Strobe Arm and Bracket Buyers Guide (revisions coming soon)
By James Forte Copyright 2007, Do not reproduce with out the permission of James forte

Why we need strobe arms, strobe arms types, strobe arm differences?

Arms attach a strobe or multiple strobes to our camera by means of a tray or in some cases directly to the camera or housing. We need our strobes attached to our camera system in a manner so that we can manipulate the strobe head for proper lighting technique, thus creating our underwater studio. Fixed head configuration limits your creative lighting control, as where hand held allows for greater lighting control, but only allows one hand for camera operation thus limiting control of the camera. Our strobe arms should allow smooth one handed movement of the strobe head into the position we desire. An ideal system will allow for the photographer to place the strobe head where he or she wants and then allow both hands to be free for camera operation. Some strobe arms may require you to tighten a clamp or some other mechanism to prevent the strobe from further movement before letting go of the strobe head. In single strobe photography the budget minded can get away with hand holding a strobe arm or using fixed strobe arms that telescope or rotate in place. However as we advance in our photography we will surely be using two strobes and need the use of strobe arms and maybe mounting trays to attach and control our strobe system. It should be obvious we need strobe arms for multiple strobe photography and more creative control of our lighting underwater.

The strobe arm types can be broken down into several categories, although not easily done so or set in stone. The first type being single section arm which attaches a strobe to a camera tray and works as a handle also for the camera. The strobe head is usually only able to move up and down and rotate in place with this style arm. Almost always these arms are detachable for hand held lighting giving you a little more control. Common for those using an amphibious camera like the Nikonos or Sea & Sea motor marine camera's. These arms are good for the entry level photographer looking for a standardized way of shooting. Most who have ever tried a segmented arm would never go back to single section arms which leads us into the second type of arms called segmented.

Segmented arm types are the least expensive way of adding more creative control to your photography. Segmented types called caterpillar arm's by one manufacturer and infinity by another are best for macro photography. This arm system has many joints allowing for unlimited maneuverability in a compact format. These arm types can be mounted off a tray or the cold shoe of a amphibious camera. Use of these arms for wide angle photography isn't recommended however since they can't be locked in place or support the weight of larger wide angle strobes. Accessories like spotting lights and studio tools are available from several manufacturers and are interchangeable with each other's arms allowing for wide range of configurations.

Macro vs. Wide Angle configurations

Macro arm set ups can be as short as a cold(hot) shoe mounted strobe unit that allows the strobe head to be angled up or down a few degrees or segmented plastic pieces that manipulate like a snakes body to position our strobe, and most commonly seen now days are the ball joint systems. With macro photography any of these systems will work fine provided they hold the strobe in the position you want.

Wide angle configurations are by far more critical than macro configurations. The arms are required to hold the weight of our strobe head anywhere from 6" to 40 inch's from our camera depending on your style of wide angle lighting. A common distance is 16-20 inch's from the camera lens. You can see now that if your trying to keep a strobe in place two feet or more away from the cameras lens or are in a current, being able to lock the arms in place becomes important.

Conclusion

Distinguishing the differences between strobe arms will be how much adjustment is needed to manipulate the strobe head, can the strobe head be locked in place for current diving situations or handing the camera system out of the water to a boat operator, can you add individual sections or accessories for custom configurations.

The best strobe arms will allow us to manipulate the strobe in any direction so desired in the calmest of environments and with minimum change allow us to do the same in the roughest environment. You may find that one strobe arm type works best for your macro, while an entirely different strobe arm type works best for your wide angle. Consider all types of photography and shooting situations before settling on one type of strobe arm system to do everything, you will most definitely want different configurations for different situations.

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Our favorite strobe arms are Ultralight Control Systems.