Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

Hi all! I've owned several AB/WL strobes over the years (and continue to) and received the ABR800 recently. While its a lovely unit, I must say that I've found the way that the unit mounts onto the camera/light stand platform irksome at best. Perhaps I'm missing something, so please do tell me if what I'm doing doesn't make sense.

The ABR has a concentric shaft for the platform to slide onto. I slide the platform onto it and twist the cam style locking knob besides it to tighten the shaft into its rails thereby ensuring that the ABR doesn't slide vertically.

That should do the trick, right? However, it doesn't quite seem to. Turning the knob so that it tightens doesn't really seem to hold the strobe very well. There have been situations where I'm still able to move the ABR vertically with some minor force (just using a finger to gently push down), which shouldn't happen!

While hand holding, I've altered my grip slightly so that I can hang on to the piece of the shaft that sticks out the bottom of the platform, providing me with a guarantee that I won't see a 100 little pieces of ABR800 all over the floor, but there's no such grip when used off camera with light stands! In fact just yesterday I was able to catch the poor guy seconds before he would have tumbled onto the floor while shooting on location! Strangely, this was after the strobe was sitting, what would appear to be, snugly and tightly onto the platform for atleast 10 minutes. I had it on another platform for atleast an hour before this with no problems as well.

So what could this be? Am I doing something wrong here? It doesn't seem like the locking knobs really tightly grip the shaft that the ABR is connected to. Or is this the expected level of gripping (I doubt that would be the case)? Any thoughts would be much appreciated!

I just received mine today and my first impressions matches yours exactly.

I think it might be "user error" on our part but will be interested to hear TS response.

I have really put some force into tightning that knob and I am just not sure if its suppose to "snap" into place so you know its fully tight or if you just are suppose to tighten it until you can't move it futher.

Russell

Are you talking about the cam that I have a pen pointing at in the pic I linked here? If so, a small error in the shape of the cam, or the place it pushes against can make it either impossible to lock in place, or too loose to keep the camera stable.

In my case, this ABR is about two years old, and it has locked perfectly since day one. It does not take very much force at all before it locks the column, and maintains it's position without slipping loose. I use battery grips on all the cameras I use with the ABR (Canon xxD bodies), and the heavy package has never slipped. I'm sure that you can expect the same once the repair is made.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2783/426 ... 97c32b.jpg


Voyager

That is the one...

That is a cam lock, not a clamp style lock. Excessinve force should not be required. Rotating the knob clockwise should put the cam lock on the topside, and as the ABR is pulled down by gravity, should increase the tension. However, you may try counter clockwise to see if it is a better option for you. Also, particularly if the unit is used, inspect the inside of the convoluted guide (where the ABR rail would slide into), and turn the knob, ensuring the cam is also turning.

TS

i played with it a bit more after my post. i did need to use a decent amount of force to get it into what i considered a safe lock position. It does feel safely locked now and i have the large moon unit sitting on it as well.

Thanks
Russell

@TS: My unit's brand new, so I wouldn't expect issues with the cam not turning as you describe, but I did check it, and it seems to work fine.

I did play around a bit more with the locking, but I getting the tension to hold the strobe up is still sort of hit/miss for me. Is there no option where the strobe could be connected to a standard light stand spigot directly? Without attaching to the camera platform?

As an example of the trouble I have with the lock, I'm wondering if the following experiment passes or fails for others. I attached the strobe to the camera platform, and then held on, with one hand, to where the light stand would mount on the camera platform. I then shook it gently (my wrist moved about +/- 45degrees from neutral at about 1-2RPMs, while the rest of my hand was fixed) and after about 3-4s of this, the strobe just slides through the convoluted guide, falling off. Luckily, for my strobe, for this experiment, I've got the entire strobe and platform hovering about an inch off my comfy couch! This doesn't sound like it should be the case - the strobe should be held on tightly from what I read here! I mean, if I'm on location, and there's a sudden thud, this test would suggest that the strobe would fall right off!

As I mentioned earlier, my ABR800 vertical adjustment cam locks up tighter than my banker, and with very little force at that. On the other hand, after reading some other posts, if the cam lock in question was less than secure on my unit, it is easy to see that failure could result in disaster.

I often use my ABR800 hand held either with just the basic diffuser, or with the smaller Moon Unit. In that case, the ABR800 simply can't fall off of the camera mount, as the camera lens acts as a failsafe device poking through the ABR800 body. That is also true if you use the umbrella adapter, and have the long tail of the adapter poking out the back of the ABR800. If the vertical cam lock fails, the tail of the umbrella adapter will prevent gravity from bringing your ABR800, and the ground below into intimate contact. Sweet..

If you use your ABR800 without a camera poking through it, or without the umbrella adapter (in other words, either naked, or with either Moon Unit), you might have good reason to worry... I doubt this will pass muster with Tech Support/Warranty people, but just to avoid possible future troubles, (and my unit is out of warranty), I set the bottom of the camera adapter level with the bottom of the three lobed mounting post built into the ABR800 main housing, and locked it in place with the cam knob. Right at two inches up from the bottom of locked pair, I drilled a 3/32" hole through the front fixed three lobed post of the ABR800, and through the upper, tapered portion of the sliding camera mount. I drilled the hole on a diagonal course starting where the larger main lobe of the fixed ABR800 post meets one of the side lobes to avoid having to start a hole with no drill support right at the center of the front lobe.

Now, when I'm not using the ABR800 with a camera, or with the umbrella adapter to provide failsafe, I can slip a soft cotter pin into the lined up holes, lock the cam, and I can hang meat on the ABR800 without worry of cam lock failure. Without the pin in place, everything functions as shipped.

I call it cheap security for a potential (though unlikely) problem that I was never even aware of before this thread. It might also be called a violation of warranty terms. Think before you drill......

By the way, that main post on the ABR800, and the sliding camera mount are both built like anvils. There is nothing dainty, cheap, or delicate about their proportions. Very impressive build specs. Still, if you choose to add a catch pin, don't be ham fisted about it.

Voyager

@Voyager: Thanks for the detailed response. I agree 100% that separately, both the main post and the camera platform, are built tough, my only issue is with the cam locks, atleast on my unit. I too was thinking of doing what you suggested - drilling a hole, but on looking at the bottom of the three lobed mounting post, the largest lobe almost seems like it would take a metal post of reasonable size. Its not a 1/4-20" (that'd be too easy :) ), but I wonder if I could attach a spare light stand adaptor (the little guy that sits on the light stand at the bottom of the strobe) to it somehow. This way the strobe seems far more mechanically stable (minimal torque generated). I'm pretty sure that little guy could be ordered as a replacement part for the WL/AB series.