well im going to be taking my camcorder in the woods with me this year and also video my friends in the field (will be doing my buddies bear hunt ) so i need a tree arm. wondering if anyone has some experience with them and could recommend one. cheaper the better but needs to function. i also see some of them have 2 arms but i could always make a 3rd for more range.
Like most things in life it all boils down to your exact application and your budget. If you're using a smaller handheld cam you can get away with a much smaller arm than a larger camera. I'm figuring you have a smaller camera since you're just starting out. There's a bunch of arms on the market that fit the bill but the two I like the best are the Lone Wolf Strong Arm and the Pine Ridge Pro Bow Cam. They're both under $100, lightweight, and work well for filming yourself or a few friends from time to time. If you have a bigger cam I'd look into one of the arms from Muddy Outdoors or 3rd Arm.
I picked up a 3rd arm adventure series a couple of months ago. I've had it out once filming so far. It seems like a well made, easy adjusting tree arm. I'm going to take it out again soon and do a blog on it. Check the blogs in the next couple of weeks for a full review. http://www.the3rdarm.com/products.htm#adventure
if u have a drill some bolts and some washers u should make ur own there really easy to mak i took some square 1 inch tubing and cut them in 14 inch sections and bolted them together. then i bolted a swivel peice that u can pick up at any hardware store to the end of the one for the section that connects to the tree then i just strap it to a tree. on the other end i bolted another piece with a bushing for the camera swivel and i just use a small tie down i bought from walmart to hold the camera on it i will put a picture up tomm of it so u can see its pretty cool.
I picked up the Muddy Outfitter arm last month for my Canon HV30 and coupled it with a Manfrotto 701HDV fluid head... probably a tad bit more arm than I needed, but man is that puppy SA-WEEET! :D If i were JUST going to self-film, I'd probably have gone smaller... but I want to get into filming a bit more as the oldest of my two boys is approaching hunting age and I'd like to get a lot of good footage of them hunting as they grow up. - edit to include link: http://gomuddy.com/shopping/Departments/CAMERA-ARM-SYSTEMS.aspx
I have the Muddy Tree Arm for when I am filming others and got the Pine Ridge arm for a small camera and self-filming. I promptly sold the Pine Ridge arm. I did not like the construction at all. If I were to get another arm for self-filming it would be either the Lone Wolf arm or the Ameristep Archer's Choice arm. They both look to be well built yet still light enough for self-filming.
thx for the input guys. yes im using a small camera. so i only need something that rated for about 3 lbs at max
