Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

Larger Light Modifiers falling off of Einsteins
This NEVER HAPPENED WITH ANY OF MY THE ALIEN BEES!... and I have used these modifiers for several years.

I have been shooting with alien bees for almost 10 years and recently bought 5 Einsteins and the Cyber Commander giving me a total now of 15 Paul Buff lights.

Very disappointed that the 5 new Einsteins will not reliably hold my Fotodiox Pro Strip 12"x80" Softboxes with or without egg crate, or my Fotodiox Pro 48"x72" Softboxes (no egg crate)

These are my most used modifiers and very important to my business.

I have now had modifiers fall off (hitting or almost hitting my subjects) on four occassions in about a months time. It is embarrassing and could ultimately lead a client to even sue it they were to fall trying to avoid the large light modifiers coming off the light.

I don't want to change my whole style of shooting or hire some machinist to design and build a proper method to hold what I am sure must be a fairly commonly used light modifier.

I am really getting used to the Cyber Commander and am very happy to have the features of the Einsteins available to me, but they need to be able to support the same modifiers that the alien bees support.

Is there any way to get my existing Einstein's spring clamps beefed up to support what the alien bees have supported without issue forever?

If you go that big, it would be safer, if you mount the soft box to the stand, and then attach the Einstein to the soft box:

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=2520

Markus

Shouldn't Paul Buff come up with a solution for this?
I'd pay extra and I can't be the only one shooting a lot of full length stuff where big boxes are needed.

I don't want to have to spend hours trying to "Rube Goldberg" some kind of setup for my 5 Einsteins just so I can use the same light modifiers I used for years with the Alien Bees with never a problem of any type, I even have 60" Octabox hanging from an Avenger boom, and with Alien Bees... never a problem

It seems the Einstein system is using a weaker spring mechanism, and a stronger one would solve the problem.

First, Are you making sure all 4 fingers are in the speedrings?

When you mount the boxes, are you just letting them sit on the fingers when you let go of the levers, or are you seating the softbox (by this I mean adjusting so the speedring is centered, and the fingers are not trying to lift the softbox when expanding)?

What brand speedring are you using?

I have been putting modifiers on the PCB heads for around 8 years now... and have on occasion missed a finger in the past with the Bees... so I try to be very careful putting the larger modifiers on.



I believe so.. I will be super careful from now on, and pass that on to assistants and see how it goes.


Paul Buff not offering anything as large as I need I use Fotodiox rings in the Fotodiox boxes in the studio. They give great light and don't break the bank...and as I have said already many times... I never had the falling-off-the-head issue with the Bees, only the Einsteins.

If you are still having problems after ensuring the fingers are firmly seated, a different speedring may be required. You can contact Customer Service, and we may be able to tell if our LGSR would be interchangeable, or if the insert for the LGSR would be interchangeable with your current equipment.