Peak Design Digicam Strap Assessment

I’ve used many digicam setups by way of my years as an expert photographer. Nevertheless, one factor that has remained the identical for a very long time throughout a number of digicam setups is the digicam strap system I’ve been utilizing.

Since I first purchased my Peak Design Slide and Clutch digicam straps in 2015, I’ve been just about completely utilizing the Peak Design strap system throughout all my DSLR and mirrorless cameras.

I’ve primarily been field-testing my Peak Design digicam straps for round a decade. I’ve taken all of them world wide, from far beneath zero temperatures photographing the northern lights to the recent and humid jungles of Uganda on gorilla trekking and birdwatching journeys.

My Peak Design Slide digicam straps have been rained on, snowed on, coated in mud, stuffed in a digicam bag, and customarily been by way of the wringer.

One has even been chewed on by a fox (extra on that later!).

In spite of everything that, I assumed it was about time I put collectively a overview of the Peak Design digicam straps, based mostly on my expertise really utilizing it.

I’ll cowl the nice, the unhealthy, my expertise with Peak Design’s customer support, who the straps are for, the choices accessible, and plenty extra.

Peak Design make quite a lot of straps for a spread of makes use of and digicam sizes. By the top of this overview, it’s best to have a good suggestion of whether or not or not this strap system is an effective choice to your digicam setup, in addition to which particular mannequin is perhaps best for you. Let’s begin with a fast introduction to Peak Design.

Who’s Peak Design?

Peak Design is a U.S. based mostly firm, based in 2010 by Peter Dering. The corporate launched its first product in 2011, a digicam clip system referred to as Seize, which remains to be accessible in the present day.

Peak Design primarily creates merchandise that are designed to assist individuals arrange, defend, pack, and use their images gear. These embody digicam straps and clips, digicam luggage, tripods, and many others.

Given their recognition, they’ve additionally launched some extra normal merchandise designs for vacationers and commuters, together with packing cubes, wash luggage, commuter backpacks, and cell phone instances.

They purpose to create merchandise which look good and final a very long time. They arrive with a lifetime guarantee as commonplace.

Peak Design is understood for his or her modern and classy designs. Lots of their merchandise are additionally designed to work nicely collectively, so for instance you should use the strap to hold the tripod bag in addition to a digicam.

In addition they have stable environmental credentials, being totally carbon impartial, a registered B Corp, they usually additionally donate 1% of all their income to environmental nonprofits.

 

What’s so particular about Peak Design digicam straps?

Peak Design began when its founder, Peter Dering, was searching for a extra comfy digicam strap system after an extended journey again in 2010. The corporate’s first merchandise have been their modern digicam clips and straps, and it was these merchandise that originally made them standard amongst photographers.

The standout options of their straps, which I’ll cowl in additional depth, are their consolation, sturdiness, attachment system, supplies and guarantee.

Peak Design now make plenty of totally different merchandise and I believe get a number of buzz for his or her luggage. I do personal a number of different Peak Design merchandise. For instance, I at the moment have a Peak Design digicam backpack, some digicam packing cubes, and a Peak Design journey tripod.

Whereas I’ve favored lots of their different merchandise I’ve tried, I believe that their digicam strap system stays their hero merchandise for a lot of photographers reminiscent of myself.

I first purchased a Peak Design Slide strap again in 2015 and have by no means used one other digicam strap system since. I now personal three of their Slide straps in addition to a Clutch strap, and proceed to suggest them to others based mostly on my expertise.

So, on this overview I’m going to concentrate on the Peak Design digicam straps and go over the varied straps accessible and share my private overview and experiences with them.

 

Peak Design Digicam Strap Decisions

Peak Design make quite a lot of straps, with the principle variations being the scale of the strap (width, weight and size), in addition to how the strap is designed to be worn.

These variations make the varied strap fashions appropriate for various functions, with some straps being extra suited to bigger digicam fashions and others suiting extra compact digicam fashions for instance.

Some straps are additionally nicely suited to different functions past being as digicam strap, reminiscent of for binoculars or as a strap to your tripod or digicam bag.

Some Peak Design digicam straps are designed as a full physique strap to be worn over a shoulder, across the neck, or as a sling, while different straps are designed as wrist or hand straps.

The primary digicam straps that Peak Design supply are as follows.

