Well, this one’s taken a while. We first saw it almost a year ago at IBC 2022 in Amsterdam and then again earlier this year at NAB 2023 in Las Vegas. Now, it’s finally being released. Yes, it’s the YC Onion Pineta tripod.
The Pineta range is comprised of a tripod and a monopod. The monopod came out shortly after the initial announcement. The Tripod’s taken a while, but now it’s coming in both aluminium and carbon fibre flavours.
YC Onion Pineta – Why has it taken so long?
While neither company has commented on it publicly, the general belief is that YC Onion was struggling to implement its one-touch height adjustments – demonstrated in the video below. Not through engineering issues but legal ones.
It’s been largely thought that it might infringe upon one-touch height adjustment patents owned by Videndum (formerly Vitec) that it implements in its variously branded (Sachtler, Vinten, OConnor) Flowtech tripods.
What is one-touch height adjustment?
On most tripods with legs that have multiple segments, each segment has its own lock. On some tripods, this is a lever. On others, it’s a twist. And, not as common these days, maybe it’s a bolt you loosen and tighten.
With one-touch height adjustment tripods, there’s just one lever, button, or knob to unlock and re-lock all segments of a leg simultaneously. This allows you to go from minimum to maximum height in one motion. Just unlock all three legs, lift and then lock again.
As I said, neither YC Onion nor Videndum has come out to say anything about potential patent issues, but it wouldn’t surprise me if there were. SmallRig seemed to find a way around it, though, and it looks like YC Onion has, too.
In their marketing literature for the tripod, the company says that the YC Onion features a “patented internal structure”. Whether it’s a patent they own or something they’ve licensed is unknown.
So, what’s new that we haven’t already seen?
As mentioned, we first saw the YC Onion Pineta at IBC 2023 in Amsterdam last September. It was a very impressive tripod with a much lower cost than we typically see on one-touch height adjustment tripods. Flowtechs typically start in the thousands of dollars just for the legs.
They appeared again at NAB 2023 in Las Vegas in April. This time, we took a look at the Pineta monopod, although the functionality in the legs and the one-touch mechanism is essentially identical.
The only thing that’s really new now is that the tripod is available for sale. Or at least, it will be soon. But it does mean that we have the full and final specifications for the tripod now.
YC Onion Pineta Tripod Specs
| Material | Carbon Fibre | Aluminium |
| Mount | 75mm Bowl Head or 3/8″-16 | 75mm Bowl Head or 3/8″-16 |
| Max Payload | 35kg | 35kg |
| Closed length | 68cm | 65.5cm |
| Max height | 185cm | 175cm |
| Min height | 16cm | 14cm |
| Leg Angles | 22º, 52º, 82º | 22º, 52º, 82º |
| Leg Lock | Top lever | Top lever |
| Leg Sections | 3 | 3 |
| Weight | 3.5kg | 4kg |
It comes with the YC Onion Coconut Bowl Head
The YC Onion Coconut Bowl Head (buy here) comes included with the carbon fibre version of the YC Onion Pineta. This sits on the top of the tripod, providing a 3/8″-16 screw on which to mount your actual video head. You’ll still need some kind of fluid head to sit on top of this, but you won’t have to worry about
The aluminium version of the Pineta comes with a centre column, more often used by photographers than filmmakers. The centre column can be removed, though, making it compatible with the Coconut and turning it into a video tripod.
Price and Availability
The YC Onion Pineta is to become available in either the YC Onion Pineta Peak Carbon Fibre variety for $699 or the YC Onion Pineta Peak SE Aluminium version for $499. It is listed on the YC Onion website, although everything is presently listed as out of stock.
I expect it will start accepting orders, or at least pre-orders, within the next few days.
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