Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

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Wed Jul 02, 2014 4:22 pm

Joined: Wed Jul 02, 2014 4:18 pm
Posts: 2

I am looking at a used set of three White Lightening Zap 1000's and am curious what current Paul Buff model they are comparable to, power-wise. I will be shooting in a smallish studio space so I don't want too much power, but it would be nice to have a decent amount if I change locations. What is the general consensus on these lights? Are they a good middle of the road light?




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Wed Jul 02, 2014 4:45 pm

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Joined: Tue Dec 08, 2009 10:43 am
Posts: 5266

These are somewhat older lights that fell between the Ultras and UltraZap. These do not have a remote jack (i.e. for the Cyber Commander or LG4X), only the sync jack for basic triggering (sync cord or basic triggering from CyberSync remotes). Also, repairs may be limited should you have any troubles.

These are 500Ws lights, and are closest to the B1600 in terms of maximum power and power variablity, though somewhat less powerful. All face plate accessories will fit.

Here is the manual for them:

http://www.paulcbuff.com/manuals/zap1000.pdf




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Wed Jul 02, 2014 5:04 pm

Joined: Wed Jul 02, 2014 4:18 pm
Posts: 2

Do they have optical slaves for multiple head triggering? I'm not too worried about wireless, at the moment, as far as triggering, and just want a decent set of lights that will perform consistently. The space where I will be shooting is roughly 12 feet across, 10 feet high, and 30 feet long (give or take). It is a single car garage. The seller is offering three lights, a case, three Bogen lightstands, and a sync cord. I don't need anything fancy, but don't want to invest in a system that will be completely obselete either.




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Thu Jul 03, 2014 8:56 am

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Joined: Tue Dec 08, 2009 10:43 am
Posts: 5266

Yes, they have slave eyes, and you should have no problems working with optical slaves in that environment. The units are not obsolete in that they still take all of our accessories (aside from remote power adjusters), and there are no plans for that to change.

I would ask when the last time they were used was. Idle time is worse for capacitors than regular usage. If it has been more than, say, a year, I would have the owner plug in each light and set the power to low, then turn the unit on and test fire the light about 10 times. Then, incrementally increase the power and fire about 10 times, repeating this to full power and for each light. I would suggest testing via the slave eye (maybe a speedlight powered low), as this a-verifies the slave eye works, and b-should a capacitor fail, it is not in your hands.




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