AMBITFUL MF-01 Metal Heavy Stainless Cross Arm Steel Longest 232 cm Photo Studio Kit Boom Arm 94 cm - 232 cm 37-91 Inch Light Stand Cross Arm for C-Stand

I’ve not had a boom arm with such a build. Absolutely heavy duty - which is what’s needed when an 11lb monolight and a 10lb sand bag. The arm has some friction regarding the loosening and tightening of the sections. Chrome flaking happened during deployment and storage. I used four yellow/black striped sand bags filled with pea pebbles (two .5 cubic foot bags can be purchased at a big name Blue label hardware store [or the orange one] for $5.20 each, water spray to remove dirt and air dry) to anchor the heavy duty light stand - here, a 17 foot tall Meking light stand, $60 - a March wind was present but the bags did the trick. Tighten the boom at a 45 degree angle rather than 90 deg to the horizon, that will place less stress on booms.I put the red and black sand bag to use because the counter balance helps keep the rig stable. By the time all were raised to desired level (about 8 feet high, 5 feet extended) the rig almost felt as if it were bolted to the track.Such boom arms correctly anchored make the desired lighting adjustments a breeze once you lift that heavy sucker (the subject stood by to anchor once I raised each section).It was a pleasure being able to finally set up clamshell lighting with the main 32x32” softbox mounted on a 600ws studio flash, tapped in to a household current at the stadium, directly above and a smaller 2x2ft softbox on a 300ws unit below the subject, allowing me to step back and compose with a 28-300mm lens fully extended the Godox lights have built in 2.4Ghz wireless receiving which made the shoot effortless.The stud has the flat ridge so that the heavy flash won’t sag down, and the beefy steel clamps grip each extension with no issue. The shoot went well and tearing down was tedious with all the gear necessary to create the lighting. That’s how location shoots happen. Once I began packing everything I noticed that the red sand bag was not built well, as a metal rod wound up protruding through the bag mesh because of shoddy build design. The bag was an included item. Do yourself a favor. Get one or buy 20lb wrist weights to strap them around the base of your boom.In the past I’ve gone for the cheap booms. But they WILL fail because they’re not designed to hold more than about 11lb total. My light itself weighs that. This boom replaced one I purchased here some years ago and it was so shoddy that I bought a Dollar Tree sharpening stone to grind down one side of the stud to stop light sag. Then needed some Super Glue to anchor the locking grip to the boom base for a shoot of pro ball players. It held for 3 hours but once Photo Day concluded I kissed the darn thing for its service and discarded it into recycling.Always live with good Karma.

I bought this arm without paying much attention to the size, thinking it was exactly like my others, but this is more compact and will fit in more travel cases. I actually love it more than the longer ones that I own.

It’s heavy. Very heavy. It’s long, very long.It does what it’s promised to do. It’s just very heavy and very long.

It’s a good thing this arrived on Halloween because it is a monster. I was expecting a quality piece of equipment, but nothing as scary as this. The photos on Amazon don’t do it justice. I was hoping for something I could use with either a C-stand or a medium-weight light stand. It is perfect for a C-stand, but way too heavy for my light stand. This is something you might find on a professional set.I ordered it so I could attach it to my light stand and extend it over my set to supply some background light. If I were using a C-stand this would be overkill, but it would work just fine. But it is far too heavy for my light stand and I cannot use it for the intended purpose. The C-stand is far too bulky to fit into the small space available for the light. But I do have times when I can use this, so I am glad to have it. The included sandbag is a nice addition. It is larger than the other sandbags I own and very well-made.I tested this using a C-stand to mount it on. I weighted the stand to prevent it from tipping over and then weighted each end of the arm using 10 lb. sandbags. It was very stable when collapsed and when fully extended. I also adjusted it to a variety of angles. It locked nicely into place and was easily adjusted.My only complaint is the weight (12lbs.), but that isn’t a bad thing unless you need to take it on the road. I can move it in my studio without a problem but carrying it for any distance will not be easy.The price is excellent for an arm of this quality. Although it is not suitable for the purpose I ordered it, I do expect to get a lot of good use out of it and it should last a lifetime.