Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

Things have been quiet on the news front lately.......

Is production slowly ramping up as per the original estimates ? Are the units being shipped in (semi, at least) quantity now ? Have there been any unexpected production problems ? What is the meaning of life ? What are next weeks Lotto numbers going to be ?

AB.

Ellis Vener posted at DPReview. He said he received his Einstein last week and it works as advertised.

Some quick thoughts based on the 30 minutes I was able to spend with the unit last night.

(Please keep in mind that I plugged it in and started playing. I have not yet read the manual)

I thought from the photos that the buttons on the back were going to be rubber. They are not. They are hard plastic. Not a big deal, just a bit of a surprise.

I was pleased with the responsiveness and the ability to adjust the flash output. My biggest concern (coming from a AB800) was that it would take to long to make quick adjustments to the flash level. Say what you want about the old slider, but it was fast. I'm not concerned anymore. Both fine and major adjustments are easy with the buttons and display screen.

There is a lot of info on the display screen. Maybe it's because I'm not used to it, but I felt myself hunting a bit for the basic info I wanted. That's probably a product of my unfamiliarity with the equipment and should abate over time.

My biggest concern based on my limited time is the speed ring locking mechanism. It is much different than previous iterations involving spring loaded claws. This rotational mechanism is different and provides different tactile feedback when you put something like a softbox on the light. There isn't a hard stop or a click to say when you have fully engaged the arms. You just turn until you can't turn any more and hope that it has a firm grip on whatever you are holding.

That being said, I didn't notice any real world problems. Once the softbox was on the light unit I grabbed and twisted and pulled the softbox and I didn't notice any problems with the holding mechanism. It held firm and didn't loosen despite my torture test. Once again, this is just something else that I will need to get used to.

As far as using the light... I plugged it in, set it to constant color temp mode, dialed it way down, set my camera to 5600k white balance and started shooting my models (kids). I haven't brought anything into Lightroom to do a full analysis, but based on the feedback from the beautiful D700 LCD screen, the color temperature looks good. This could be a major workflow help for me. Having the consistent color temperature will cut the largest step out of my raw processing.

Other minor notes:
--The fan is louder than my AB800.

--At full power it puts out quite a pop. That being said, I rarely use my AB800 at full power, so I imagine my Einstein will dialed down even more.

--One interesting note (and this might be covered in the manual that I have not read) is that I like to shoot with the modeling light at full power (no tracking). You can do this to a point. When I dial down the flash output below -5f, the modeling light drops its output as well. Apparently you can't have the flash output at minimum power and the modeling lamp at full power. Maybe the idea is that modeling light will start to affect exposure at lower levels. I just thought it was interesting.

--When you cycle through the menu system on the back one of the screens will display the total number of flashes the unit has fired. Paul Buff wasn't kidding when he said they test these units before sending them out.

Brent, that's great news. Thanks for the update!

How's the brightness of that lcd (or is it adjustable)?

What about the new diffusion dome - Does it positively lock into place?

If you're interested in additional reviews and aren't watching other sites, you might want to look here:

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/888715/0

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/886861

Very informative links, munzzzzzzz - thanks! :D

What icon was indicated in the information window for the model lamp? Did you see the drop in power visually, or did you also see the bar move done as well? Are you using the Cyber Commander or the back panel?

I don't remember the icon in the info window. I'll check this evening when I get home. I'm pretty sure I had it set to full model lamp output (no tracking). As I adjusted the flash output from full power down to -5f the model lamp stayed at full power. Once I dropped below -5f the modeling lamp dropped as I dropped flash power.

The drop was visible in both the output of the lamp as well as the bar on the screen.

I don't own a cyber commander.

Go to model mode menu and set it to Full or independent. The lamp can be on full or any other brightness independent of the flash power.

I'll check it out later this evening and report back. Thanks for your feedback.