Peak Design Travel Tripod

£315/$350 A highly innovative travel tripod

This tripod is available in aluminium and carbonfibre editions, both of which positively scream innovation. The legs are specially shaped to fit around the centre column to save space, and don’t need to swing up over the head. Another space-saver is that the head is an integral part of the tripod; if you’d rather use a different head, there’s an optional Universal Head Adapter (£28/$30), which you can use with or without the centre column. The centre column splits in two for low-level shooting.

You can quickly remove all but the top section of the five-section legs, and fit stubby feet from the Ultralight Conversion Kit (£21/$30), making an even smaller, lighter kit.

Performance

The rigidity and stability of our aluminium test sample proved excellent. According to Peak Design, the carbon-fibre edition is 20 per cent more stable, but it’s considerably pricier at around £530/$600.

Digital Camera verdict

Full of clever tricks without neglecting the basics, the Peak Design Travel Tripod has plenty of innovative design flourishes and is a delight to use.

1 The integral head comes complete with a quickrelease plate. 2 This handy clip holds a hex key for the camera plate. 3 A mobile phone mount folds away for stowage.