Can you remember my 2019 review of the original Arsenal hardware. It’s a cube you attach to your DSLR or mirrorless camera, and it automates many of the tasks that photographers face on a regular basis. Arsenal are selling well. While it has some good points that can speed up or improve a photographer’s workflow, it leaves many buyers unsatisfied and it seems to be on a lot of shelves and in a lot of drawers, rather than in a camera bag. Now we have Arsenal 2.
It says it offers a healthy dose of AI in so-called Deep Color, automatic panoramas, Crowd Control (to remove people from photos) and Night Assist, along with improved functionality and faster, better time-lapse images, and that neural network to intelligently evolve each photo. Deep Color is not a look or a filter. Instead, it creates a set of custom adjustments for each photo. It claims to improve your raw (or JPEG) files.
This is the feature that interests me the most. Like with the original Arsenal, the small accessory box attaches to your camera using the hot shoe at the top. A cable is provided (you specify which camera you get when ordering your Arsenal 2), which in my case plugged into the USB port on Sony a7 IV.
Using Arsenal 2
The new Arsenal 2 has a place for a mini SD card for storage (you buy the card yourself) and when you set up the device you specify that your JPEG files or raw files will be used on the Arsenal internal storage 2. That’s where the accessory does its neural network magic. Unedited files will go to your camera’s storage card as usual.
You control your camera from your iPhone or Android device, and this is the area where Arsenal 2 is far ahead of the original. I had a connection with the old model for a while and judging by other reviews, so did a lot of other people.
Now, at least with Sony, Arsenal 2, my camera and iPhone have become my best friends and connection takes about three seconds. It never fails in my testing.
In most cases, your camera will be on a tripod and you will control it with the app, seeing on your phone screen what the camera shows on the LCD screen. There’s not much lag, which is a plus.
There is a very smart handheld mode for capturing Deep Color in Smart Mode. You can put your phone in your pocket, but the app will still control your camera and save the image to both your Arsenal 2 and your phone’s memory. That makes things much easier to use. The company also offers an adapter that can attach your phone to the Arsenal 2, essentially replacing your camera’s LED display with your larger phone’s screen.
In auto mode, set up your composition and let Arsenal 2 software decide the best aperture, f-stop and ISO settings, all based on the amount of light, if there is any movement any of the camera and subject.
In this basic “take a picture” mode, your camera will receive the image and Arsenal 2 will receive two files, an unprocessed raw file (same as your camera receives) and an image. else will allow you to apply the Deep Color setting. This is done when you review the images you have and when you view an image, a slider will appear. You can decide how much Deep Color to provide and see the results in real time. It’s still a raw file, if that’s how you set up Arsenal 2 and it’s ready for further processing, or you can consider it done.
Here’s an example so you can see what’s going on. First, a raw file of the sunset sky:
You can see the colored icon at the bottom. Drag it to the right and you’ll get an AI-powered version of the same photo.
The slider is continuous, so you can slide it as much as you like. To my eyes, the AI assistance gave me a more accurate color rendering of the sky.
Other modes I’ve tried are focus stacking, which works fine, but also in the original Arsenal version. It works well and is easier to set up than on my camera, but the results are no different from the camera-controlled exposure modes.
I didn’t have a clear sky to test the night settings, but they look promising.
Thinking about deep color feature
I was expecting a lot from this new AI-powered feature, and as you can see, it worked out well. However, in any case, I can improve it by processing the image myself.
In this image you can see the Deep Color photo on the left. I went back to the original raw photo, then used the raw editor to process it myself. The result is closer to what I’m seeing in real life.
Here’s another example: another sunset shot, giving you the top left of the original unedited raw. At the top right is a Deep Color raw made by Arsenal. It looks a lot nicer and closer to the real scene. At the bottom left is the original raw, edited by me in Lightroom.
Again, it’s closer to reality. The shadows have some detail, the sky colors a bit closer to what an Arizona sunset looks like. The deep color took away the incorrect green from the clouds shown in the unedited raw.
What else can Arsenal 2 do?
As mentioned, there’s an astrophotography feature that I couldn’t try. There have been too many clouds and rain for the past few weeks. Focus tracking works well, but many cameras can do it pretty easily too. I tried it for a while and thought it was a worthwhile feature, and multi-frame framing for HDR is easy, but not something you can’t set up in-camera.
The panorama looks very appealing and the Arsenal 2 site has an impressive demo of the feature, but alas, it’s not ready yet. Maybe a beta in September.
Who is Arsenal 2 for?
That is a difficult question. It seems to be marketed to people who aspire to do quality work, rather than professionals. On the other hand, most beginners might find it a bit complicated and won’t like the hardware and cables attached to their camera. However, the Arsenal 2 guys are definitely doing something right, as they have sold thousands of the original Arsenal and are selling thousands of these newer Arsenal 2s. The test is how many buyers are still regular users.
I think Arsenal 2 is a very interesting product. It automates several tasks, helping you make better use of your time. You can decide the quality of your pictures saved in each function.
Unlike the original Arsenal, this more mature version runs faster and at least with my camera, never connects quickly and is ready to shoot.
What I Like
- It’s a reliable connection to my camera.
- If you want to automate, it’s easy to automate more complex settings just on the camera
- Deep colors usually help you get a better picture.
- Arsenal 2 generally offers good choices for f-stop, ISO and shutter speed (see below).
- Battery life (rechargeable) is good for a normal day of photography.
- Handheld mode is great. You can put your phone in your pocket and shoot in Deep Color mode without combining your phone and camera.
- There are many tips and documentation on the product’s website.
What could be better
- Not exactly a tool for professionals. It took too many decisions.
- It sometimes makes bad choices about camera parameters. In particular, it seems that it often uses too high an ISO for the existing conditions.
- Deep colors are fine, but most people using an editor can match or exceed it.
- Not all features are available, but still advertised, panoramas being a prime example.
- For most functions you will need to be on a tripod, but that will be true if you create these effects without Arsenal 2.
Synthetic
Arsenal 2 is very smart. It’s packed with innovation and goes beyond the first model offered back in 2019. If you’re willing to charge the battery, put it in your camera, and hook it up, it can automate some of the processes. The process can be frustrating for new photographers.
