August, 2011

The Capture Camera Clip System is an innovative approach to carrying a camera. It's manufactured by Peak Design, an upstart company based in San Francisco. The Capture clip was initially designed to be attached to a backpack strap but can just as easily attach to a waist belt. Designed for people with outdoor lifestyles, the Capture clip allows easy access to your camera while at the same time eliminating the inconvenience of wearing a strap around your neck or shoulder. If you've ever ridden a bike with a camera around your neck you know it can be very awkward at times.

The Capture clip keeps your camera out of harm's way while still providing easy access to it.

The Capture consists of a chassis, backplate, and camera connection plate. Attaching the Capture to a belt or strap is easy. You just swivel open the chassis, slide the backplate behind your belt or strap, and swivel the chassis back in place. Then you tighten the two clamping bolts to secure the clip in place.

The clamping bolts can be adjusted to accommodate the thickness of the strap or belt.

The camera connection plate attaches to the camera's tripod mount. To attach the camera to the clip you simply slide the connection plate into the chassis. It's held in place by a plastic tab. To remove the camera you press the quick release button and slide it off the clip. There's also a twist lock on the chassis as an extra measure to keep the connection plate in place, but I found it wasn't necessary to use. The connection plate is Arca Classic compatible, so if you're using that type of tripod system you won't need to remove the plate for tripod use. There's also a tripod mount drilled into the plate. It's a bit off center so I'd rather just remove the plate and use the camera's tripod mount. The plate also has a metal loop on each side for attaching a hand strap.

The Capture clip can also be used with a hand strap which attaches to the connection plate.

I tried the Capture using a standard backpack. Carrying the weight of the camera on the front of my chest felt a little strange and slightly uncomfortable, but I eventually got used to it. Overall though it wasn't bad and I really liked having both hands free. However, the Capture was originally designed for hikers and bikers. Hiker backpacks usually have longer straps plus a connecting strap in the front to take the weight off the shoulders, so I'm sure the Capture would be much more comfortable to use with this kind of backpack.

Here's the Capture clip attached to a standard backpack strap on the left and with a camera inserted on the right.

I also tried the Capture with a belt around my waist. It took me a while to find a position to put it in where it felt comfortable. The Peak Design website recommends that it be worn in the front, more towards the midsection. For me though I found it to be most comfortable on my hip, right behind my pants pocket. Sliding the camera on and off the clip was easy. Again, it was nice to have both hands free without having a camera around my neck or at my side on a sling strap.

I highly recommend the Capture to any photographer with an outdoor lifestyle, especially hikers and bikers. For the casual photographer it's probably a better alternative to a neck or sling strap when worn on a waist belt. There are a few things you should be aware of though. When wearing it on a backpack the Capture is best used with a camera with a small to mid sized lens. I tried it with the Nikon 70-300mm VR lens, with the lens hood on. It was a little too uncomfortable to my liking. Around my waist though I had no issues with my Nikon D7000 and Sigma 100-300mm f/4 lens. If you're going to be carrying this much weight I suggest you wear a thick belt with a large buckle for support. If you use a professional sized camera, ie a Nikon D3X, with a larger bottom grip, or a DSLR with a battery grip added to the bottom, the camera will be a little unbalanced, with the lens pointing down at a bit of an angle instead of straight. I recommend using a hand strap with the Capture to prevent any accidental dropping while photographing. For anyone with a little extra weight around their waist the camera might be a little difficult to access and/or uncomfortable to wear on your belt. I'm not exactly skinny, but had no problems. The Capture is a little pricey, so it's not for everyone.

As of today, August 25th, the Capture is officially available from the Peak Design website. It's available for $79.99 and comes with a lifetime warranty. It's also available through Amazon from the link below. An Extender will be released later this year. With the Extender you can mount the Capture to a bike's handle bars, a car, etc. I'll update the review when I receive mine. Also in the works is a "leash" (yet to be officially named), which is a customized hand strap that can be attached to the connection plate.