 

Peak Design Slide Strap

That is the principle strap that I exploit for my cameras, I at the moment personal three of those straps. They’ve had slight tweaks over time however the principle design is identical.

The strap is designed so you’ll be able to put on it in 3 ways, as a neck strap, a shoulder strap and a sling strap. My private favourite is sporting it as a sling strap.

The strap is made out of a powerful nylon webbing materials, which is actually fairly like a seatbelt strap in texture and really feel. The vast majority of the strap is easy and slides simply.

The world which sits round your neck or shoulder (relying on the way you put on it) is padded internally for consolation. It additionally has a gripped floor on one facet to forestall the strap from sliding round.

The strap is adjustable, with a fast launch deal with that allows you to shortly and simply modify how lengthy the strap is. The utmost size is 57″ (145cm) and the minimal size is 39″ (99cm).

The strap comes with an anchor mount, 4 anchor connectors, a hex wrench and a microfiber pouch. It will possibly deal with gear as much as 200lbs.

That is the strap I’d usually suggest for carrying a bigger setup reminiscent of a much bigger mirrorless or DSLR digicam in addition to bigger telephoto lenses. It’s additionally a good selection when you simply favor a wider strap as the load is distributed extra evenly.

See extra in regards to the Peak Design Slide strap right here.

 

Peak Design Slide Lite Strap

The Slide Lite is actually similar to the Slide, it’s only a bit thinner. Nevertheless, it will probably deal with the identical weight load and has the identical options.

So you continue to get the anchor level system, comfy easy nylon webbing with padding and a grippy facet, and adjustability. You additionally get all the identical merchandise within the field.

Nevertheless, the strap is 1.3″ broad (32mm) in comparison with the 1.8″ (45mm) of the unique Slide. So when you really feel the Slide is a bit chunky to your tastes, then the Slide Lite is perhaps for you. It nonetheless has the identical most size of 57″ (145cm) and minimal size of 39″ (99cm).

It will possibly additionally help the identical weight, however I’d suggest it for barely smaller mirrorless cameras, bridge cameras, and binoculars somewhat than the biggest of units.

This isn’t as a result of it will probably’t take the load, however somewhat is extra to do with consolation over lengthy intervals of sporting the strap.

A barely thinner strap means the load isn’t distributed over as a lot space, so over time the Slide is more likely to be extra comfy with significantly heavy setups.

See extra in regards to the Peak Design Slide Lite strap right here.

 

Peak Design Leash

In case you’re a minimalist however you continue to need a excessive performing digicam strap, then the Peak Design Leash is probably going the strap for you.

That is the thinnest common strap that Peak Design gives. As with the Slide and Slide Gentle, it may be configured as a sling, neck or shoulder strap. You additionally get the padded webbing part with a grippy facet in addition to the anchor hyperlink system.

The primary distinction is that the strap is simply 0.75″(19mm) broad. The max size of 57″ is identical, however you’ll be able to really make Leash shorter, all the way down to 32.6″ (83cm).

Leash is an effective choice if you would like a extremely minimalist digicam strap. As with Slide Lite, I’d suggest it for smaller digicam setups, particularly when you plan to hold them round for a chronic time frame.

See extra in regards to the Peak Design Leash strap right here.

 

Peak Design Cuff Wrist Strap

Not everybody desires an extended digicam strap that goes round their complete physique, and in case you are a type of individuals, Peak Design has you coated with quite a few choices. The primary of those is Cuff.

Cuff is a wrist strap which, because the identify suggests, helps you to put your digicam on a strap which you safe round your wrist. And I do imply safe, as there’s an adjustable locking slider which helps you to cinch Cuff round your wrist so it will probably’t slip off over your hand.

In fact, you don’t have to do this, but it surely’s in all probability a good suggestion when you do.

By way of the strap itself, it’s manufactured from the identical nylon webbing as Peak Design’s different straps. There’s no grip however there’s a spotlight space which works round your wrist, which is on the market in both leather-based or a cloth referred to as Hypalon which is vegan. Width clever it’s the identical as Leash, at 0.75″ (19mm).

The strap additionally has a magnetic clasp, which cleverly helps you to put on it as a bracelet when not in use as a digicam wrist strap, which is fairly neat.

