Tripods come in all sorts of styles, from tiny tabletop tripods to massive production tripods. YC Onion’s Pineta Peak system is on the higher end of the price spectrum, but combines materials and features in a way that makes it a worthwhile purchase for many photographers and videographers. In this review, I’ll take a look at the system and explain why you might want to add this tripod to your kit.
Pineta Peak Specifications
The Pineta Peak tripod is definitely a little larger, especially if you’re more familiar with typical photography tripods. As a quick refresher, all tripods have a trade-off between the number of leg sections, the size of those sections, and the corresponding maximum height and stability. You can have a travel tripod with 5 or 6 thin leg sections, but it will be more prone to wobbling and shaking.
The largest tripods, on the other hand, have larger, fewer sections and are often designed with the bracing in mind. These aren’t nearly as portable as they don’t fold up as small, but they can be rock solid even with a heavy load of gear on them. The Pineta Peak has 3 sections with a solid 39, 34 and 29mm diameter, making it one of the largest photo tripods I’ve seen, aside from some specialist versions. For videography, it’s in the mid-range for a “videography” tripod and feels smaller with the bracing and spreader removed.
The Pineta Peak measures 30.8 inches when folded and weighs 7.7 pounds (78 cm or 3.5 kg), making it the largest tripod in my kit and surpassing my Gitzo legs, which have been my benchmark for stability in long exposure and landscape photography.
While such a large minimum number of leg segments might result in a less flexible tripod, YC Onion has included adjustable angles of 22, 52 and 82 degrees. This allows you to extend the legs to different angles, bringing the minimum height down to just 16cm, albeit with a wider footprint.
The thick legs, highly durable carbon fiber, and metal construction combine to give a huge payload capacity. YC Onion quotes the capacity as 35kg when using the ball head, and while I don’t have any kit that comes anywhere close to that weight, demanding applications like high magnification macro or super telephoto lenses pose absolutely no problem. Even heavy video equipment would struggle to reach that weight capacity.
The ball head itself is very well made, all metal, with bubble levels, set screws and fine adjustment of resistance. For photographers who may not be familiar with this, a ball head allows you to quickly and easily level your camera even if your legs are not exactly level. Although it is most commonly used for video work, I found it useful when taking photos too, especially when shooting panoramas or other applications where it is important to hit the horizon accurately.
The shell head can also be replaced, with YC Onion noting cross-platform compatibility with common shell heads such as Sachtler aktiv6, aktiv8 and aktiv8T.
The feet as they currently ship are dual-purpose: the rubber pads are removable so the spikes can be quickly installed on sandy or icy surfaces, and the tripod features 1/4″ and 3/8″ threaded holes for installing Magic Arms or attaching gear.
The Pineta Peak in action
One of the most important factors when using a tripod is how easy it is to set up. The Pineta Peak uses YC Onion’s FEISO release system. This system uses a single locking lever on the top of the tripod to release or lock all sections of a leg with a single movement. It’s almost laughable how much faster this is compared to individual leg locks, even when considering “good” implementations like Gitzo’s G-Lock, especially when setting up the tripod from a fully stowed position.
To unfold, you spread the legs, flip the locks over, and raise it to the desired height. Flip the locks back and it’s in position, all in about two moves. Folding it up can be a little trickier, as you may need to wiggle a leg a little to stop it from getting stuck if you don’t drop it straight down. That said, this is absolutely the easiest setup and take down I’ve ever had with a tripod. Changing the unfold is equally easy, as you can target individual legs and adjust the entire length with a single flip. No more “reworking” the length of each leg segment just to get everything right!
As mentioned, this tripod can support both great heights and great weights. The ball head lets you hold up to 77.2 pounds at a maximum height of 61 inches, while the center shaft option can push up to 72.8 inches (albeit at a drastically reduced payload of 3.1 pounds). Combined with the 6.3-inch minimum, you can really get your camera in just about any position imaginable and hold it there precisely.
I particularly liked the combination of the ball head with a gimbal or panoramic head. For more methodical workflows, like multi-row panoramas, the high stability was very helpful and alleviated the size and weight penalty of the whole setup. I would also like to use this with a 3-axis or cube head for the highest precision when photographing architecture.
Just like the workflows of many creatives today, the Pineta Peak is designed for both photography and videography. Kits are available with a fluid head, spreader and video ball head support, meaning the Pineta Peak is a great option for video production at a more affordable price than some of the big names in the video tripod market.
For photographers, the dual-function feet and included ball head, along with support for multi-angle shooting, make this a very capable tripod for all kinds of still photography. I find it particularly useful for workflows that require the highest level of stabilization performance: use with long lenses, studio workflows, product photography, macro photography, and modern pixel-shift style shooting can all benefit from a really rock-solid setup.
While this isn’t the first tripod I’ve used on a long hike, I still find it to be a very versatile piece of equipment. It has a number of very useful features, most notably the FEISO trigger system, but also things like the interchangeable feet and included attachment points that I’d love to see in a slightly smaller system – perhaps a 4-section version with just support for a regular photo tripod head and shorter overall length.
If your workflow allows you to utilize the features, size, and stability, I think this tripod is a great value. A basic kit, including the tripod and ball head, is available on Amazon for $749, which is a significant savings compared to other tripods of similar size or feature set.
What I liked
- FEISO leg releases make setup and breakdown easier than any other tripod I’ve tried
- The very robust construction ensures a very stable tripod in use
- A great combination of photo and video-friendly features makes this tripod a solution for creatives of all genres who don’t care about size and weight.
- A nice selection of available accessories, such as feet, a spreader, a bag and more, make this a well-supported setup
What could be improved
- It comes in a single large size and many developers will not take full advantage of its size and capacity.
- Availability varies from major US suppliers, so look for a kit that includes everything you need
