Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

Hey guys, A few thoughts from Australia in regards to the CyberCommander and it's ratcheting foot in the field!

After having 4 Einsteins, CC and CSCXV's, 2 Vaga minis plus a lot of other modifiers etc.. for almost a year and just purchased another B1600, we've put our PCB gear through a little bit of a workout and it's still going great :D

The only point of concern I would have to raise (not including two Einsteins dying over this period) is the ratcheting foot on the CC.

Whilst at the studio it's not really a problem, but on location, the CC has a tendency to flop down, spill it guts (read: battery door pops open and batteries fly out) which then causes momentarily an issue similar to the "Low battery processor crash" that's been mentioned by TS before (I did a search of the forums :)) where your E640's fire off a heap of quick flashes.

Just having a quick chat to Colin (The PCB Australia distributor) about this issue and he mentioned that they don't hear a lot concern voiced about this in particular, and he also mentioned a lot of people own the CST as well and use the CC as more of a Commander-on-lanyard than a trigger. Whilst this is great, but having spent over $5000 AUD on our PCB purchase, it seems a little silly to spend more (regardless of amount) to get around a design issue.

I personally own the CST for my private use and have used it in conjunction with the CC with no issues what-so-ever, and would probably have added it to the purchase list if we were going back in time, but for the mean time I think we may look at modding our CC once it's out of warranty to stop this happening. After all, when you're on site, paying money for a great location, loosing light and under pressure, the last thing you need is your CC to lose it's brains!

Any input, workarounds etc.. from PCB would be great. In the mean time, we'll just have to remember to lay our CC flat every time it's connected and slide it out of the shoe to adjust rather than working out that hinge any more!

The separate CST option is for a multitude of reasons other than just for a flopping foot. A spare trigger, trigger for a second camera, and also to keep from having to take the C off the camera for metering and/or adjustment.

If it falls simply under its own weight, that is not within spec. If it falls from momentum of a moving camera, that is not abnormal. If you prefer it in the up position, a small piece of double sided tape (relatively strong) should secure it upright.

Exactly what I was thinking.

I have had this in daily use for about a year. I had taken alcohol and using a Q-Tip, cleaned the area upper and lower contact areas well. Using a piece of 2 sided tape cut to fit the area, I inserted it on the bottom first, then closed the upper part of the CC down on to it. Applied a little pressure for a few minutes and it's been rock solid, even in moist conditions.

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