Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

Hey Guys/Gals,

Recently I purchased PCB products after reading many many MANY great reviews on them. I currently have 3 AB1600 lights with a Cyber Commander. I have followed all the directions to set the CC to the lights. I have all the lights working , set to channels, able to move things around on the CC. My problem is when I take a photo all I get is a white screen. So my question is what am I doing wrong? I have my Nikon D90 set on "A" mode. no matter what I set my lights to from f2 to f22 it comes out white. only when I adjust my camera to f22 a photo shows up but is extremely grainy. :(
I have searched for many hours to try and find what I am doing wrong even your tube videos did not help. Can someone please please please help me so I can start using everything i bought.

please help,
- Todd

You need to be in manual mode, with ISO set manually as well. When in A mode, the camera sets the shutter (and presumably in this case, ISO) to give you a good picture with out flash. Then, since flash is added, too much light is introduced.

I recommend setting to ISO 100, 200 max and a shutter speed of 1/160 to 1/200.

As Tech Support said, you need to set your mode to M, with iso set to 200 (base iso for a D90), and "auto iso" turned off. Depending on where you're shooting, you may also need to turn your AB1600s down low.

With my D90, AB800, and AB400 in a small improvised studio (e.g. my living room), I generally set the lights to somewhere between 1/8th to 1/2 power, depending on the ratios I want, with the camera set to manual, iso 200, f/8, and a 1/200 shutter speed.