Peak Design Capture Clip v3 Review

What’s in the box?!*

Like any Peak Design product that I’ve bought, the Capture Clip v3 comes well packaged using minimal plastic. The box contains:

• 1 x Capture Clip base
• 1 x Standard Plate (this is what Peak Design call the ‘New Standard Plate’ on their compatibility chart but also referred to as PL-S-3 Standard Plate on some retailer sites).
• 2 x thumb screw bolts
• 2 x hex drive long bolts (about 2mm longer than the above)
• 1 x 4mm hex wrench (allen key)
• 1 x microfibre pouch
• 1 x Peak Design sticker

*See the movie Seven for the reason I aded the exclamation mark. Yes, I’m a geek.

The Capture Clip Standard Plate

So I was on the summit of Mt Oxford in Canterbury and decided I wanted to take some shots using my small Manfrotto tripod. This tripod doesn’t have a plate fitting, just a screw on a circular pad, so I had to remove the plate from my camera in order to screw the camera onto the tripod. Then I lost the plate. It could be in that photograph somewhere.

When I got home and looked for a replacement plate, I mistakenly thought I had the v2 model of the Capture Clip and so was looking for an older compatible plate. I didn’t find anything that would work the same way so I decided to spend the extra money and replace the whole clip. At least I’d have the new model, I thought. When it arrived it all looked very familiar so I dug out the old box and realised I’d always had the v3 and could have just bought a replacement plate from the likes of Auckland Camera Centre, Photogear, or Rubber Monkey. Oh well. At least now I can leave my old base on one backpack and my new base on another backpack and easily swap the camera between the two. I should have watched Peak Design’s video first – at this point it explains the different plates.

I’m telling this story because it shows one minor niggle with the Capture Clip. If your tripod isn’t compatible, like my smaller tripods, then you’ll need to remove the plate from your camera using the allen key. This can be a minor nuisance and leaves the plate at risk of being lost on a mountain if you’re a numpty like me. Still, there are some tripods that do work with the plate in place, as well as some alternative plates and adapters for various uses.

As it stands, the Standard Plate is a quality bit of engineering that allows the camera to be inserted into the base in four directions. The screw ‘hole’ is more of a ‘slot’ that means you can position the plate off-centre. As you can see from the photo above this means I can position the plate in a way that allows my screen to tilt freely. It could also help allow you to keep the battery compartment clear on other cameras.

There are four corner holes that you can attach a strap attachment to. I’ve attached mine so that I remember to hook it on a carabiner on my pack next time I remove it. As you can see from the photos below, the plate still slips into the base perfectly fine in both directions even with the strap attachment in place. This attachment can also form one of the two attachments needed for your shoulder strap, allowing the camera to hang in a more efficient way than the regular two attachment points on the camera.