Picking A Strobe Arm - Flex Or Ball Joint?

[mattia_v]

I have an RX100 in an Acquapazza housing, and after renting an Inon S-2000 strobe last year, I want to buy one myself. I use Inon wet lenses for pretty much every shot, either UFL-165 or UCL-165s for macro.

What I'm struggling with is the choice of supports - for now, I'm going to go with a single strobe, but I may move to double eventually. I've only used a flex arm before, and that worked well enough. Flexible positioning, light weight, but not super stable above water. The ball joint systems (e.g. UCLS) seem relatively easy to pack and more bullet proof though, but not sure how much heavier they are. I didn't particularly warm to the tray l used, and I've considered direct mounting the arm to the right side of the housing (which has two M6 and two M10 threaded holes there) to keep things compact. I think Aluminum would be preferably to carbon for adding lens caddies as well. But it is quite a bit pricier.

Thoughts and advice (including lengths for an Ball joint system) would be much appreciated.

 

[Storker]

I've got two Inon Z240s on ball joint arms. With strobes of that size and weight, I wouldn't like to have them on flexy flex arms.

It takes a little experience, though, to tighten the clamps just enough to allow for positioning without having to loosen the clamps while still keeping the strobes in place when you want them to.

 

[WetLens]

Ball joint w/clamps. Get ones with an o-ring on the ball ends to allow flexible positioning.

Flex arms (Loc Line) do not have enough flexibility for me - can't wrap to get strobe close to lens. That, and I hate the finger-nails-on-the-chalkboard sound they make when you adjust position - or when they decide to adjust themselves.

Bought ball joint arms for my wife's camera as well so I didn't have to listen to the constant squeaking.

 

[tursiops]

I've got two YS-D1s on ball joints; I used to have two DS-125s. Both are too heavy for flex arms above water.
Even with the ball arms I need to loosen the clamps once I'm underwater....and tighten them when i exit.

 

[KeithG]

i find ball joints are easier to position. i use 2 arm segments and generally only adjust 1 joint at a time when fine tuning strobe aim. with a flex arm i found i often had to use 2 hands since i had to grasp the arm on either side of where i wanted it to bend.

be aware that there is more than 1 size of ball. big balls do not mix well with small balls.

 

[fmerkel]

Ball joint. Flex arms are crappy.

 

[mattia_v]

Right. No love at all for the flex arms. Thanks! Clear message!

I've found a reasonably priced set (insofar as anything related to underwater photography can really be called 'reasonably priced'...I thought topside was bad, but eesh...) with 5" and 8" segments, which seems like it would provide a reasonable amount of flexibility and control. Good compromise for a wet lens setup that switches from fisheye to Macro relatively often?

 

[fmerkel]

Fish-eye you want some length to get the strobes 'out there'.

 

[Storker]

Yes and no. The distance from your port to your strobes should be ~equal to the distance from your port to your subject. This means that if you're doing CFWA, you don't need very long arms. Conventional WA is of course another story.

I use 5"+7" arms, and for CFWA I usually tuck the strobes closer to the housing. It's only when I'm shooting conventional WA that I'm missing longer arms. OTOH, with the viz we have in my waters, CFWA is usually the best alternative...

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I wanted ball arms but the flex are what I could afford. For now. I'm using a pair of DS51 Ikelite strobes and so far have had no issues with the arms in the water. On land yes they don't really support the strobes in all directions. However for me just starting out I can live with that. Down the road it's likely I'll go to ball arms when funds and needs justify it.