By way of what it will probably carry, as a result of it makes use of the identical materials and anchor hyperlink system as the opposite straps, it will probably deal with as much as 200lbs (90kg) of drugs as nicely.

So, when you don’t prefer to put on a giant strap however nonetheless wish to hold your gear secure when it’s in your arms, Cuff is a superb choice.

I’d say it’s higher for people who are inclined to put a digicam away in a bag and take it out once more repeatedly somewhat than sporting a digicam over their physique on a regular basis.

See extra in regards to the Peak Design Cuff strap right here.

 

Peak Design Clutch Strap

Clutch is Peak Design’s hand strap. It’s mainly designed to sit down on the facet of your digicam and goes round your hand if you find yourself gripping your digicam.

This offers you extra peace of thoughts when holding your digicam, particularly in case you are utilizing a heavier digicam with no strap round you.

Clutch makes use of the identical anchor hyperlink design at one finish as their different straps, which attaches to the digicam’s base utilizing the included tripod appropriate base plate.

I’ve had my Clutch for a similar period of time as I’ve had my Slide straps. I’ll admit that it took a little bit of time to regulate to utilizing it on my digicam as initially my hand wasn’t used to having a strap across the exterior of it when holding my digicam. Nevertheless, I shortly received used to it, after which I discovered utilizing a digicam physique with out it felt odd!

I’ve really had two variations of Clutch. The primary model I had for a very long time, however the strap the place it connected to the digicam wore by way of from friction over time.

I contacted Peak Design they usually despatched me the newer model which changed the model I purchased. This includes a totally different kind of fabric on the level mine failed which I’m happy to report has not suffered from this concern.

General, I’d say in case you are searching for a hand strap for a bigger digicam, positively take into account Clutch. It’s just a little giant for smaller cameras, however clearly Peak Design has an answer for that concern within the type of the subsequent product on this listing!

See extra in regards to the Peak Design Clutch strap right here.

 

Peak Design Micro Clutch

Micro Clutch is mainly a smaller model of the Clutch strap. It’s designed particularly for smaller mirrorless digicam techniques, with the concept being that as an alternative of placing your complete hand in it, you solely use it with between two and 4 fingers.

This leads to a small and unobtrusive strap that also offers you the safety of a hand strap.

This one doesn’t really include the anchor hyperlink system, nevertheless the bottom plate does have loop attachment factors so you should use the provided base plate with different Peak Design straps if you wish to combine and match.

General, Micro Clutch is a good suggestion if you would like a extremely small strap for a smaller mirrorless digicam. It’s not appropriate for bigger cameras, however helpfully Peak Design has a digicam compatibility information for micro clutch which you’ll be able to see right here.

You possibly can see extra in regards to the Peak Design Micro Clutch strap right here.

 

Peak Design Strap Options

As you’ll be able to see, there are a variety of Peak Design straps to select from. Now I’m going to undergo the important thing options of the straps.

 

Anchor Hyperlink System

The anchor hyperlink system is, in my view, what makes the Peak Design straps so distinctive and versatile.

The anchor hyperlink is the way in which that almost all of Peak Designs straps connect to your digicam, binoculars, bag, or no matter else you wish to carry. Upon getting used it together with your gear it’s actually arduous to think about utilizing another system.

The anchor hyperlink is a fast launch strap system which is made up of two components.

The primary half is the fast connector which is connected to the strap. Peak Designs straps all include the fast connector already connected, however you may as well purchase them to connect to any present digicam strap you personal.

The second a part of the system is the anchor connector. It is a small spherical tab with a nylon loop. These are designed to simply connect to a spread of merchandise, together with cameras, luggage, and the Peak Design fast launch tripod plate, which is how I connect them to my cameras.

Regardless of their diminutive measurement, the anchor system is rated to help 200lbs (90kg) of weight, which needs to be greater than sufficient for even the heaviest digicam setup. I’ve used mine for years and by no means had a failure.

 

Easy Nylon Webbing

Most of Peak Design’s straps are made out of a powerful nylon webbing, which is analogous in texture and really feel to a seatbelt strap. Seatbelt straps are clearly extremely sturdy, given their meant function, and Peak Design straps are additionally extremely sturdy.

What I actually like about them is that they don’t appear to lose structural integrity when you occur to break them barely.

For example, I used to be taking pictures at sundown in cemetery in Glasgow, Scotland one night, and a curious fox came to visit to see what I used to be as much as.

