Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

The unit is not powered on by a quick tap, it takes a second or so of steady pressure. As long as a hard case prevents it from being steadily pressed, a bounce-tap is not going to turn it on.

I got the CC, CST, and a few CSR+, CSRB+ today.

First impression, the CST is so small and light, I don't think I'll feel any different with or without CST on my camera.

The CC is also small and bright. I quickly changed the bright level down to the minimum level (10%). Even with that lowest level, it's still bright enough to view all the info on the LCD easily. I wish the dome for the light meter was on the same side of the LCD. That way, it might be safer to put the CC on a hard surface with its back facing down. With the current design, I wouldn't want to put the CC down on any hard surface because it might scratch either the LCD or the dome. :)

I have one question about the CST: what working range should CST have? I did a quick test, and it was a hit and miss when the CST was about 60ft from an AB connected to a CSR+ (there were a brick wall and 2 internal walls between AB and CST) I wonder if this CST is OK because I heard some sound like something's got loose inside the CST when I gently shaked it. Is that sound normal?

Ah, I also bought the foldable octabox. Setting it up is so fast and easy compared to the retired non-foldable softbox I bought a few years ago. I just wonder if the grid for current foldable softbox would fit on the old non-foldable softbox?

Thanks,

Michael

I also tried out the flash meter function of the CC, and compared it with my Minolta Auto IV F meter. With the default setting, the CC showed 0.1 stop higher than the Minolta did with the same ISO and shutter speed. For example, CC showed F22.3 when Minolta showed F22.2; CC showed F8.6 where Minolta showed F8.5. I don't know which one is more accurate, though. :) By the way, the CC can be calibrated to match any other meter if needed.

I think CC is a wonderful tool to have. It's so useful to be able to adjust and to meter the lights without running to each monolight during shooting, specially the light high on a boom arm.

The CST should get about 300-400 feet, line of sight. Anything that gets in the way of that path can deminish the range significantly. There is a slight rattle sound, so that is normal (PW has it, too). All manufacturers of light meters can vary in thier readings. 1/10 of a stop is pretty durn close, and still a finer resolution than you can set your camera exposure to. We calibrate with Sekonic meters.

To TS: Thanks for your reply. Yup, I'm not concerned at all with 1/10 stop different between the light meters. Light meters from different brands are not expected to show identical result anyway.