Peak Design has released a new colorway for its camera strap products, including the Cuff, Leash, Slide Lite, and Slide. The new “Coyote” colorway, a medium brown, joins four existing color choices: black, ash, midnight, and sage.
While a new color choice for a camera strap isn’t typically heavy-hitting news, it did allow me to try out Peak Design’s Slide camera strap. Yes, that’s right, I’m one of the rare few photographers who has never used a Peak Design strap before. Besides, like many other Earth tones, brown is among my favorite colors; it’s a win-win.
Before getting too far into it, though, it is worth considering why Peak Design cares so much about a new colorway for an existing product. Companies frequently add new and different colors to their product lineups, and with some exceptions, they don’t warrant much fanfare.
“Peak doesn’t introduce new colors often. The brand believes that good design is timeless, and as such, it does not chase seasonal fads or force itself into yearly product refreshes. When Peak adds a new colorway to an existing line of products, it does so with great care and intention. That’s why the Peak team believes that something as simple as a new strap color is worthy of celebration,” says Peak Design.
There you have it, Peak Design puts a lot of thought into new colors and doesn’t introduce them just for the sake of it.
While functionally identical to Peak’s four other colorways, the new Coyote choice is manufactured differently, at least for the Coyote Leash and Cuff straps. They contain 35% recycled nylon and are Peak’s first straps to include recycled webbing material.
As for the Slide and Slide Lite, they’re dyed like the rest of Peak’s Slide straps, using a solution dye process. This saves water and energy, and are part of Peak’s ongoing sustainability initiatives. And yes, Peak’s last sustainability report was published in 2022 and PetaPixel is asking about when the next one will be available.
With these details out of the way, it is time to install my new Peak Design strap and see what all the buzz has been about. I asked for the largest strap, the Slide, because my personal camera is a gripped GFX 50S.
For those unfamiliar with the original GFX 50S camera, it is a beefy boy. While the strap that comes with the camera is actually very nice and includes padding, I’ve been using it since the camera launched in 2017, so it’s not quite as comfortable as it once was.
Peak’s Slide strap has a bit of padding as well, although it still maintains a thin profile. Where the strap shines in terms of comfort is its width. It is similar in size and feel to a car’s seatbelt, so it’s exceptionally strong.
Even with the significant weight of my camera and my GF lenses, the strap does a nice job of distributing weight across the back of my neck. And if I decide that I don’t want my camera around my neck, I can easily slip it onto my shoulder. Peak’s Slide strap includes “sticky” rubber, so the strap stays securely on my shoulder. This is a major issue with shouldering some other camera straps, as they are prone to sliding off my shoulder.
The Slide is also straightforward to install. Once I took my Fujifilm strap off the GFX — which was by far the most difficult part of the entire process — all I had to do was loop the Peak Design anchors through the camera strap lugs and attach the strap.
What’s nice about the anchoring system is that when I don’t want to have a strap hanging off my camera, I can easily remove the strap in just a couple of seconds. When I’m working on a tripod, having a strap hanging off my camera can be a liability, on top of being entirely unnecessary.
Pricing and Availability
The Peak Design straps in Coyote are available now. The Cuff and Leash are $34.95 and $44.95, respectively. The larger Slide Lite and Slide are $59.95 and $65.95.
Image credits: Peak Design