Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

I love your products and company. One concern I would love to see addressed is a modification to the speedrings used on softboxes. Currently, the 4 spring loaded clips (even on Einstein) are using friction based tension to hold them on. I've had the large softboxes fall-off because they simply can't hold them. A suggestion would be to modify the current speedrings to include slots that the 4 hooks on the flash units clip into. This would make use of both friction and a type of locking mechanism ... making it much less susceptible to fall-off. I don't believe this would require a change in the flash units design of the clips... only in the speedrings (so everything would still be backwards compatible).

Just a crazy thought and not sure how difficult or practical this really is. What seems like a simple fix or idea usually is not always so.

Thanks.

Friction is not a force we use to secure our faceplate modifiers. On current WL, Einstein, and Zeus, there is a mechanical cam that does not budge when the fingers are at the required open position. On the Bees, there are springs to keep the fingers at the maximum open position, and are quite strong. The most common reason for softboxes falling off are either: A-not all four fingers are within the speedring; or B- you have out of spec springs.

If the faceplate is out of spec, the springs contract, and the box falls. The box will not just slip without the fingers moving (assuming all four fingers are within the speedring). If slots are installed on the speedrings, they would have to be made so that the fingers would slide into them. This would also be the same route they would take when they compress.

If you are having issues with the faceplate, and are certain all four fingers are installed properly, I would suggest sending the light(s) in for service.

Thanks for the reply. I agree, its not pure frictional based but certainly not robust enough like a majority of speedrings that use a twist and lock mechanism for attaching it to lights. In particular, I'm talking about the largest softbox you guys sell which I have. It has fallen-off and not because all 4 fingers were not properly inside the speedring. The softbox simply is too heavy for the 4 fingers to hold on and it starts to seperate from the speedring slightly. Its when you then start moving the softbox and position it and angle the light, it can fall-off. I've read this many times in other places and hence the suggestion.

However, never thought about the suggestions you made where the faceplate or finger tension springs may be out-of-spec and this particular light needs to be serviced. I will look into this to see if that's the case as I own a few other lights I can try this out with.

Thanks again for the response.

You may see a small gap between the speedring and faceplate on the Bees, that is not abnormal, nor is it an indicator of anything giving or failing. It is a matter of the rim of the speedring (the part that is perpendicular to the faceplate where they meet) is a touch smaller than the corresponding area of the fingers. This may result in a small "tilt" of the speedring, but everything is still securely retained as designed.

hi .. I recently receive a couple of einsten that I bought in April... I worked with the 80's ULTRA series and Chimera softboxes and speed rings for white-lightning in my country and never had a problem, this time I have a big problem with the big octabox and the einstein ... it can't keep itself in place ... it keeps falling off ... my first work with the new equipment was really embarrassing because it even broke my modeling lamp on the first fall ... I need to buy another octabox for my second einstein but I want to know if this is a all-the-time problem or I'm doing something wrong ... maybe you need larger fingers on the speed ring or something else because it's not possible to work with this combination of equipment... thank you.

You have a version 1 Einstein, which will be replaced with version 2. Your replacement will receive an upgraded faceplate/finger design from what you have and will support the softboxes easily.

On another thread I asked if this was a problem on V1 Einsteins and was told it only affected V2 units. Are you confirming now that V1 units also have issues holding larger softboxes?

I should expound. The known issue of the weak cam/fingers only affected v2 lights. For v.1 lights, some front cams could jam. If they jammed not completely open, then I could see a box falling off. This is a different issue, and anomolous problem reported with very few v1 lights. At the time of the original posting, I had not heard of any boxes falling on v1 lights, compared to many on the v2 lights.

Unless I have a problematic specimen in hand, I do not completely rule out user error nor do I rule out an out of spec component. I appologize if I came across as dismissive. I was responding to the question of if it was a known issue (as in a wide spread issue), which it is not.