Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

Hi there. I have an account on Model Mayhem, and occasionally browse their photography forums. Here is a link to one such post by a soon to be former owner of several new Einsteins:

http://www.modelmayhem.com/po.php?threa ... 932&page=1

As the owner of two of the new version Einsteins that has only used them twice for two weddings, to say I am nervous is an understatement. The last thing I would want is to be set up for the wedding I am shooting at Disneyland on 11/11/11 and have one or both of them decide to die on me. And unfortunately, as someone that is just starting to charge for my photography, I can't afford to buy two more "just in case".

Everything I read here says that these are the best choice I could have made, not only for price, but performance. Reading stories like the above, when the OP claims to have gone through 6, yes 6, brand new Einsteins and have a problem with every one of them scares me to death. I am just hoping that TS or Paul himself is familiar with this person and her problems and can give some reassurance that this is indeed an isolated incident and I have very little to worry about. There are a lot of replies in the posting, some of them very good as far as possible reasons for the failure. Would love the actual distributor to weigh in.

Thanks, and have a great week.

I am familiar with this MM posting and some of our end of sales/service of her purchase. I do not know the cause of the failures, but she is certainly an exceptionally rare case for all the lights to fail. Was it manufacturing? Dont know. Was it environmental? dont know that either. Have some units failed? Yes, anything manufactured can, has, and/or will fail; however, that sample taken alone is way way way out of the norm (the only one of that magnitude).

Also keep in mind that it is more common (i think) to take to the forums to post about failures rather than just say everything is great. So for each internet report of a failed unit there are probably many folks who have been using them without issue (like me).

Also I know it can be difficult to afford gear, especially when just getting a business going. However, if you are going to operate a professional business and people are paying you to get a job done then you really need to consider redundancy in case something fails on the job. That doesn't mean that you need two more E-640's but you do need a workable plan in case there is a failure, a light stand gets knocked over, the camera gets dropped, etc. Maybe rent some extra lights as backups?

You SHOULD be worried about your gear breaking.

I know you already addressed this, but if you're shooting weddings then you *need* to have a backup plan, regardless of what brand name gear you own. If you do a sub par job because of a failure of a piece of equipment, not only will you ruin someone's day (to say the least), you can be sued for breach of contract......which will cost you a lot more than a strobe.

So if you choose not to, or can't afford a backup, then you need to be hitting Google to secure you some rentals. This is also where it pays to help friends out. I lend my gear out a lot, but in turn I get to borrow gear I don't already own. I've also co-oped some gear with some friends and split the cost 4 ways.

Welcome to the wonderful world of wedding photography.

I am really suspicious about that thread. I am researching all the brands of lights and want to learn everything I can before I invest in a system. One thing is cost. I do not subscribe to the "get what you pay for" mentality. Quality and features rank on top for me, and the cost will drive me one way or the other. Yet it all must fit in my budget.
So this is the problem. She said... "I just spent almost $5,000."
I have put together an order as a sample of 4 E640, stands, accessories, cases, PLM, etc. Lots of pieces and parts. I get to $3500-4000 or so. What else would I buy to get to her $5k? She doesn't mention trying them on Vegabonds, so I doubt she bought any. But I have some are in my cart and I am still $1500 short of getting to her number.
If she had bought Vegabonds, why not comment about testing the E before plugging them in? Because she doesn't have them. Her numbers don't make sense or add up.
Something is fishy here.

This is my first post, and I am not an owner of any brand yet. So no bias here.
I have a college degree, and statistics is a subject I took several classes on. Having all 6 units she talks about fail identically is statistically nearly impossible except if there was one common cause. Since all units are tested before being shipped out, one should assume they all worked. For a manufacturing defect to be the cause, the likelihood of it happening in the field at the same time is not plausible. Especially to two shipments. Electrical service is a possibility, but unlikely if other equipment is not effected. We are out of common causes.
Something is really sounding fishy now.

And lastly, if I get something that arrived with a problem, I don't start posting on a board about it before I even talk to the supplier. That just doesn't make sense.

I have seven Einsteins and have used them for close to a year now.

I went through V1, V2.0 and now have all V2.1.

I shoot a lot of architecture, portraits, product and food.

I can't remember how to look up the number of shots an Einstein has done but I'll bet they are all in the many thousands.

There has been one occasion when an Einstein has failed. In 100ºF+ direct sun with a 3ft Octabox shooting for close to an hour on full power one suffer thermal shutdown. Swapped it out with another unit and finished up. Within probably a half hour the overheated unit was back to work.

The only other time I had a problem was an Einstein that took close to a minute to recycle with the VML.

Called Tech Support, they said send it in. Fixed and back in a week.

The Einsteins, VML and CyberSync systems are well designed and well manufactured products. I have no problem recommending them to any photographer.

Sometimes bad luck just happens. But from my own extensive personal experience with Einstein strobes it's not them that's the problem.

I bought 4 V1 Einsteins, with the known or known shortly thereafter issues of heat, Pocket Wizard issue, and mounting plate. I don't use PWs, so that was not an issue, being aware of the potential heat issue allowed me to avoid it, and the mounting plate caused me to have a non PCB softbox fall off one time.

The only issue I had during the year that I used the V1s was that one modeling light burned out in the first month. I had already purchased a spare modeling bulb, flash tube, and glass dome just in case, so it was no biggie. I now have my 4 replacement V2.1s in hand, they worked perfectly out of the box.

