Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

I see that Porter's web site says the adapter rings are in stock. Tempted to give this a shot, but wanted to see if anybody has tried it yet. Looks like it would make for a good solid mount.

Changing the adapter ring is pretty easy, and both Interfit and Cheetah have speedlite mounts for Bowens. I'd think that if PCB offered an adapter ring, you could sell more softboxes. Hint, hint. ;)

Update... Porter's web page says it's in stock, but the shopping cart says it's not.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/220940-REG/Red_Wing_RD6210_Speed_Ring_for_Calumet.html

This adapter fits the foldable softbox.

There is a S type flash bracket available from Cheetahstand that I think is somewhat better than the one available from B&H but either will work.
Biggest challenge is getting the tilt bracket to tighten enough to hold the softbox in place.

I have the same situation as the original poster. I recently ordered Einsteins, softboxes, octoboxes, PLM, stands, Cybercommander, Cybersyncs, etc.

I had the items not on backorder sent to me hoping I could at least make use of the softboxes with the only lights I have, some Nikon SB-25's. I wrote in asking how to do this challenging task: connect a PCB modifier to a stand without the monolight involved. I was referred to this forum.

I guess I want it all. I want to use the Einsteins in my home studio with my PCB modifiers. I want to buy the Vagabond and take everything (Einsteins, Vagabond, modifiers) to places with no electricity. But I may also want to take just the modifiers, Cybersyncs and Speedlights out once in a while, but I need a good mounting solution.

The solution suggested above, besides being expensive, changes out the center part of the modifier's speedring. That makes a quick swap between WL/AB/Einstein lights and Speedlights impossible. Anything that involves a screwdriver is not workable. The modifiers will be on the Einsteins most of the time!

I saw a nice product on a Photoflex forum. The key to making a softbox easy to use with a Speedlight is to have a tripod/lightstand mounting hole on the modifier's speedring. If my PCB softbox had such a mounting hole, then only a $33 bracket is needed to hold the speedlight.

Paul Buff is savvy. He makes great products. He plans his product releases and product improvements well in a highly competitive market. He probably has considered making his modifiers work more readily with a wider range of competitors' lights, including speedlights. There are propably good reasons not to put a tripod socket on the bottom of his modifiers.

But there are some good reasons to do so if it doesn't structurally weaken the ring. Which it shouldn't, because even if there weren't enough metal to bite into, that could be fixed with a thickening of the base. The one good reason to do so is me. And you. And any other customer or potential customer who would like this flexibility added to our investments. Listening to customers is good business. Having modifiers that work well in a Strobist setup is good. It may even attract customers who want to invest in modifers that can serve their Strobist needs now, but they know will allow them to upgrade to Alien Bees, White Lighning or Einsteins later without losing their investment.

As far as investments go, I have over $2500 invested in PCB lighting. That is quite an investment for a hobbyist like me. And I expect many happy years of return on my investment. I would love to continue to squeeze more out of my speedlight investment as well without having to buy other modifiers. If there were a design improvement on the modifiers that I could ask for, it would be to have the option to have them be able to also mount on a stand without the AB/WL/Einstein light required.

Is this sentiment shared by many other PCB customers?

Paul

+1

I have myself just invested a fair amount for a hobbyist in several Einstein lights, foldable SB, PLM, cybersyncs+++

And just like you, I would be very happy with a reasonable way to forego bringing Einstein lights, but still be able to use my PCB modifiers with speedlights when travelling light.

Well, I never expected to foldable softboxes to work with anything but PCB lights. As it turns out, the combination of the RedWing Adapter and Interfit XS bracket works really well with speedlights, so I see it as a bonus. A matter of perspective, I guess.

Swapping the adapter ring can be done without a screwdriver, and it's *much* easier than swapping standard speedrings. The Interfit bracket is a little pricey at $45, but geez, a regular umbrella bracket is $15-$30, and the Interfit includes a 7" reflector that I find useful. My total cost per rig was $61+ shipping; one could easily spend more on a simple speedring.

So I'm completely thrilled with the arrangement. I have Bowens mounts for speedlights and AB mounts for the AB's, and all my modifiers except the metal reflectors are interchangeable between the two. Hard to complain.

it would be great if AB/PCB could design a speedlite bracket that takes a standard AB speedring something along the lines of this: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/images/larg ... 629320.jpg

That way people can use AB/PCB modifiers with speedlites.

What I mean is take the speedring mount from a standard AB unit and add a bracket to take a speedlite plus the standard spigot for the light stand.

Regards

Patrick

Bring me appropriate engineering people who can think out of the box and we'll do it in a minute. It's not easy being 74 years old, working 14/7 and having to do every product myself. I have no choice but to follow a priority list.

The EzyBox Hotshoe Bracket works well with their lightweight EzyBox units, but a similar-use product for PCB modifiers would have to be far beefier. I'm guessing that the biggest impediment is the potential market size; show me someone willing to buy 50,000 of these, and it won't be too hard finding someone to build them.

First I want to say a big thank you to Luap for being active on this site and participating in dialog that ultimately makes his products and services so valuable. You don't often see this level of involvement from the CEO's of most other companies. It is indirectly why I was able to confidently make my first purchase of PCB products so large. I invested hook, line and sinker. It was the reputation of service and support that won me over more than any other aspect and gave me the confidence to buy so much at once without testing the waters.

I imagined Luap works hard, but had no idea it was 14 hours a day, every day. Go ahead and take a day off. You deserve it!

And if you are serious on the engineers, I may have some resources. We should talk. (My e-mail address is in my profile.)

**********

I may give a try to the solution that BobK likes. But for not much more, one can get some low cost stands, adapters and umbrellas that really are designed for portability and use with the Speedlights. And for quite a bit more than that there are the Speedlight dedicated soft-boxes (Ezybox, Lightdome, Westcott, Cheetahstand, etc.). The PCB stands and modifiers are not super light, but so quick and easy to set up that it is a struggle deciding which direction to go. I guess I have to get myself a little of each solution to play with. I think that is why I love this hobby. You get to try out a lot of different things if you are willing to spend the time and money.

All I know for sure is that I am really looking forward to getting my Einsteins and wouldn't have been looking at a Speedlight solution if I didn't have such nice modifiers sitting here waiting for the party to begin. But hey, I'd wait another week or two if that guy would just take one day off!

Check out this bracket... a PLM v2 is attached to it with what looks like to be the std PLM speedring/cage... I'm thinking that the same bracket can be used to mount use a softbox with a speedlite.


http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4135/493 ... 05f1_o.jpg

Does anyone know what the bracket is ?

Rgds

Patrick