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Paul Buff Lights

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Yes, I have 4 Einsteins and many people here in this forum have them; they are wonderful.

Regards,
Mike
 
Congratulations. You just bought some excellent equipment.

Now comes the fun part - using them. :-)

Be sure to show us some results.
 
I've been thinking of getting 2 or 3 of these. What accessories did you end up going with. Please post your initial test shots! :)

Take care,

-Kyle
 
Unless if you know what you are doing, I would start out with just one.

The type of accessories you buy will depend on what type of stuff you shoot. If you do portraits, an octabox is really nice. Also if you do on location shoot, the vagabond mini is a MUST have.
mizzar said:
I've been thinking of getting 2 or 3 of these. What accessories did you end up going with. Please post your initial test shots! :)

Take care,

-Kyle
Click to expand...
--
Sai Saelee
http://www.saeleephotography.com
 
Portrait, product, indoor and outdoor. Vagabond Mini is what got be looking at Paul Buff lights in the first place. So far, I like what I see. I think I'm going to use the PLM system.

Take care,

Kyle
superakuma said:
The type of accessories you buy will depend on what type of stuff you shoot. If you do portraits, an octabox is really nice. Also if you do on location shoot, the vagabond mini is a MUST have.
mizzar said:
I've been thinking of getting 2 or 3 of these. What accessories did you end up going with. Please post your initial test shots! :)

Take care,

-Kyle
Click to expand...
--
Sai Saelee
http://www.saeleephotography.com
Click to expand...
 
mizzar said:
Portrait, product, indoor and outdoor. Vagabond Mini is what got be looking at Paul Buff lights in the first place. So far, I like what I see. I think I'm going to use the PLM system.
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Be sure you buy the sock. The PLM with sock makes a great softbox. Basically you get a second modifier for very little extra cost.
 
Sadly I don't have the Einsteins, but I do use White Lighting X1600 (PCB lights). I'm a big fan of them. The PLM is my favorite modifier in the studio (next to the beauty dish).
 
Got six, and love them!
 
I used 4 of them in a rental studio last weekend. Unfortunately 3 of the modelling lights were toast and I wanted them to shoot through colored gels for what I was doing. Had to go get 2, 3 milllion cp flashlights and 2 halogen worklights for the setup I wanted. Obviously that's a maintenance thing not a design problem though.

However, on the one that did work, the whole softbox fell off and took the bulb diffuser with it ...breaking that. The claws that expand/retract were loose (on all 4 units) and on that one the tether between the softbox and the strobe itself, had been torn off.

Frankly I was thoroughly disappointed with that claw system. To me it looks like it isn't a question of "if" it will fail ...only "when" it will. Also those lights had recently been "updated" by PCB.

To have to have a tether cord to keep the pressure off the claws seemed like a real cheap solution to a problem that should have been far more thoroughly addressed in the design stage. It's like they got fancy for fancy's sake and left practicality on the scrap paper in the design department. The softbox mount size is such it didn't look like it would be reassuring even if the claws worked perfectly.

I haven't used a lot of strobe equipment since I have lots of 285's and dry cells for them and have strobist bubbles in my bloodstream. Anyway. to see what the difference was I visited my dealer on Monday and looked at the Bowens mounting system. Wow! It's like compaing a tank to a soap box!

The Einstiens may be great for what they offer in versatility ..but to me they seem quite fragile. I'd been thinking of them for portable use when I get strobes but I've now cancelled that thought as I don't treat equipment like newborns.

jj
--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jjlad/sets/
 
The claws and mechanism were redesigned (serrated claws too) - fixed te problems you cite. I wonder if your lights still have the old design. Mine now securely holds very large softboxes and 86" PLMs etc. PCB update mine at no cost other than te cost of shipping them to PCB.

Regards,
Mike
 
Michael Firstlight said:
The claws and mechanism were redesigned (serrated claws too) - fixed te problems you cite. I wonder if your lights still have the old design. Mine now securely holds very large softboxes and 86" PLMs etc. PCB update mine at no cost other than te cost of shipping them to PCB.

Regards,
Mike
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I rented the lights with the studio, but was told they had recently been 'updated' by PCB. The claws did have serrations but some of them just flopped around when the levers were pushed to the locked position. I was just setting up when the softbox bit the dust. We put the softbox face down on the floor and tried several times to fit it securely to the light, but as soon as we'd lift it, it would fall off.

It made me thankful I'd recently re-done my model release forms to cover any accidental injury. I can't imagine trusting that system on a 10' stand or on a boom right over a model. That thought just plain scares me! The Bowens mount system looked failsafe. The PCB system just seemed flimsy and like it was designed to look slick but not for practicality. I don't know what they missed on the update if indeed that was done, but not one light out of 4 was without claw problems.
jj
--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jjlad/sets/
 
Im somewhat surprised at how little criticism I have seen on this forum towards Einsteins. I own three, and have had quite a few problems with them.

First of all, all three units are the most current versions, with updated "arms" for grabbing speed rings. Within three months of use, 2 had to go back to repair malfunctioning arms, and another had to go back because it simply stopped firing. That's a 100% malfunction rate across my three units within the first three months! Two units are starting to show damage again, after already being fixed once.

Even after repairs, I can say confidently that the system PCB uses for softbox mounting is a pretty bad one. I cannot mount a 4x6 softbox at all, and 3x4 boxes aren't very secure (if I were to give one a strong tug it will come off). Also now that the arms are starting to weaken again, even reflectors don't mount very securely.

Another extremely annoying issue I've had is that running the modelling light at full power with a softbox on caused the light to overheat and shutdown (just the modelling light). I've found that on a normal shoot, the light will turn off about every 5 minutes for a full minute. PCB recently recognized this issue and suggested switching to 150w modelling bulbs (really?).

A few other things... the recycle beep is so quite as to be basically useless. For many people this is an extremely important feature, especially when shooting at close to the maximum recycling rate. I have found power output to be somewhat inconsistent from shot to shot. Also, the unit is very hard to adjust when you don't have a clear view of the back panel. I have to push the button 10 times, waiting for 10 individual beeps, just to go up one stop. Because the LCD does not have a wide viewing angle, confirming my power level is near to impossible. I know, if I bought into the Cyber Commander system this would be a non-issue - but I'm am completely intolerant of reliability issues in wireless triggering systems, and so far PCB has not proven very reliable to me.

Don't get me wrong, these lights have great specifications, especially considering the price. But what is missing is build quality. These aren't build nearly tough enough to stand up to professional use, or to be offered as rental equipment. I'm keeping the units I have for high-speed work, and I'm in the process of upgrading to profoto for my usual work. Although the flash duration and adjustment range is way behind the Einsteins, the durability and overall usability is far superior. I can hear the recycling beeps easily, the heads never overheat, and the profoto speedring mount is second to none.
 
I wondered why the one modelling light that was working ..went off periodically, and your post explains it. I was using it through a gel to create some 'effect' lighting (not strobing that unit) and I lost a number of shots due to that light going out just as I shot. I figured it had to be to protect the bulb from overheating but it isn't great when it just goes out with no warning like that. By that time I was directing people holding big flash lights with gels and snoots and didn't notice that one go out ..and it was important enough that missing it didn't help much ..especially when doing stuff like this:



For sure it sounds like the Einstien design it still on its journey.

--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jjlad/sets/
 
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