ArsenalReviews of witharsenal.com

Slow delivery Doesn’t work properly Overpriced

Customer Service, this has been so helpful, have emailed and quickly gotten a response back. Carol and Tyler have gone out of their way to help me. I have been using mostly in handheld mode, I travel and the less I have the better I am. The tripod is something that I prefer not to take with me. The handheld mode does what I want, oh I can do all that on my own, but for time purposes this solves the problem. I read the negative comments, I do not agree, especially about customer service, they have the best. Anything new out there takes time to understand, and this would not have been made available if it did not do what it said it would do. So to all, take your time, ask questions, read on the websight.

My 5 stars is for customer service. I was recently on vacation trying to shoot some photos along the side of a narrow road. I put my tripod (up at about 5’), camera and Arsenal attached, on the side of the road over the car barrier. The ground on the far side of the barrier was up about 2’, and I thought I would climb up and over to get some shots of the canyon without getting run over. Unfortunately, my tripod, camera and Arsenal all same crashing down over the barrier, camera lens first, onto concrete. As I watched it fall, I was certain my camera and lens would be destroyed, (about $4000), but by some miracle, part of the lens hood on my wide angle lens took the brunt and broke off, but the camera and lens- absolute miracle- were still working. My Arsenal was also attached and it took a bit of a hit, with a gouge in it and a bunch of dirt. But I dusted it off and tried to use it, and lo and behold, it still worked... at first. Now, for background, I am a serious photography enthusiast. It is not my profession, but I spend a lot of time and money on it, and would consider myself a semi-pro. I saw the Arsenal ad on Instagram many months ago and was very intrigued. I was especially interested in being able to do ‘long exposures’ without my filters and all, and photostacking, so I bought one. It cane right away and was nicely packaged. Like maybe some others, I was under the impression that it would improve pretty much any photo, so I was disappointed to find that it’s not really geared toward handheld use... I haven’t tried it for any formal portraits yet, and usually don’t bother with my tripod unless I’m really serious about shooting something, so I didn’t really try it out much. So I was excited about a work trip to Kauai where I could really try it out with some landscape photography. Back to my story... so after my camera took a big crash, the Arsenal was initially working, but the adapter seemed a little loose. Before long, though, I couldn’t get it to link to my phone. Alas, the rest of my trip photos were taken without it. Upon returning home, I emailed Arsenal Support to see if I could purchase a new adapter. I explained that I had dropped it with my camera and it took a big hit, but the issue seemed to be a loose adapter. I got a response the next day... on the weekend! Like... a real person clarifying what was wrong and asking for a picture. After a few exchanges, they sent me a new adapter, free of charge, in hopes it would fix the problem. I offered to pay since it was my fault, but they insisted. And as luck would have it, it worked. My Arsenal is working again. I let them know and they responded to that, too. The support team was extremely responsive and helpful. I was very impressed. As for the Arsenal itself, I’m not sure yet. My photos with and without it look similar, but they were just standard landscape shots on a tripod. I did try a bit of a long exposure with a waterfall and it looked good, without the ND filter and remote shutter and all. I know it is early in the project and it will get better with time. I was happy to support the idea. It does take a long time to take a single photo, so that’s a bit of downside. I imagine if you’re not very knowledgeable about settings and tend to shoot in an auto mode, then this would probably be a great option to improve your photos. I think I’m pretty good with lighting and settings for most situations, so maybe it’s less helpful. I still think it’s intriguing, I’m still eager to play with it a bit more and see what it can do. I do not regret buying it. I definitely do not just keep it on my camera and use it all the time, like I thought I would, but I still like the possibilities. In the end, though, my review is for their customer service.

Little update activity from the company. Many of the promises haven’t come through. Getting it to work with the camera is difficult - particularly in hand-held mode. Have probably managed to take around 20 photos with it in the 18 months I’ve had it, and don’t believe it improved any of them beyond what I would generally do myself. Definitely not worth it.

Like many others, however I bought this used from a photo buddy out of curiosity. My investment of USD 59 turn out to be a piece of junk, ended in the trash bin !! Yeah, this company is making the AMERICA great again. Try to use it outdoor for 5 times and only once I was lucky to get it work. Result ? It help but not much. In fact I would suggest those enthusiastic beginner to learn from the basic instead of relying on auto mode which photography is all about. This is definitely a SCAM company endorsed by Donald Dumb Dumb or else those behind this project would have been dragged to industrial court for fraudulent marketing. As said : DON’T BUY at any cost !!

If you are a beginner, or a long time amateur, or a pro photographer. The arsenal is for you. If you get a new DSL camera for Christmas or already have one. This will save you a lot of money taking photography class's. If you are sick and tired of trying to shot a great photograph and keep failing, this baby will do the trick. I received mine for my Nikon D750 with a Nikon AF-S Nikkor 24-70 mm F1:1.2.8E ED lens. When I received it I had a little trouble loading it to my LG G8 thin phone But with a little help from Arsenal support team. It was fixed and got me up shooting. And guess what... The person I talked to could speak English woohoo. :) I live in Las Vegas and at the moment it is cold outside. I bought the arsenal because I am crossed eyed and can not see fine print. I goal is to take time laps videos of the night sky, along with sun rise and sun sets. I know this will work way better then I could ever do without it. This spring I will be uploading my work on u tube and face book. I can't wait for spring to get here ...FAST ! lol I have done a lot of test shots in doors and outside, of people and dogs. It is far above what I expected. And for the price it is well worth it. Jon

This device held great promise but having bought one it has proved to be an expensive paperweight. The device demands firmware updates without warning and refuses to work on the existing firmware until you have updated it. This is absolute nonsensical behaviour. I have just been away on a photo shoot and have been unable to use this device due to no internet availability. It requires a wireless link from the device to your phone but will not let you download the firmware to the phone beforehand using wifi! You are left with trying to download via your phone network to the device. 500MB of data via your phone! Currently it is taking 8 hours via a fast internet link to my PC! And even that is failing! Until this system allows the unit to work on ‘obsolete’ firmware whilst away from home then it is worse than useless! Arsenal need to get their act together. If my iPhone will run on old firmware and IOS version until I can get it updated, so should this device!

Just.... don't. If you've found this page then congratulations, you're wiser than us unfortunate fools. There is a reason the company doesn't have any mention of reviews and user feedback on their website, because it's garbage. Save the $200+ and spend it on a beginner photography course or something, because you'll get a lot more value from learning the three basic factors of photography than you would with this damn thing. If it weren't a present I would've returned it instantly. Terrible software, it doesn't do much to your photos and really it's just difficult to use. It's slow and clunky and difficult to set up, constantly disconnecting and making photography, ironically, much more arduous than it needs to be. It now sits in the bottom of my bag gathering dust. I've tried and tried and tried to use this thing enough to like it, but it's just not possible. STAY AWAY. I didn't pay a cent for this myself, but it's the worst purchase i've ever made.