Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

Any one use both at the same time? It seems like it would just be 1 more thing for me to carry in my pocket. I have found that mine meters the lights and ambient accurately.

For general metering, no. Some light meters do have special functions not implemented by the Cyber Commander. If you find these necessary, then, perhaps. However, given the work flow desing built into the Cyber Commander, I would not replace its meterin capabilities all together.

Many users (myself included) have either sold or not used thier seperate meters since beginning use of the Cyber Commander.

Personally I say yes. I own the CC and a 358. The Cc is pretty cool but it's just awkward to use. The flash button isn't really a flash/ metering button. It's a toggle/push button on top of the meter instead of the side as most meters.

It just doesn't fit in the hand to use as a meter IMHO. The placement of the dome and button makes it almost a must to have to use two hands to fire the flash to get a reading. To Change settings is a chore finding layers of menus.

I do a lot of outdoor portraits with my lights and the color screen is impossible to read outdoors.

Please don't take this as a bash on PCB, I love his products and especially his customer service. I just think this product was too much flash and not enough real world.

I'm just one small customer to Buffs many. That said, if I were to be asked about design, I would have ditched the hotshoe, (I never use, especially with the short battery life), gone with a high contrast B&W display as on today's book readers, and put the same display on the E640's. I would have put the read button on the side and the dome on the front.

Again, I'm just one guy with an opinion. Love ya Paul...no offense.

Oops, I wanted to add, the most awesome and useful feature on the CC is being able to set your ratios and adjust all lights at the same time. Perfect with ever changing sunlight when outdoors...

Yeh, yeh, Yeh,

This is the real world, not fantasy land. Cyber Commander itself, without the flashmeter, would sell for well over $1000 from any Euro company . . . if they had the technology and creativity to produce it at all. The meter is basically a freebee.

Sure, a Seconic that costs nearly double what the whole CC does can do things the CC meter doesn't, but the CC does a whole lot of things no other meter can . . . like bracket an entire 16 light setup in 1/10th f steps, or in groups, or individually, and actually adjust the lights instead of just metering them, allow you to offset the tracking of modeling vs flash for absolute WYSiWYG, store and retrieve 50 light setups, ad infinitum.

I find the CC powerful and pretty easy to use. It's a bargain for what it does. Took a week or two to get the hang of it, but now become second nature. I placed a piece of 2-inch-wide clear packing tape over the screen to prevent scratches.

I love my C.C. and use it on all my shoots now. wish I started using a meter sooner. I set my lights meter FStop.XX on BG FStop.XX on subject 2-1 ratios settings. I tell you I have so many ideas on how to light something just because of lighting ratios. C.C changed the way I see and light everything now. Einstein and C.C. Best combo tools ever made!

In as much as this goes, I do use the 758DR along side the CC for 3 reasons.

1. Just the shear habit of using it. It's always with me.
2. I need the reflective metering to set black/white points on backgrounds.
3. The base of the CC is it's weakest link in the chain and I dread having to pull on and off the unit for fear of wearing the (dare I say) undersized shoe down to a point where I have contact issues in the future.

But for a unit that already does as much as it can do, light reading notwithstanding.. I could not work without the CC anymore period.. My goal is to completely eliminate the 8a airs here and place the investment back into 4 more E640's...