Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

That color's fuchsia :)

He could pour the dye in of course but the tongue-in-cheek conversation of the sort
- Alex's bought an **Einstein** for a strobe
- I hear it comes in pink!

...is something I would not be looking forward to hearing from fellow photogs (who seeing the Einstein would be under pressure to differentiate, having paid more for what in most cases will have been strobes inferior to the Einstein). In pro photography, image counts for a LOT, and it is understandable that PCB would not want any sales lost to the fact that the thing gives the impression of being more amateurish than it is, by its appearance, and wants class up the thing's image only offering in professional black.

Extruded aluminum fins are basically ridges that run alongside the case and significantly improve the cooling. They can be tall or short and simple or elaborate in profile. The great things about them is they look high tech, greatly improve heat exchange, and are much cheaper to manufacture (basically molten aluminum is squeezed through this profile as it solidified, and then appropriate length pieces are cut up. Some examples:

Fancy looking profiles - maybe too and tall spikey for the enclosure, but shows the possibilities:
http://www.mmmetals.com/pages/medium_an ... hPower.jpg
http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/vid ... /5450Q.jpg

Imagine how much more high tech Einstein would look with this industrial design on the sides (and/or top):
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_otNkjJeXVZc/R ... 0010_1.jpg

Yeah, I didn't want to make the color too light so it would be readable.

As for the fins, also a nice way to get something that's a pain to dust off :)

I have cpu coolers that look like that. Cool looking but a pain to dust off but, if you want to see some great work of art, just scroll through some of these pages and they get cooler (nope, pun not intended) as you start looking around at custom computers http://www.google.com/products?hl=en&nu ... a=N&tab=wf

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi ... gesize=100

We use the term power variability. An explaination of that term is below, and excerpted form our online glossary of terms.

Power Variability: The number of individual settings available on a studio flash. A flash that has 6 individual stops of adjustment (1/1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32) has a 6 stop power variability and a 5 stop range, or 5 incremental settings away from the starting point (1/1, or full power). Some flash manufacturers incorrectly use the term “range” to indicate the number of individual settings on a given flash, i.e. the same flash with 6 stops of power variability would be advertised as having a “6 stop range”. Since they are including the starting point, this is incorrect. We use the term “power variability” to correctly state the number of full stop settings available on our flashes.

http://www.alienbees.com/glossary.html

TS

I like that, thanks

:)

I hate this situation. We have always specified our lights correctly . . . Full to 1/32 power = 5 f stop range. Competitors started calling this 6 f range because you can shoot at one of six full f stop settings (including 0).

I have argued this point to tears on various forums and compared it with calling a 12" ruler a 13" ruler. Nobody cared and I was called bad names and egotistical for trying to correct the misstatements.

At this point, about half the manufacturers use the incorrect method so we reluctantly decided to adopt the new "standard" after tiring of seeing comments "Gee XXX light has more range than AB" even though they are the same.

We always qualify the range by stating the Max/Min power range (1:32 on AB, 1:256 on Einstein). B&H has introduced the term "Flash Variability" to dodge the dictionary definition of "Range". It's all marketing hype. I believe Elinchrom started this one and was followed by others.

No problem on my behalf Mr Paul. I understand your point and appreciate your honesty.

I also know just what it's like with different standards. Everyone's trying to fiddle with the numbers to make their stuff look better and sadly, they get away with it.

The 1:256 is really enough for me. I was just making sure my COUNT was right so to speak since my math, counting, scientific skills leave a lot to desire so as far as I'm concerned, I'm satisfied AND impressed with the range. This means I no longer have to worry about whether the light I'm getting is too powerful or not. I can just dial it down to suit my needs. Too cool!

I have THAT part correct though, right?

George

Yes, you will be able to control the Einstein's output from the equivilent output as a B1600 at max, down to the equivilent of the B400 at minimum, then one more stop lower.

TS

That is sooo cool.

Good job guys.

That IS super cool. I'm excited for these lights.

Me too Mason. I just wish they looked a little better and had color options. Oh well, you don't shoot with the shell... :)