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Whether you're a professional photographer or amateur enthusiast, you know that selecting what gear to take on the road with you isn't always easy. It's a delicate balance between taking what you'll need but staying light and nimble in the field. That's where Peak Design's Travel Tripod comes into play. This full-featured tripod comes in a portable form that makes it the perfect option for travel and wildlife photographers.
Four years in the making, Travel Tripod is designed to be “the world’s most portable, packable, and easy-to-setup tripod for professionals and first-time tripod owners alike.” They brought down the footprint of the traditional tripod by eliminating wasted space and minimizing the packed-down size. The result is a lightweight, compact tripod that deploys and packs down twice as fast as a traditional tripod, but is intuitive to use.
By eliminating the bulky knobs protruding from most tripods, Peak Design's masterpiece is a water bottle-sized piece of equipment that can easily slip into your backpack. Easy-to-use camera levers replace tedious twist locks that make unpacking the tripod a chore. Now you are guaranteed an easy setup that will allow you to get shooting faster.
Don't let its small size fool you, though. Travel Tripod is designed to handle a professional setup and has a weight capacity of 20 pounds. It also has stability and vibration dampening comparable to much larger tripods in its class. Nonslip, shock absorbing feet and a built-in counterweight hook provide additional support.
Flexible depending on your shooting style, Travel Tripod can even allow the camera to sit inches off the ground when used in a low and inverted configuration. There's also a built-in mobile phone mount that is magnetically stored in the center column, allowing you to flip between professional shoots with your DSLR and mobile content quickly.
Travel Tripod is available in both aluminum and carbon fiber. Nearly 16,000 people have already pledged their support for Travel Tripod on Kickstarter, where the aluminum model is available for preorder at $289—that's $61 off the retail price. The carbon fiber model costs $479 on pre-order, which is a $121 savings off the retail price. Both models come with legs, ball head, quick-release plate, mobile mount, load hook, hex key, and protective case.
The expected delivery date is December 2019 and with Peak Design's reputation as a leader in crowdfunding and carry solutions, there's no reason to believe the portable tripods won't arrive on schedule.
Travel Tripod is a light, portable piece of gear for photographers on the move.
It folds down to the size of a water bottle, making it easy to fit in a backpack.
The small tripod is sturdy enough to hold a professional setup with a telephoto lens.
It can also get low and keep your camera inches from the ground.
Ergonomic levers and knobs make Travel Tripod quick to deploy.
While a counterweight hook provides additional stability.
It even includes a built-in mobile phone mount.
The portable tripod has already gained over $7 million in pre-orders on Kickstarter.
Travel Tripod: Kickstarter
All images via Peak Design.
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