Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

Hopefully im posting this right, im new here. Today at a session i used my bee for the first time. it is not allowing me control over the output, doesnt matter if the slider is to the left or right, i get same output both with strobe and model light, any advice?

Are you determining the same power visually? Or are your exposures coming out the same?
Also, do you have something plugged into the telephone jack on the back of the light? If so, unplug that and see if there is a difference. Make sure the "track" button is pushed in on the back of the light. If it is not, the model lamp power will not change.

thank you for that. yes im viewing it visually, slide it up...same output, slide it down , same. same goes for strobe. it happened half way thru a shoot and yes i had a radio popper in it. did check the tracking that wasnt it. miraculously, this morning it seems fine. Any idea what this could be? makes me leery to use it again at a shoot until i figure it out.

The telephone cord is used to for power adjustment as well as triggering. However, this assumes you have something plugged into the light that can control the output, and that the slider is at full power. This can also override your back panel, making the slider effectively inoperative. Conversely, the slider at other than full power can make any remote effectively inoperative.

If you are only wanting to trigger the light, do not connect the telephone cord. Use the 1/8 to 1/8 mono cord to the "sync" jack instead.

If you do want to control the power from a remote, make sure the light's slider is at full, and stays there. Make all power adjustments from the remote.

oh? man i was under the impression even with my radio popper involved that I could still control output, thank you!

The Radio Popper , when using the standard headphone jack sync cord, will still allow power adjustment on the head.

With the Radio Popper using the RJ11 telephone connection, the remote overrides the head, and all power adjustment should be made via the Radio Poppers.

This holds true with any remote that uses the RJ11 connection.

There may be exceptions, where the light will respond to the slider when using the RJ11, but they are circumstantial and apt to change seemingly on a whim.

perfect! thank you!