The result is the Capture by Peak Design. The Capture attaches to a strap on one side and accepts a standard Arca-Swiss mount on the other. If you happen to wear a belt, use a backpack or carry a messenger bag, you now have a potential camera attachment point.

If you've ever hiked long distances encumbered by an SLR around your neck or tried to keep a camera at the ready on a bicycle trip, you'll understand the appeal of the Capture. No longer do you need to rely on a camera strap over your neck or shoulder - you can employ whatever strap or belt you already have on your person. Taking a shot is a quick matter of depressing the red button and sliding the camera out of the shoe - once practiced, the effort involved wasn't much greater than if I'd had my camera around my neck.

For anyone leery of dropping $50 on the Capture sight unseen, we can assure you that the Capture is no vapor-ware. It both works and feels great. While it might not be Manfrotto-solid, it is unmistakably high-quality kit. Snapping a camera into the shoe has a reassuringly crisp feel and it has a solid heft without being bulky or unreasonably heavy.

I had a blast with the Capture - it was trivial to keep a camera at the ready on my messenger bag when biking to work and I can't wait to bring it on my next hike. The Capture shows evidence of careful design - rather than forcing you to string the strap through the Capture's clamp, or completely unscrew one side of the back plate, a clever C-shaped ring on one side allows you to quickly open the Capture to accept the strap.

My chief concern was of inadvertently releasing the camera from the shoe, sending my GF1 to an unfortunate encounter with the pavement. As it turns out, this isn't really an issue if the Capture is attached to a vertical strap - the opening of the shoe can be oriented vertically, so there's no danger of the camera mount coming loose. On a belt, though, the Capture must be oriented either fore or aft. While I never had an issue inadvertently releasing my camera - the simultaneous forces required are at right angles - the prospect left me nervous.

Fortunately, Peter anticipated this concern by adding a thumbscrew to lock the camera in place. While it does hold the camera securely, it would be nice if there was some indication that the 'safety' is engaged. As it is, you need to remember to check that the screw has actually gripped the shoe by attempting to remove the camera.

Is the Capture for everyone? No. Perhaps unsurprisingly, we had less-than-stellar results with a D3X; CSCs and small-to-mid size SLRs are really the targets here. Also in the water-is-wet category: you're not going to be happy using it with a heavy telephoto lens - it pulls awkwardly on a belt and unevenly on one backpack strap.

More to the point, the Capture isn't for every photographer. For many, replacing the tried-and-true camera strap (or any of a dozen such alternatives) with a newfangled gadget won't make sense. Put simply, if you've never been bothered by having a camera strap around your neck, you'll likely see little benefit. For the traveler, the outdoors aficionado or anyone who's lost shots to stowed cameras though, the Capture might be a good investment. While there are similar products out there, none (to our knowledge) matches the elegance and convenience of the Capture.

Though he's already hit 3,000% of his funding goal on Kickstarter, Peter isn't sitting still. He plans to release a Capture to easily secure a camera to stationary objects - your car becomes a tripod quadrupod, your bike a bipod and your trekking pole a monopod.

Head on over to the Capture page on Kickstarter to learn more or purchase one for yourself.