A call to Arms!

[DigiSnap Mark 2]

OK, Let's hear your thoughts and stories about that much hated item, your arms. Obviously, not YOUR arms, but you know of what I speak.

 

I used to use a MMII flim camera... worked fine, may it rest in peace in my garage. I used the simple cheap extendable arm (Sea Arm IV), which was a good start. Then I switched to the Sea Arm V, which seemed like a good idea, but I ended up hating the darned things. Yes, I could position them a lot more places, but needed one hand to loosen and tighten the nuts (one at a time), while holding the camera with another hand, and using my other other hand to position the strobe. Oops, I don't have three hands... maybe that was the problem!

 

As you can see below, when I switched to digital (still using a 950), I finally built a set of arms using loc-line. Loc-line is the brand name for the flexible connectors... they were designed to handle maching tool coolant, with nozzles that can be pointed where you need the fluid. Good stuff... light, cheap, flexible, only need two hands, and hold the smaller lights very nicely! Yeah, in a strong current with monster stobes, they wouldn't work, but hey, that when I'm on shore. Some scuba photo vendors use the stuff in their own products...

 

What do you use? What would you rather use? Why are standard arms so ??#$# expensive? We want to know! (really)

 

http://www.engagerf.com/markr/scuba/scuba.htm

 

[wetpixel 0]

I've been curious for some time about what the options are for the most commonly used arms, and how they connect to housings and strobes.

 

This will be very informative.

[Dee 0]

I also had a S&S MMII with those blasted Sea Arms and hated them. You could move them up and down, if you had enough hands but that was it.

 

At SeaSpace in Houston a couple of years ago, I saw some Infinity arm at the Light and Motions booth. 18 inchs of bead-like sections that you could move anywhere. Yep, the same Loc-lin connectors that Marks photo shows only they were black.

 

The old MMII now has a new home and I kept the flexible arms with the hope of using them somehow with the digital.

 

Wanting to keep a small package, I recently purchased a Fisheye tray which comes with a short, 6 Loc-line arm. I plan to extend that with some of the Loc-line connectors I already have. After I actually use it, I'll have a better idea of how much extension to use but hey....I've got almost a yard of the stuff!