Trail in Colorado so I could do some astrophotography, like this timelapse of the galaxy center:
Stability
In general, Peak Design did an excellent job making a stable, yet light tripod. However, I found the short tripod configuration less stable than I wanted, especially when I would tilt the camera way back to get mostly stars in the frame (like in the timelapse). The angle of the shortened legs is no different than the angle for the full-size configuration, but the ultralight configuration is just a bit top-heavy, relative to the full-size tripod. I believe that’s why it felt less stable.
To remedy this issue, I removed the center column under the ball head, as shown in the Peak Design accessories video, starting around 11:30 and used the “low mode” also described, i.e., with the legs out at the wider angle setting. This gives you almost no height, of course, but I no longer worried about the tripod tipping over when I tilted the camera at odd angles.
Removing the center column removes an additional 2.7oz — 76.6gm. But if you leave the column behind don’t forget to take the phone holder concealed inside it, if you need it: 0.4oz — 11.3gm.
The Tripod Head
The head is where most of the compromises are found, in order to make it very compact. The range of motion is limited, especially if you turn the head vertically, where the the head design greatly restricts the vertical angles you can use. In the following image, you can see that the “struts” (?) that surround the ball are blocked by the vertical column, limiting the up and down rotation that is possible.
So, I always use an L bracket on the camera when I use this tripod, so I don’t need to turn the head vertically. Usually, that’s sufficient, but when I’m shooting astro or other situations where I want a head with maximum flexibility, I instead use an Aspen Ballhead from Colorado Tripod Company.
This is a very well made head with great flexibility. It is light (14.8oz — 419.6gm) and a great value at $329… if you can get one. They are very popular and they are currently available only as pre-orders. (Their other Highline Ballheads are also great and ridiculously cheap!)
To use a different head, you’ll need to buy another accessory from Peak Design, the Universal Head Adapter. It replaces the head and allows you to use most any tripod head.
The adapter is 3.7oz — 104.9gm. Together, the plate and Aspen head come to 17.5oz — 524.5gm, compared to the original head at 7.60oz — 215.5gm. With the legs in the ultralight/backpacking configuration, the total is 39.8oz — 1128.3gm or 2.49lbs — 1.13kg vs. the backpacking configuration with the original head: 1.81lbs — 0.82kgs. Removing the center column (and phone holder), we have 2.32lbs — 1.05kgs vs. 1.64lbs — 0.74kg.
Here are two pictures that show this configuration. The second one shows that the tripod is stable when the camera is turned vertically, off center.
By the way, I also use the Peak Design Capture, but it requires their standard plate, making it difficult to use an L bracket… unless you can find an L bracket that also fits the Capture. Fortunately, 3 Legged Thing, Ltd makes an Elle PD bracket that does the trick! An alternative would be to attach a standard plate to another L bracket that accepts a plate on the bottom, but that would be a lot of extra weight and bulk…
An Annoyance
A theoretically nice feature is the Travel Tripod Tool Kit that snaps into a holder on one of the legs. It’s very convenient when you need to do an adjustment that requires a hex wrench, like replacing the head or removing the center column. Unfortunately, I had noticed well before this trip that it is easy to pop this tool out of the holder when you grab the tripod, unless you are a little careful. It’s just not sufficiently secure, in my opinion. Sure enough, a few days into my trip I noticed it was gone. I’m certain it came out in camp, but my attempts to find this brown item in the grass and dirt was fruitless.
Final Thoughts
Overall, the Peak Design tripod is a very convenient travel tripod. It packs down small, has excellent weight, stability, and flexibility, but with some compromises, especially in the head. The ultralight conversion is a great way to shave over 1lb of weight for backpacking, while still having the stability of a tripod as low as 1.6lbs in weight.
You can go even lighter with some table-top tripods. For example, next time, I might try my Feisol TT-15 table top carbon fiber tripod legs (6.6oz — 187.1gm) with a Colorado Tripod Small Highline head (11.9oz — 337.8gm; Their mini head, which may be discontinued, is even lighter at 7.90oz — 224.0gm), for a total of 18.5oz — 524.9gm.
