I have been using my original carbon fiber Peak Design travel tripod since the day they were released. And for the most part it did the trick and was and am very happy with it. But it did have major trade offs to keep the size down. Those are all over the web so I won't go into it.
But I just got the pd Pro Tripod Light and have been using it for the past week and I am super happy with the new design. Fixed 90% of my issues with the travel tripod. Here are my quick thoughts on it.
- Size -- it is bigger than the travel tripod but not excessively. I think this is the size and dimensions the original travel tripod should have been. The vertical size is larger to account for the beefier legs and larger tripods.
- Legs -- the legs are significantly thicker and heftier than the original travel tripod. No flex at all unless you really torque on them. In my one week use I didn't see or feel any flex on them in normal use. The original travel tripods the legs would actually flex with heavier weight on them.
- Levers - we know have only three levers, and they are seriously over engineered. Much larger, with nice grip and so much easier and smoother to open and close. Still makes noice when opening and closing but nothing like the original travel tripod. And they are machined much better.
- Leg Angle Adjustments - this new design is awesome. Much nicer and smoother in use and you don't have to move the legs to use the adjustment clips! Plus we know how 3 positions as opposed to two. That in between extra adjust ment as been super useful for me. And they are flush to the body - nice so they don't get caught up in anything and stay out of the way.
The center column is a huge upgrade! Really stiff and it is all carbon fiber design. Much stiffer than the travel tripod -- though it is still a center column so don't expect miracles here. But it is much better than anything else I have used. Great design here.
And the new hex tool is much beefier and inspires more confidence. And it slides into the center column so no chance of loosing it like the original travel tripods clip base retention system. Nice job PD!
- The ball head -- this is a fantastic work of engineering art and is the real big upgrade to the tripod now. Everything is fixed as compared to the travel tripod's head (except one issue). I nee to really have a whole section on this.
First - the ball head locks up tight. No drop at all. Once tide down it is not moving. I couldn't even force it to move when I applied a light of force to it with my arms. The largest rig I have is a Nikon Z8 + 100-400 F4.5-5.6 VR S lens and have had no issues. Held it rock steady. Smooth ring with just the right amount of tension. The locking ring is easy to find when not looking and is easy to operate with glow on.
With the new ball head you don't have to lift it up to adjust the angle -- it swings about 15 degrees so you can get a level base easily in most situation without raising the center column. This is sufficient for about 95% of use cases. And if you are primarily a landscape photographer this will be perfect for your use cases!
We now have a panning added to the ball head! And it is excellent with just the right amount of resistance when panning. Almost fluid like. Very impressive. And its nice that the marked on indicators every 5 degrees. I used this with a RRS PG-01 pano gimbal and it was perfect! Leveling and panning!
The new locking mechanism is a joy to use - attachment is super secure and it has a locking safety switch (which I always use) giving a super secure connection. The camera / lens isn't going anywhere.
So what's not to like?
The ball head is super picky with Arca plates so make sure you check to see if yours will fit before committing. My Sirui and Gitzo clips do not clamp down at all in it. However all of my RRS clips do. My Kirk L bracket for the Z9 fits perfectly and so does my Kirk replacement foot for the Nikon 100-400 Z lens. So luckily everything worked out for me but you should keep that in mind.
I wish the ball head had groves in so stop screws on smaller plates could be used.
Wish the leveling bubble was much larger than it is -- with its small size it is really not much use.
The clips are still noisy! They should have added some material or something to cut down on the clank. But if you are careful you can still close and open them quietly.
So is it worth the upgrade? YES. If you use the PD travel tripod as much as I did, you will see tangible advantages upgrading to the Pro Tripod Lite. If you need a travel tripod or one that packs down to small size but still lets give you excellent stability this is your ticket.
This tripod is far better than the Gitzo travel tripods, and Peak Design has leaped frogged the competition here. It'll be years until all the other suspects get anything close to this thing.
So thats my initial thoughts -- hope this helpful for anyone who is curious about these. If you have questions feel free to ask away!
Oct 28, 2025 at 01:58 AM
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