Peak Design Capture Clip v3 Review
By Dave Roberts 
on February 18, 2023
Peak Design Capture Clip v3 Review
Dave Roberts reviews the Peak Design Capture Clip v3 to see if it keeps your camera rigid while hill walking and if it really is better than a camera bag.
According to Peak Design the Peak Design Capture Clip v3
…. is the most secure, convenient, accessible way to carry your camera, period. Unlike a camera strap, Capture keeps your camera rigidly stable while hiking, biking, or moving around the studio. Unlike a camera bag, Capture keeps your camera instantly accessible with the click of a button. Includes 2 components: a metal clip that clamps to any backpack strap, belt, or bag, and an Arca tripod-compatible plate that screws into the bottom of your camera. Your camera locks into the clip, where it is held rigidly and securely. Press the lockable quick-release button to remove. Holds well over 200 lbs. (90kg), making it strong enough for the heaviest of pro camera/lens combinations.
The Peak Design Capture Clip is for anyone who likes to take photographs and walk and experienced the pain of trying to get to their camera kit, get it ready and the shot taken before their walking companion walks off or the shot is missed. The best we’ve come up with to carry our camera kit on a walk or hike is to shoulder the camera, but this isn’t always practical and we don’t want two grand’s worth of kit dangling precariously and swinging from rock to rock, and in a bag it may be protected but takes time to get to.
Mobile phones in the pocket have overcome this to a degree, but despite popular opinion they still don’t replace a proper camera. We’ve also found ourselves taking way too many shots with the phone in the last seven years or so, and that’s a lot of quality we’ve lost. The Peak Design Capture Clip v3 is one option that we stumbled upon that claims to overcome this issue by fixing your camera on your rucksack shoulder strap. The Capture Clip comes in two parts that can be bought together or separately – the Capture Clip v3 for your rucksack strap and the Capture Plate for the camera. With both, you get a decent quality Allen key that’s essential to attach either item and something you need to do at home rather than on the go. According to Peak Designs, it “fits any strap up to 6.4 cm (2.5”) wide and 1.5 cm (0.6″) thick with standard thumbscrews or 2.2 cm (0.88”) thick with included hex-head clamping bolts.” We needed a bit of squeezing to get the clip to fit our strap, but fitting it wasn’t particularly difficult.
The Capture Clip is available in both black and silver, and weighs in at only 84g. It’s well made from anodised aluminium and Peak Design back this build quality up with a lifetime guarantee. It’s also rated to hold 90 kg of camera kit – that’s one hefty camera! You can also expand the system with the separately sold POV Kit for GoPro cameras, carry binoculars with the Bino Kit and quickly change lenses with Lens Kit.
Buying both together is the cheapest option, and very reasonable at around £60-70 if you can get your hands on one! We strongly suggest getting a second clip if you have multiple cameras as it’s not practical to swap in the field. Avoid third party plates – they don’t always play nicely and considering the value of the camera that it’ll be secure really is a false economy. We decided the same when we looked at the cheaper versions, which we might try out at a later date but certainly not with our expensive gear! You also need to make sure you’re buying both clip and plate in v3 – otherwise you’ll need to ensure that the combination works as it should as the newer versions are not necessarily backwards compatible.
The Capture Plate attaches easily with the allen key to the tripod mount of your camera. We attached it to various EOS (film and digital), Canon EOS M6ii and a Sony A??- as well as a couple of Pentax and other SLR cameras with no problem. We did read reports that the plate can damage the mount on some EOS M6ii cameras, but there’s apparently a weakness inside the tripod mount itself. Of course, that’s a risk you’ll need to evaluate and decide for yourself and we suggest googling to see if anyone’s had an issue with your camera and the Capture Clip. The Capture Plate is also Swiss Arca compatible, so you can connect to all Arca compatible tripod heads. It doesn’t however have a fail safe like on many clips that come with heads, which is a major negative point for us. You can also get a Dual QR Plate that fits both Manfrotto RC2 & Arca-Swiss heads.
We found that in use the fastening was surprisingly secure and despite some other reports online about cameras falling off, we can’t see how that’s even possible without some serious and obvious failure (e.g. the whole clip snapping). There’s a lockable quick-release button that you can twist and this fully prevents the plate from leaving the clip.
We often find ourselves needing two cameras to hand – especially so with being keen analogue photographers. Using the Capture Clip v3 we can shoulder one when it’s safe to do so, and keep another on the Capture Clip. If you carry multiple cameras and you need them both to hand, then you will definitely need an extra plate to swap them over as it’s not practical to go swapping the plates too often in the field. So it may be the digital on one section, and easily swapped out for a film camera for another (as well as having one shouldered!). It is even possible to attach one to each shoulder, something we’re looking to do in the future, but we’d probably only use both for short periods of time though we’ll have to try it to see what works for us.
You can attach the camera with the lens pointing down or sideways. Bulkier lenses are best pointing down, but smaller lenses benefit from being sideways and pointing inward, again something that works differently for different people. Whichever way it points, you will need to become aware of the camera sticking out as you pass obstacles, especially with something like the EOS M6ii with a protruding viewfinder. That attachment is delicate enough as it is and would easily smash if you hit something. Attaching securely and safely is one thing, but does it detach easily when needed? A resounding yes, as we found the camera very easy to remove when needed, so long as we remembered to unlock the quick-release locking button! Replacing it in the cradle can be somewhat problematic – but with practice it becomes second nature. It didn’t help that we kept changing cameras, so it made it harder to get used to it. It also depends where you attach the Clip to your strap, and you may find that by raising or lowering it you’ll find what works best for you.
The main issue we’ve had is what to do with the camera when you stop. It’s supported while the pack is on your shoulders but flops down once your pack is removed with the risk that the kit will fall to the floor. So you need to get into the habit of removing it at stops – we couldn’t figure out a better way round this! Another disadvantage over a camera bag is that you have absolutely no weather protection. This is ok in the dry, but in changeable UK conditions you may need to stop and remove the camera in showers whereas a small bag would offer sufficient protection between downpours.
Overall, the Peak Design Capture Clip v3 is a keeper. It now means we have a camera to hand (or shoulder) at all times and almost as easy to use as the smartphone in our pockets. The biggest downside we have is that it means we can now carry even more camera kit on the mountain than before!
Dave Roberts
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