Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

I believe there may be a fragment of code that the firmware developer failed to remove that is causing two different Einstein parameter sets. I have reported this to the developers. They are quite fast at this and I expect they will find the bug and fix it in a few days. Will advise of progress on this. Sorry I do everything but programming. Also, we are working directly with PW and are mutual checking out methods of improving the PW range with Einstein.

Well, since at least three of us have experienced the identical problem, I guess Paul may be correct that what we're seeing is the result of a firmware bug.

I spent a fair amount of time on the phone with Joe at PCB on Monday (editorial comment: very patient, helpful, and pleasant) trying to troubleshoot the problem. It seems the glitch is in some way channel dependent. When the malfunctioning Einstein was switched from channel 3 to channel 5, at least the power range was reported correctly (640WS down to 2.5WS whereas previously it only went down to 8.7WS). However, the flash ID which was previously reported as "Einstei" disappeared completely when the unit was switched to channel 5. Meanwhile, switching the "good" Einstein from channel 4 to channel 3 had no adverse impact on that unit. The problem appears to be confined to just one of my Einsteins (which is indeed strange if it's a software problem). Just to be certain, I will be testing all of the channels on the "good" flash.

With no "fix" in sight, it was decided that my problem Einstein and the CC will be replaced.

To conclude on an upbeat note, from what I've seen so far, the Einsteins have the potential to be a bases loaded, out-of-the-park home run for PCB once the teething pains have been addressed. They provide a tremendous amount of technology in a compact, user-friendly and AFFORDABLE package.

Dave F.

I don't believe it is an Einstein problem, rather CC firmware bug. Either way, it is being worked on and should be corrected by firmware upgrade quite soon

Since I did the temporary fix to mine, I have had no problems in light setup. However, I took mine out for the first real shoot today using a single E and CC and had about 50% mis fire on the setup. The range is supposed to max at 150ft but I was only 5-10 feet away. I was shooting both in front of the light and behind the light. I had many more mis fire while in front of the light as opposed to behind the light. I was shooting team shots on a baseball field with no electrical interference near. I am puzzled at this as I had no problems of mis fire during my tests in the home studio.
Any ideas?

What was the orientation of the Cyber Commander (i.e. upright or folded over)? Was the Cyber Commander firmly in the hotshoe when trying to trigger?

Gotta' be really strong interference, Did you try changing frequency? Have seen anything nearly this severe before.

Luap,
Thank you for your response. I returned to do a second shoot today of baseball teams. I put a fresh set of duracell batteries in the CC before the shoot. I am on a baseball field in the country in the middle of no where NC. Not near any power lines. I am using a single E with your beauty dish and sock and HD stand raised approx 10 feet. I am working no more than 10 feet from the light, both in front and behind. When behind it triggered 99%with fresh batteries compared to 75% on yesterday shoot, but when I use CC in front to get readings or trigger CC manual or on camera it missed 99%.
Switched to sync and back up meter for shoot without issue.

Tested unit in hotel tonight with CC and light only and worked fine. No beauty dish on E in hotel and direct line of site. Is the beauty dish causing the interference as I have no line of site at all when in front of light to get my readings and do some close up work?

Did small outdoor shoot also for family portraits at a friends and got all same results with same setup.
Did not have time to test other freq's or with and without dish during shoot. Limited on setup and breakdown time.
I will try to test some at my next schedule break.

Thanks for your support....

Paul,
Sorry I forgot to answer your question. The CC was pointed straight up most of the time but I did tilt it to 45 degree a couple of time to see the screen. Yesterday I did remove it from the camera and hand hold trying to get the flash to pop so I could get some readings on the flashmeter. But I could not get it to fire the flash while I was standing directly in front of it at 15 feet with the beauty dish attached. I did not have time to test without the dish as I had 20 young baseball players to catch a pic.
Love the Einstein and can very easily over power the sun with the HOBD and one light. If we can get this one issue resolved then we are really cookin.
Thank you for the great lights. Only a minor setback with the CC. Let me know if I can help in any other way.

Luap,
I spoke with Joe today for a while about the range problem. He also suggested to try a different frequency. I tried multiple settings and channels and had very little problem in the home studio. I guess it could have been interference but cannot explain it since we were in rural NC with no electrical lines near. We didn't even really have good cell phone service at this place.
Could it have anything to do with the supply voltage from the outlet? Since my Vag 2 is still on back order, I had to run two 100ft extension cords to supply the voltage from over at the concessions to the back side of the field. This is the only real variable I can really come up with.

We are working on the antenna tuning on CC to increase CC range. Until we are are able to accomplish this, and even after, we strongly suggest using the CST on the camera to actually fire the lights with much more range and reliability. In my noise ridden house, I typical get around 80' to 100' line of sight from the CC and 350' firing from CST.

Using the CST on the camera is the preferred method since this allows carrying the CC around the studio for metering, etc, without having to take the camera with you or having to remove the CC from the camera for metering.