Comments on: Meet Arsenal, the Smart Camera Assistant Review (2018)

By: Tom Crandall

Tom Crandall — Tue, 17 Dec 2019 18:11:43 +0000

In reply to Lorna. Good to know. Thanks for the update

By: Lorna

Lorna — Tue, 17 Dec 2019 17:48:53 +0000

Service has definitely improved. I just received my unit, and it was quite a bit quicker getting here than I thought it would be. I am very impressed.

By: Shevill Mathers

Shevill Mathers — Fri, 08 Nov 2019 12:38:02 +0000

In reply to Shevill Mathers. Images saved in camera is a big plus. Stacking frames was quite short and a good result-important is astrophotography.need to do some more testings.

By: Shevill Mathers

Shevill Mathers — Fri, 08 Nov 2019 12:22:21 +0000

Sadly, there is no zoom control for DSLR’s with zoom lenses-a definite useful feature. Cheap internal battery is also a downer.

By: Juan

Juan — Wed, 21 Aug 2019 21:41:33 +0000

Got mine and tried it on Nikon D800e. Several issues are problematic. It takes a long time to shoot a sequence of stacks as it lifts the mirror and makes calculations and finally snaps. That makes it difficult for moving things like clouds or other. Was told by an Arsenal tech that it was planned more for “motionless subject” his words. It takes a long time to process stacks (minutes) meanwhile the phone and camera are rendered unusable. Hopefully the best light didn’t happen just then. So between the time taking the stacks and then processing the stack, bring a lounger chair and several battery packs….
The app image viewer sucks, no changes on orientation for photos, only portrait. They are working on making the transfer (sharing they call it) of images more efficient. Right now, processed images are only saved to the phone or tablet in their exclusive viewer, The you have to save it to another app unless you want to send them using your cell data plan. You can only see them and manage them with” all-parts-on and connected,” (Arsenal, camera and phone), while the battery gently weeps. Since the phone Wifi is used by Arsenal the “shared images” go via cell data plan, while the wallet gently weeps.
I had to save/copy the image to iOS Files so then I could email it or send as attachment. Only one image at the time, mind you…they are working…..
I thought I would get an assistant for focus stacking, eyes not so good anymore, we will see, still to figure out how to do that as it requires a specific focus setting.
No Genie in a bottle here – their own images of course look like candy but as usual to get that….. well….
I got more control of the brackets and better, faster results exp bracketing in camera and processing in Photoshop and Lightroom.

They have a 90 days return policy!!!

By: Juan

Juan — Wed, 21 Aug 2019 21:25:14 +0000

The condensed bit that appears when searching Google states that Arsenal can take a stack of exposure bracketed photos for HDR, process them and saved them in JOG or RAW in camera. This is erroneous, HDR image stacks processed by Arsenal are stored in the cell phone or tablet used with the Arsenal app and not the memory card in camera at this point. And they appear as .PNG images not JPGs or RAW.

By: David

David — Fri, 16 Aug 2019 06:25:50 +0000

In reply to Tom Crandall. I was in the field tonight without internet access when I discovered this policy. Are you kidding me? Most boneheaded design decision I can imagine. I'd just used the device last week, so why is it refusing to work now? How does it even know it needs a firmware update if there's no internet? Does this mean that when the company goes belly up, so does the device? Words are not adequate to express my disgust. Save your money, you can't depend on this albatross.

By: Tom Crandall

Tom Crandall — Fri, 28 Jun 2019 21:56:23 +0000

In reply to Steve. Steve, Yep, I totally agree. Having the updates be required slows everything down.

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 28 Jun 2019 21:46:19 +0000

Comments I wrote to Aresnal today regarding Firmware Updates:

“As a current user, please allow me to make a suggestion.
I am a professional photographer, using Arsenal in the field for various purposes – like time lapse shooting weather, as an example.

PLEASE make your updates OPTIONAL! Not required to use the device. If I am REQUIRED to update, and then have to have an internet connection, and then have to wait 15 minutes for the update to download and install, my shoot opportunity is GONE!
This is not useful as a consumer product, let alone a pro-sumer or Professional product.”

By: LEIF Romell

LEIF Romell — Tue, 22 Jan 2019 12:26:05 +0000

The review states that Arsenal works with “most” Fuji DSLR and mirrorless cameras. It does not. It officially supports TWO models.