So I used the V1s for just over a year with no difficulties. I can't speak to the case you linked to, but for one user to have that many problems with so many lights, I would have to suspect the user or the user's environment.

Now, let's assume you do have a problem with a PCB product--PCB customer service is the best in the industry. Einsteins outperform other brands that charge as much as 10 times more.

The other's points about redundancy are valid, and you should address them in some fashion. I carry my speedlights with me to studio shoots, just in case I need them for some reason. I carry an extra camera body, and alternate lenses, an extra radio trigger, extra batteries, cards, etc. etc. You have to have a Plan B (and maybe even a Plan C) for paid gigs, and IN PARTICULAR for weddings.

Then, if something does go wrong, you don't try to debug on the spot for more than 1 minute, and jump immediately to your backup.

So it doesn't mean you need 4 Einsteins immediately. But the idea to rent some back up gear (that you are familiar with!) for a wedding is a good one. Or to have alternate lighting in the form of speedlights and enough batteries to last the duration. Or a fall back lighting scheme that can work with one Einstein. and so on.

V1, V2 & V2.1 owner here of several units. No problems with the units themselves, operational or performance-wise. If anthing at all, some of the early v2 holding fingers sometime wouldn't lock & stay loose, but there was an immediate workaround solution until the fixed units were replaced quickly & painlessly by CS.

Like with ANY equipment, nothing is unbreakable or accident-proof, but in case you do get into any issues, PCB is easily one of the best companies/folks I've delt with in a long while, hands-down. They really do try to make things right if their product fails to function as advertised.

Nervousness on one's part has alot more to do with the self than with 'confidence' in one's equipment, IMO; One brand or another won't buy you any more real 'confidence'. BDP's advice on taking a backup speedlight or two is gold.

While vigorously searching for problem threads related my issue, I came up on this thread, thus my response.

This year I took delivery of 3 "great" products. An einstein 640, a cyber commander, and a CSXCV CyberSync Transceiver(all new from paul c buff). Last week during a street photo shoot(I was about 300 pictures into the shoot, about 1/4 of them with the strobe) the cyber commander RANDOMLY shuts off, turns back on with what seems like 2 1px wide purple colored lines criss crossing each other, after it turned on it shuts off and refuses to reboot.

I went about the fundamental troubleshooting steps like removing batteries, memory card, holding certain buttons, giving it time in between reboots, nothing worked. I switched to a fast lens to use available light and after about 30 minutes it randomly decides to turn back on and function. The first thought in my head is, "what if that happened during a wedding?" I have been shooting commercial and editorial for a while, but recently started to get into weddings, and I love it. So I was grateful it turned back on and continued on about my shoot.

Next day I give technical support a call and they were polite but not very helpful. I can appreciate this though, because what can they really do over the phone. They inform me I can send my unit in to "maybe" get repaired if there is something wrong with the unit. I explain I needed it for 2 shoots I had that weekend, sorry no type of quick exchange/repair program(sucks).

So moving forward I do the 2 shoots, and midway threw the second shoot this time the EINSTEIN decides to RANDOMLY stop working! It wasn't dropped, there wasn't rain, humidity, fire, kids, NOTHING. My assistant was holding it the entire time! It just randomly stops firing, I try firing it from the cyber commander and I can here the light recycling IMMEDIATELY after, but no strobe is firing. Regardless of the power setting, the light will play it's recovery sound immediately after being triggered, but no light emits. I try to trigger it from the test button on the back, NOTHING. I figure maybe its the bulb or fuse, although strange for it to die out so soon(and randomly). So I pack the strobe into the bag and switch to a faster lens once again(I was angry at this point).

I get home, replace the strobe bulb, modeling lamp, and fuse, nothing.. I have great hope in this gear but this is the second time in less then a week TWO pieces of your equipment failed during a shoot. Before going professional with my business I was in IT, and before that I was an electronics repair technician for 4+ years. I feel confident in saying these issues are not due to user error. I'm not here to trash the gear, in fact I appreciate it greatly and always try to promote it to my friends and online community. These recent problems are really testing my faith in your gear though.

I just started to accept wedding contracts like the OP here and it simply isn't in my budget to have 3 cyber commanders, and 3 Einsteins on hand every time I do a shoot. I can understand backups and definitely think its a must, and when my budget can afford it, I will gladly abide!

Just posting this for others to read that might experience the same problems. Again, this post isn't to trash the gear, I've been in love with it since the day I bought it and the people at paulcbuff seem very warm. Customer support isn't open today(sunday) So I'll be calling tomorrow and probably be told once again, it needs to be shipped in. This leaves me without a strobe for 2 shoots and a wedding next weekend, and while I share the fault because I should have a backup I can't help but think this wouldn't happen with some of the other gear my friends always harp on me to buy. Hoping for a quick resolution, happy shooting!

v1 v2 v 2.1 owner of 5 einstein units . 2 zeus white lightning alien bees ... I use to love thiese products since ..the einsteins ! since delivery of my first unit . I' ve had the send them in for replacement , repairs 5 or 6 times this is within a year . and since I ' m in canada they now charge me for transport 2 way!! so I ve spent couple hundred dollars for shipping defective units . it ' s been hell since the beginning . I' m a pro shooter shooting thousands of images each weeks . I' m just thinking these units should only be used sparingly. they can' t stand the rigours of commercial shootings . please be careful before buying these . I ' m selling all my paul c buff equipment for something else .

Brian
www.brianypperciel.com