The 8 Best Camera Arms
This wiki has been updated 25 times since it was first published in March of 2017. Getting the perfect shot is not always the easiest thing to do, especially when you need a little extra reach. But you can make your job much easier by using one of these camera arms. Long and articulating, with multiple adjustment points, they'll help you position your equipment to just the right angle for achieving some truly impressive photography and videography. When users buy our independently chosen editorial recommendations, we may earn commissions to help fund the Wiki.
1. ProAm USA Orion DVC200
2. Manfrotto 244
3. Muddy MCA400
Editor's Notes
August 23, 2019:
This continues to be a pretty variegated category, as camera arms can refer to everything from complicated jib mechanisms designed for use on film sets to articulating extensions meant to adhere to trees and hang hunting cameras for spotting game. One of each type has been suffering from some availability issues — the jib by Fotodiox and the tree unit by Allen. We found a suitable replacement for the jib as well as an offering from Sirui that operated on the same system of angles you might see on a tripod crane, but that's best suited for locked off photography rather than video in motion. We also thought this list deserved a bit of an indulgence, to pay homage to the truly impressive feats of engineering that inspire the likes of the jibs on our list, so we added the Motocrane to our special honors section. For what it is, it's actually surprisingly inexpensive, but it still costs enough that only indie production studios and rental houses have any business owning it.
Special Honors
Motocrane Ultra If you're interested in a mount that's so big a mid-sized sedan is the bare minimum you'll need to support it, than this one's for you. It attaches to the roofs of cars, trucks, dune buggies, and pretty much anything else with four wheels and a roof, and is operated remotely by an included controller. It's absurdly expensive, but you may just find it's the one piece of gear your indie production house is missing. motocrane.com
4. Sirui HA-77 Horizontal
5. Imorden Mini Crane
6. Rage Powersports Kill
7. Joby GorillaPod Contour
8. Neewer Quick Flip
Daniel Imperiale holds a bachelor’s degree in writing, and proudly fled his graduate program in poetry to pursue a quiet life at a remote Alaskan fishery. After returning to the contiguous states, he took up a position as an editor and photographer of the prestigious geek culture magazine “Unwinnable” before turning his attention to the field of health and wellness. In recent years, he has worked extensively in film and music production, making him something of a know-it-all when it comes to camera equipment, musical instruments, recording devices, and other audio-visual hardware. Daniel’s recent obsessions include horology (making him a pro when it comes to all things timekeeping) and Uranium mining and enrichment (which hasn’t proven useful just yet).