I put considered one of my cameras down on the bottom and began taking photos of the fox, at which level he determined he needed to steal my digicam in case it was edible. He did this by grabbing the Peak Design strap in his tooth and dragging my digicam away.

Clearly, I ended him, however not earlier than he’d put some good sharp tooth holes in my strap!

I’ve continued to personal and use that strap for years because the fox incident, and the outlet hasn’t impacted efficiency or gotten any greater. It’s only a neat reminder of a cool encounter I had as soon as!

Now, clearly I wouldn’t encourage anybody to break their strap to see the way it performs. However my expertise has proven that the straps proceed to carry out nicely even after prolonged use, and a few somewhat uncommon harm!

The webbing on a lot of the straps even have a really grippy part which stops the straps from sliding round in your physique as you progress round.

 

Lifetime Guarantee

Peak Design gives a lifetime guarantee for his or her merchandise in opposition to manufacturing defects, and failures or breakages that render half or your whole product to turn out to be non-functional.

This doesn’t cowl beauty blemishes, scratches, stains, or put on & tear. Nor does it cowl failures or breakages as a result of misuse, neglect, or intentional harm.

In my case, I’m unsure the fox encounter could be coated, though provided that the strap works nice, that’s not been a problem.

I’ve had two events to make use of the lifetime guarantee, and in each instances Peak Design honored it. The primary was to interchange my Clutch which wore by way of, and as I mentioned, that they had already recognized and addressed this drawback with the newer model. You possibly can see the wear and tear within the picture beneath.

The opposite concern I had was with a restricted version crimson coloured model of the Peak Design Slide.

This one had a special kind of grip materials to different variations I’ve owned, which was a form of rubber compound.

This labored nice till I took it trekking within the Ugandan jungle searching for gorillas. Sadly, a mix of warmth and humidity, coupled with a number of motion, brought on the rubber to primarily soften throughout my shirt.

The strap grew to become a sticky mess (though it clearly nonetheless labored high-quality as a strap). You possibly can see how this ended up within the picture beneath.

I contacted Peak Design about this, they usually dispatched a substitute strap to me freed from cost. In addition they let me know that that they had since modified the fabric used for the grip space, so this drawback wouldn’t occur once more.

I’ve been utilizing the substitute strap for a few years now and I can verify it has held up nicely with no meltdowns but, and the grip materials is certainly completely totally different.

 

Adjustability

Clearly, everyone seems to be constructed otherwise, so having a one measurement suits all strap isn’t going to work for everybody.

Peak Design’s straps may be adjusted. The precise mechanism and vary of adjustment varies barely relying on the strap mannequin, however the principle factor is that they are often adjusted to go well with the necessities of the person consumer.

 

Strap Colours

Peak Design supply their straps in quite a lot of colours. Colours differ relying on the product.

Within the case of Slide for instance, you at the moment have a selection of traditional black, sage inexperienced, midnight blue, ash gray, and coyote brown. In addition they often do particular version straps of various colours.

Relying on the kind of images you do, you would possibly favor a special strap shade.

For instance, wildlife photographers will in all probability just like the coyote brown shade because it blends in properly with camo fashion and pure colours. Black is a good shade that work nice for people who simply need one thing that may go together with every thing and matches most digicam our bodies.

 

Peak Design Digicam Strap Assessment

I’ll now go into some extra element relating to my private expertise utilizing the Peak Design digicam straps, together with what I like, and areas I really feel could possibly be improved.

 

What I Like About Peak Design Straps

The factor I like most about my Peak Design straps is the anchor hyperlink system. I believe it’s actually intelligent, and it makes attaching and eradicating straps tremendous straightforward.

Let me clarify why I prefer it a lot for my private setup.

The best way Jess and I usually put on our Peak Design straps is crossbody, like a sling. The strap attaches to the underside of the digicam, the place the tripod thread gap is.

It is a pretty widespread design characteristic for sling straps, the place the digicam is inverted round your midsection space.

I discover this to be a cushty strategy to put on a digicam for a chronic time frame, actually far more comfy and sensible than having it bouncing round on a neck strap.

The issue with many sling fashion digicam straps that use the digicam’s tripod mount level is that they require you to place an attachment into the digicam’s tripod mount gap to connect the strap to.

