Arsenal 2 Standard Vs Pro and Quality of Life Changes

Hey everyone, Ryan here.

A few quick updates, but before I jump in I wanted to say thanks again for all of your incredible support. Arsenal 2 surpassed the size of the Arsenal 1 campaign this week, and there’s still two weeks left in the campaign! Wow!

Okay, let’s jump into the updates:

Power Button changes

In Arsenal 1, you could hold the power button down for 3 seconds to enter Arsenal’s “handheld mode.” Handheld mode lets Arsenal manage settings for you when you’re not on a tripod. Arsenal’s AI manages settings while you shoot using the camera’s shutter button. (See the Kickstarter FAQ for more details on handheld mode)

On Arsenal 1, it was a little tricky to know if it had entered handheld mode. The 3 second hold was also a problem as holding for less than 3 seconds would power the Arsenal off. Some people asked if this was going to change in Arsenal 2. We did some last minute prototyping and have what we think is a much improved workflow.

Now to toggle handheld on or off, you can double tap the power button. (A single tap will power the Arsenal off after it waits long enough to see that you aren’t trying to toggle handheld) We’re also updating the LED animations to make everything a bit more obvious and responsive. Overall we think it's a much improved experience.

We’re also working on adding a 3 second hold that displays the battery status on the back LED’s. Lastly, all of these options work from boot. So you can double tap an off Arsenal to boot up and start in handheld mode. (And the 3 second hold will flash the charge level, then turn back off)

I’m personally excited for these little changes. Most of the changes are in the power button management microcontroller, so it’s something that gets programmed when the Arsenal 2 is made and we can’t change after. We’re going to do some more field testing with it, but so far I think it's a big improvement.

Arsenal 2 Standard vs. Arsenal 2 Pro

One of the topics we’ve talked a lot about in the comments on Kickstarter and in other places is which Arsenal 2 to get, Standard or Pro.

Arsenal 2 and Arsenal 2 Pro share all of the same software features, and both are a significant performance improvement over Arsenal 1. Pro brings an even faster processor, allowing for improved speed across the board. That improved speed is really helpful with stacking speed, panorama stitching, and DeepColor processing in particular. Arsenal 2 Pro also adds a weather-resistant design, ideal for more extreme conditions.

Which should you get? I think both are great and we’re really excited about being able to deliver 3x faster speeds on Standard and 5x faster on Pro. So far about 70% of backers are selecting Arsenal 2 Pro, and if you’re looking for faster speeds or weather-resistance I think it’s worth the upgrade.

If you’ve already backed for Arsenal 2 Standard, you can upgrade to Arsenal 2 Pro after the campaign. Before we ship, we'll send out an email to get your address, collect shipping and taxes, and on there we'll have an option to upgrade to Arsenal 2 Pro at that equivalent reward level to where you backed Standard.

That’s all for now. Thanks again for your incredible support!

• Ryan