Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

Anybody know how to change the settings within the cyber commander to show itemas like ISO and shutter speed in 1/3 stop increments? Currently the commander only uses full stops. This is a problem if you have a camera like a Canon 5d where the max x-sync speed is 1/200 and the meter goes between 1/125, and 1/250..

Currently, the Cyber Commander is only settable in whole stops. In a studio environment, the ambient light is a non-factor at shutter speeds above 1/60 (typically). Metering at either 1/125 or 1/250 will not yield exposure differences.

I like to have my shutter speed at 1/200 for my 5dII camera. This minimizes any subject / camera shake that one may have.

Sooo.... Let me get this right.. The camera is settable in 1/3 stops, the flash is settable in 1/10 stops but the tool that brings them both together in harmony (the cyber commander) is only settable in whole stops?? :?:

The Cyber Commander was never designed to be an end-all be-all flash meter. It was designed to be a studio flash meter. In a typical studio shooting environment, shooting at 1/60, 1/125. 1/200, 1/250, etc., will not typically change exposure or freezing of movement. This is due to the flash's movement stopping ability (if there was no flash, there would not be a significant-enough amount of light to even expose the frame, which is what causes the motion blur). In a completely dark studio, with no model lamps, even an exposure time of 30 seconds with one flash pop will appear identical.

If you still choose to use 1/200 of a second shutter speed, you can meter at either 1/125 or 1/250 and still get an accurate metering (as there will likely not be sufficient ambient light to make a difference).

To add to TS, unless you are outdoors and balancing sunlight with flash, it won't make any difference if you meter at 1/125 or 1/250 . . . try it in the studio.

If you are outdoors, with a whole lot of ambient, metering at 1/250 with you're camera set to 1/200 won't affect the metered flashpower, but will under read the ambient by 1/3f. Assuming the ambient and and flash are contributing equally to the exposure, you'll be low by 1/6 f stop.

If most of your work is outdoors you are probably more interested in the ratio of ambient to flash and probably should be using a Sekonic. CC can measure ambient and flash separately, but you'll have to calculate the ratio.

If this issue becomes really important to users we will consider a firmware update that allows 1/3 stop representations of ISO and f stop. We tried to keep CC as simple as possible for the user. Some users are more confused by notations such as f9 than f8 + 3/10. If you shift to 1/3f mode, you cut the resolution by 3. Most good shooters can mentally say "f11+6/10" would be one click below f16. Or, if you want absolute accuracy, just bracket CC up to f16 +0/10 and there you are.

As for ISO, again, our gear is designed for studio work. My feeling would generally be "OK, I can't get enough light at ISO100 so I'm going up to ISO200. Most would not bother with partial ISO steps with modern cameras.

Paul,

On the one hand, you absolutely have a point. On the other hand, during a typical hectic studio shoot, there are SO MANY things on my mind before the "f8 + 3/10" type mental estimates, however basic, that I would appreciate the meter that could be set same as my camera, shutter and ISO wise, so I would not be thinking about any compensating factors owing to differences in these basic values.

I shoot all the way to the right as much as possible to maximize quality, and being 1/3 off can mean blown highlights and thus taking the subject back mentally to redo the last frame, breaking up the forward flow and rhythm of the shoot. It always creates a speed-bump in the shoot. I'd like the meter to work with me rather than be one more of the factors that I have to worry about.

The way I look at it is simple - it is either a studio meter or it isn't. I want CyberCommander to be a studio meter so I have 1 less item kicking around during the shoot, and integrated with lights, to boot. To use it I would like to be able to set it same as the camera ISO and shutter speed wise, period. I do not think you will confuse anyone with that notion.

Respectfully
Michele

I don't shoot that much, and used to push thing toward the right. But I have learned that, with the newer cameras, it is more reliable to under expose and then pull it up in RAW. I rarely see any problem getting good blacks, but blown highlights are forever. One thing to consider is that metering incident mode cannot predict the blown highlights that come from specular parts of the scene - jewelry, sequins, - anything reflective include silk-like shiny fabrics.

A far better solution for everyone would be if the camera makers would adopt 1/10f notations . . . but that isn't going to happen.

I agree, unmanaged specular highlights can devastate one's ability to capture much of the scene with most of the camera's bit depth i.e. at reduced quantization error levels.



Actually, I understand it's already happened. Leica R9.

I second what Michelle wrote (1/3f on CC would have real value), while also acknowledging Paul's reservation re: specular highlights.

-- Alex Karasev

Sooo.... Let me get this right.. The camera is settable in 1/3 stops, the flash is settable in 1/10 stops but the tool that brings them both together in harmony (the cyber commander) is only settable in whole stops??

A couple of practicality issues:

Many photographers are discovering that 1/3 stop ISO settings are pretty much a will-o-the-wisp. They are undisputedly illusionary for most cameras (the cameras are simply pushing/pulling exposure to or from the nearest full stop) and there is debate on whether even the top cameras like the Canon 1-series even do any real sensor amplification.

The visible difference between 1/3 stops in ISO is to debatable to consider.

The bottom line is that more and more photographers are seeing no point to manually adjusting ISO to 1/3 stop. The exception is with cameras (such as Nikons) that have an auto-ISO automated auto-exposure feature. In that case, ISO becomes the sole automated exposure factor, so giving the camera the ability to set intermediate ISO values becomes useful. Bottom line: Except for auto-ISO exposure systems, intermediate ISO settings don't have a practical value.

In the studio, intermediate ISO settings really, really don't matter in practical terms, where exposure is much more finely determined by 1/10 stop control of the flash. Control of highlights is control of light volume, not ISO, and that 1/10 control of the flash is much more useful and meaningful.

RD Kirk.

Your point is well taken but my issue really deals mostly with the camera. The max x-sync for the 5d series of cameras on Canon's side is 1/200 on the shutter speed.

Anything faster and you will get a black fade along the bottom of the picture when using studio strobes. Fact is every camera has a max sync speed and mine does not fall conveniently at a stop. No worries though as I can back off 1/3 stop from the 1/250 reading.. I just thought the cyber commander would have been able to handle it or if there was some setting I didn't see..

This might be a future enhancement but I can work with what it does.