This implies you’ll be able to’t connect it to a tripod with out totally eradicating the strap system.

The factor is, I all the time have a fast launch tripod plate connected to my digicam our bodies and telephoto lens collars. I exploit a tripod lots (see my the explanation why you want a tripod right here for why), and for ease of use I completely use tripods which have a fast launch plate system.

Which means I connect a particular tripod plate to the bottom of the digicam, which implies I can connect my digicam to a tripod very simply with out having to screw or unscrew issues.

So you’ll be able to see the conundrum. I need a strap system I can go away on on a regular basis, that makes use of the tripod mount level on my digicam, but in addition lets me use a fast launch tripod plate system.

Fortunately, the Peak Design system does simply that. Through the use of the tripod appropriate Peak Design mounting plate on my digicam, I can connect my digicam to any Arca appropriate tripod head (Manfrotto appropriate plates are additionally accessible) with out having to take away the strap system. It’s seamless and straightforward to make use of.

The flexibleness and ease of use of the fast launch system can also be nice. For instance, I even have a pair of huge telephoto lenses, the place I favor to connect the strap to the tripod collar somewhat than the physique of the digicam, as it’s extra balanced that manner after I carry the digicam.

With the fast launch anchor system, I simply must have anchor connectors on the lenses tripod collar.

After I change lenses from a large angle to a telephoto, I can shortly transfer my Peak Design strap from the digicam physique anchor connectors to the telephoto anchor connectors. I may even use a seperate strap, and simply carry the telephoto lens over my different shoulder if I would like.

In fact, the flexibleness continues. You possibly can have anchor factors on the digicam’s high strap connector hooks if you would like. Just about each digicam on the market has commonplace strap connecting factors on the higher physique of the digicam the place the usual strap that comes with the digicam attaches.

So when you put anchor connections right here, you’ll be able to go from carrying your digicam sling fashion, to carrying it the extra conventional manner round your neck, or over your shoulder.

Okay, that was lots in regards to the Peak Design anchor system. What else do I like in regards to the Peak Design straps?

Effectively, clearly they’re actually comfy. The padded part of the strap is comfy, and I’ve actually worn mine for a lot of hours on lengthy hikes with out feeling uncomfortable or prefer it’s rubbing in any manner.

If I’m taking pictures occasions, or another state of affairs the place I would like easy accessibility to a few lenses on the similar time, I normally put on two straps, crossbody. This offers me easy accessibility to a digicam on every hip, chopping out the time wanted to alter lenses, which could possibly be time the place I’m lacking a shot. That’s additionally extremely comfy.

I additionally like that the straps are straightforward to regulate, and that they only work. My expertise with customer support has additionally been nice after I wanted it.

Clearly, no-one desires a product to have points, however for a corporation to rise to the event and remedy the issue as they’ve achieved each time, speaks volumes in my guide.

 

How Might Peak Design Enhance their Straps?

What I like about Peak Design is that they’re all the time bettering on their merchandise based mostly on buyer suggestions. For probably the most half, the brand new model of the product replaces the previous model of the product.

Most upgrades are iterative, so that you don’t essentially must improve when you already personal the product.

Nevertheless, in case you are a brand new consumer, you may be assured figuring out that you’re getting one of the best model of the product to this point. With my instance of the strap that melted into my shirt, that drawback was addressed with a brand new materials.

Nevertheless, not all of the modifications are essentially upgrades.

For example, after I first purchased my Peak Design Slide straps, they got here with a tripod appropriate plate. This meant that I might connect them to my digicam and use them with a tripod right away.

Sadly, nearly all of their straps now solely include an anchor mount which isn’t appropriate with tripod fast launch plates. So, it’s important to purchase that half individually, with each an Arca appropriate plate and a Manfrotto RC2 appropriate plate accessible.

Now, when you occur to purchase a Peak Design journey tripod, this does include the mandatory plate. So possibly now that Peak Design additionally make tripods, they really feel it makes extra sense to bundle the tripod plate with the tripod. Moreover, as they’ll’t inform what sort of tripod plate the end-user requires, sending them an incompatible plate isn’t a fantastic buyer expertise.

