Peak Design announced three new Pro tripods that it developed in tandem with adventure photographer and filmmaker Jimmy Chin that promise professional-grade portability, strength and “thoughtfully designed functionality.”
The new Peak Design Pro Tripods are all mostly carbon fiber and avaialble in three variations: the Pro, the Pro Tall, and the Pro Lite. The Pro and Pro Lite are close in size but the Lite slims down the legs to reduce weight and size as much as possible. The Pro Tall is substantially larger than both the Pro and Pro Lite and serves as an option for photographers and filmmakers who want a portable yet extremely durable, stable option.
It should be noted that none of these options is explicitly a “travel” tripod and are instead designed to built out Peak Design’s current single travel tripod offering, not replace it. The company has confirmed it will continue to offer the existing Peak Design Travel Tripod unchanged alongside these three new offerings.
Peak Design says the Pro Tripod series is still rooted in that “transformative” design that the Travel Tripod brought to market back in 2019 but iterates on it to improve the user experience. The new series features a fully CNC-machined hub, flanged center column, and increased leg diameter and length so that the Pro Tripod achieves twice the stability (40 pound capacity versus the Travel Tripod’s 20 pounds) and up to 30% greater deployment height (the Pro Tall can reach a height of 197.4 cm).
“Similar to the Travel Tripod, the Pro Tripod maintains a backpack friendly weight and size, making it the most portable pro tripod on the market,” Peak Design says.
The biggest visible change to the Pro series versus Peak’s existing tripod is a newly designed ball head which includes the addition of fluid panning. The Arca-Swiss compatible head features a bubble level that doubles as the lock and release switch while a large, knurled dial is used to control the angle of the head. Peak Design also created a new Tilt Mod accessory that clips into the new ball head and transforms the Pro series tripods into a “pro-level” pan-tilt video capture tool.
When the center column is fully stowed, Peak Design says that it still features 15-degrees of adjustment, allowing photographers to gain maximum stability without losing full articulation.
“No other ball head on the market comes close to delivering this level of functionality and intuitive control,” Peak Design claims. “Behind Pro Tripod is an invaluable design partnership between Peak Design and renowned adventure-photographer and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker, Jimmy Chin. Chin’s desire to test countless Pro Tripod prototypes in the world’s harshest climates played an instrumental role in influencing each feature incorporated into the Pro Tripod.”\\
Peak Design will also offer a Pro Leveling Base accessory that can replace the center column and allows photographers and filmmakers to use any of their own heads, should they desire.
As is typical of Peak Design product launches, the Pro series is available on Kickstarter for a reduced launch price. When the tripods hit store shelves, however, they will cost $799, $899, and $999 for the Pro Lite, Pro, and Pro Tall options, respectively.
There are also a host of optional accessories. The Pro Leveling Base will cost $129, the Tilt Mod is $150, the spiked feet are $50, and the Mobile Mount is $20. Peak Design expects to start shipping to Early Bird backers by October 2025 and to all others by February 2026.
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Image credits: Peak Design
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