Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

^got my date mixed up: Sep 2010

If memory serves me right (am i getting older already?), I placed my order at the time the silver plm v2's were announced to be available so that is what I'm going on. From what I understand plm v1's did not yet come with a speedring and v2's did. So to confirm, do i have a v1 plm with a v2 speedring?




How do i properly focus the plm to achieve your results? I posted my setup info and all i'm trying to do is replicate to understand the shadows and falloff with the einstein + plm combo so i know it's strengths and weaknesses.

I mentioned to c2thew that my V2 fabric doesn't look like that either...it's almost like he got a PLM w/ a different fabric on it. This is the weird square pattern in his gallery:
http://s62.photobucket.com/albums/h120/ ... G_0883.jpg

What's puzzling is they all seem to be V2's because they all have speedrings:
http://s62.photobucket.com/albums/h120/ ... G_0917.jpg
and he did test w/ an Einstein...

That ring effect might be interesting for beauty shots...looks like it might look like a beauty dish w/ that brighter outer ring...

Total puzzle to me. We never made a V2 Silver With square pattern silver on it to my knowledge. Almost sounds like a prototype somehow got sent out, but I have no idea of how. Doesn't even act like the V2 arc shape.

Why not call Lori at customer service and we'll replace it and scratch it off to a supernatural event!! I just emailed her to do this.

As for focusing, if you are within 10' of the subject, place the flash tube about 2-3" in front of the PLM outer perimeter. If you are like 20-40' away, move it in to approximately parallel.

If indoors, I use the modeling lamps and visually focus for smallest brightest center. If out doors, I go to subject position and adjust focus (using model lamp) for even filling of the PLM from out perimeter to center.

The new Soft Silver is hardly affected by focus position and just setting it with tube parallel to the PLM perimeter will be pretty optimal for about any use.

Thanks so much paul. called lori and she is sending out a replacement. I'll fix the post since i now know that the v2 i have isn't a v2 and I don't want to spread misinformation.

I double checked. Seems a small number of early V2s indeed had square pattern fabric. But as far as I know, the arc shape is correct and the only difference should be in output. But to be sure, I'll ask Lori to send you a call tag for the weird one so I can test it myself and be darn sure. I'll give you time to compare them yourself first, OK?

I do my design work at home and don't always see what gets shipped . . . close to 1000 packages per day.

I just realized, the labels are incorrect: the first two rows are 24 inches away from the backdrop and the third and fourth rows are 12 inches away from the backdrop.


Still using the vacuum as a test subject because there are areas where light can pass through the hose thereby testing the light falloff/shadow wrap. The newer version does show that the wrap is more effective vs the v1 square fabric as seen in the picture above. I believe that the weird light pattern is more predominant when using with the elinchrom system.

I'll actually do another test with the elinchrom lights since i still have my d-lites to see how the old and new fabric compare.

If you have any particular tests that you'd like to me to see if i can do, let me know. i'll be happy to help.

camera was set on AWB on the soft silver plm but was manually set for the test shots thereafter. An Elinchrom d-lite 4 was used with the umbrella attachment since i no longer have the elinchrom speedring.

I just checked my 3 silver PLMs (64 and 51 recently ordered, & my 86 silver ordered a year ago). My silver 86 also has the grid pattern, and I have had some struggles with a central hot spot.

I would love to have my 86 silver PLM replaced with the same silver fabric version that is now being shipped, so that I have consistent fabric and expectations of performance from all my silver PLMs.

I'll be trying out my new Soft Silver PLMs tomorrow in a shoot. They should give just the look that my client is looking for! :-)

Update: the Soft Silver PLMs are KILLER! