Strobe Arm Selection

Does anyone have any experience with the Technical Lighting Control Strobe Arms from Aquatica? Looking to purchase and wanted to get some feedback from other users before I make the plunge.

I use TLC arms and love them - i like the fact that they are simple and easy to move with no orings or the likes.

I switched from sea and sea arms when i moved from MM-II to my aquatica housing and find the TLC a vast improvement.

hope that helps a bit?

I've used TLC a lot in the past and found them to be great. For information, a lot of manufacturers are now standardising on a ball size of about 25mm/1in which means that you can use a mix of arms from:

TLC, Ultralight, Inon, Ikelite (1" series), Seacam, and so on.

I say this because depending on your system, some manufacturers produce more elegant adapters for certain flashes than others! For example the Ultralight adapter for the Nikonos SB102/3/5 strobes is well designed, other are not so good (in my opinion) and Inon produce a flash arm adapter for their own flash guns which fits very well. Clamps vary. Some feel easier to operate than others - a personal choice. If you can mix and match you can produce a very versatile and easy to use arm to your own liking.

I personally like using 2" base, 8", 6", 2" adapter (metric equivalents actually) which I find to be very versatile for many subjects. If you have heavy flash units then a different set up may be needed though.

Lastly, avoid arms with sharp or hard edges as this is where corrossion will start. (I usually pour boiling water into a bucket of disassembled arms annually, to remove any vestiges of salt, and follow this with a blast of silicone spray when the parts are dry.

TLC arms are heavier than Ultralights. When you travel, the light arms make a big difference if you are bringing sets for wide angle and macro.

Joe

The best way to travel is get a 3 section arm set with a short middle section for macro and a longer one for WA, the compounded weight of a strobe arm set is a shade above what a T-shirt weight, hardly a consideration when you think of it. A lot a system will force you to bring multiple port if you wish to vary you lenses choice, that for me is a bigger (pun intented) issue when travelling.

I use a 4/8/4 arm and find that I can cover from wide to macro with the same arm, I do have 4" stem middle section that I bring with me all the time, but I end up not using them most of the time, less fidgeting and more time for umbrella drinks and good company .

When I travel with two housing I likely will have a 4/8/8 arms set for wide angle housing and the macro stem set (very short ) for the close up & macro housing.

Bottom line is the 4/8/4 combo as served me well over the year and would recommend it as a one arm do it all set up to begin with.

I have been using TLC for over 20 years with basically the same combiantion of extensions.

I use: 4 x 8 x 8 which allows me to extend fully for wide angle as well as get in tight for macro and extreme macro back lighting.

I carry two sets with two housings and four strobes. This has always worked excellent.

Durability, no mainetenence, lightweight. Get them and forget about them.

Mauricio Handler