Review and Setup
It’s awesome! Overview and assembly of the Manfrotto 244 Variable Magic Arm and how it integrates into the studio. Great for filming over-the-top product reviews, builds, and setting unique camera angles.
This video is not sponsored. I purchased this piece of equipment with my own money and have no affiliation with the manufacturer. However, please use the Amazon affiliate links below when ordering your gear. You pay the normal low price and I receive a small commission. Here’s everything you’ll need:
Manfrotto 244 Variable Friction Magic Arm:
Manfrotto 323 Camera Quick Connect
Avenger D200 Grip Head
Amazon Photo Equipment Idea List
Transcript
Here is a piece of gear that I absolutely love and use all the time. This is the Manfrotto 244 Variable Friction Magic Arm, and this one has the camera bracket. Some of them don’t, so be mindful of that. This thing is rad—I love it.
So, if you’re looking for a super heavy duty way to mount your camera and get any angles that you want, and stop that slouching and sagging that you get on so many photo and mic stand mounts, this is for you. Whenever you have joints and connections, this type of gear always comes loose and things just fall and sag over time. This bad boy—I have not had that happen one bit!
It’s incredible how strong these joints are on this mount. It’s very well made. As you can see, it bends at every single angle. It has ball joints on each end, there’s threads on one end for more mounting options, the top end joints spin, and of course it pivots in the center.
This is how it comes out of the box. There is a plastic keeper—all you have to do is pop that off, and then screw the clamp-wheel on. It’s just as simple as lining up the threads and screwing it together. Nothing complicated here at all. Once you get it screwed together, just find the angle and position you want, and then it’s just a couple of more turns on the clamp-wheel. It’s incredible how strong this thing gets—Arnold Schwarzenegger would not be able to break the tension on this Magic Arm.
Everything cinches down and gets tight. The ends at the ball joints cinch down, the center cinches down, all of the spinning joints tighten—once you get that camera in the position you want, it’s never going to leave.
Here you can see my studio setup, I do a lot from the ceiling. I have a track mounted ceiling and everything dangles down from the top—my mics, my lights, all sorts of things—my camera is no different. From the extension pole from the track mount, I go into a grip head. And then the Manfroto 244 Magic Arm goes right into the grip head. I usually set my camera up right behind the monitor. I can set it—clamp it down—and I can leave it there for weeks and there is no sag on this thing whatsoever.
So, it goes from the grip head, get my angle with the Manfrotto 244 Magic Arm, and then on the camera bracket I have a Manfrotto 323 Quick Connect, and that allows me to take the camera on and off very easily. I can’t speak highly enough about this thing—it’s worked out really well for me.
The Manfrotto 244 Magic Arm is great for getting overhead shots to do product reviews, builds, and things like that to get an overhead view. Or it comes straight-on and that’s what I’m using right now to film this video.
Can’t recommend this thing enough, it works really well. The biggest problem is that this magic arm is expensive. It’s not a cheap piece of equipment, so if you’re doing this type of work all the time it might not be worth it for you. What is suggest is saving this item in your Amazon watchlist and wait for it to pop up used or in a Warehouse Deal. That’s what I did—it this thing for a smokin’ deal—like 75 percent off, so it was a no-brainer at that price. Even at $130 if you’re a professional that does this type of stuff daily, I’d recommend the full price then. If you’re a hobbyist, it’s a lot of money to throw down on a clamp and mount, but if you’re looking for a solution that’s very solid then I can’t recommend the Manfrotto 244 Variable Friction Magic Arm enough!
Big thumbs up on the Manfrotto!