Nonetheless, I favored it after I received my Arca appropriate plate after I first purchased my Peak Design Slide strap because it let me use the strap instantly with the tripod I had on the time with no need to fork out for extra equipment. So I want to see it as an choice maybe at checkout for a small improve price even when it’s not included once more.

One other space that has involved some customers of Peak Design straps is that the adjustment mechanism is a metallic loop, and I’ve seen stories that these can scratch a digicam physique when packed in a bag. Personally, I’ve not had this drawback, however my digicam our bodies get fairly banged up anyway!

Nevertheless, if it is a concern, you would possibly wish to pack the strap individually.

Lastly, by way of enhancements, it is perhaps good to see a system for carrying two cameras that doesn’t contain simply having a “X” form of straps throughout my physique. Some digicam strap techniques supply a twin carry system which is extra like a physique harness, and I’d have an interest to see if that’s one thing Peak Design might supply.

That’s simply an concept somewhat than a criticism although as I’ve actually been comfy sporting the 2 straps crossbody.

Apart from the above, I’ve not received a lot else to say in regards to the Peak Design strap system that wants enchancment! Clearly, they’re comparatively costly as straps go, however I do really feel you might be getting a well-made and high quality product that may final a very long time.

 

Peak Design Digicam Strap Assessment Abstract

As I mentioned firstly of this overview, I’ve been utilizing the Peak Design straps for a few years, throughout a number of digicam our bodies and lenses. In all that point they’ve stored my gear secure, which is the principle function of the strap. I additionally discover them extremely comfy to put on even for lengthy intervals of time.

I believe they provide among the finest strap techniques in the marketplace, with straps which might be comfy and safe. Their lifetime guarantee can also be one thing they stand by.

General, I believe the principle determination most individuals must make could be which strap to purchase. I’d say in case you have a heavier digicam setup, particularly if going to make use of telephoto lenses, to go for the Peak Design Slide. For smaller cameras and lighter set ups, in my view it’s a call between Slide Lite and Leash.

Then, when you favor a much less obtrusive setup, take into account Cuff. And at last, if you would like extra safety when gripping your digicam, have a look at Clutch and Micro Clutch.

Actually, I believe whichever product you select you may be proud of its efficiency, construct high quality, and longevity.

 

Additional Studying

That’s it for my overview of the Peak Design strap system – I hope you discovered it useful. Earlier than you go, I needed to share a few of our different content material which we expect you’ll find helpful.

• I’ve an in depth overview of the Peak Design journey tripod
• Our overview of the Vanguard VEO 2 265CB tripod after three years of normal use.
• A overview of the Vanguard VEO 2Go 265HCBM, the VEO 3+ 263AB and the VEO 3T+ 264CB.
• We have now a information to why you want a tripod, a information to selecting a journey tripod, and a round-up of our favourite journey tripods
• We have now a information to how one can use a compact digicam, how one can use a DSLR digicam, and how one can use a mirrorless digicam. We even have a information to how a DSLR works
• Realizing how one can compose a fantastic picture is a key images ability. See our information to composition in images for many tips about this topic
• We have now a information to what depth of discipline is and if you would wish to use it.
• We’re large followers of getting probably the most out of your digital picture recordsdata, and do to that you’ll want to shoot in RAW. See our information to RAW in images to know what RAW is, and why it’s best to change to RAW as quickly as you’ll be able to in case your digicam helps it.
• You’re going to want one thing to run your picture modifying software program on. See our information to one of the best laptops for picture modifying for some tips about what to search for.
• In case you’re searching for extra recommendation on particular suggestions for various eventualities, we additionally have you ever coated. See our information to Northern Lights images, lengthy publicity images, fireworks images, suggestions for taking photographs of stars, and chilly climate images.
• In case you’re searching for a fantastic present for a images loving good friend or member of the family (or your self!), check out our images present information,
• In case you’re out there for a brand new digicam, now we have an in depth information to the greatest journey cameras, in addition to particular guides for the greatest cameras for mountaineering and backpacking, the greatest compact digicam, greatest mirrorless digicam and greatest DSLR digicam. We even have a information to the greatest digicam lenses.
• If you’d like a digicam or lens, however the costs are a bit excessive, see our information to the place to purchase used cameras and digicam gear for some finances financial savings choices.

And that’s it! As all the time, in case you have any feedback or questions on this publish, simply pop them within the feedback part beneath and we’ll reply as quickly as we are able to!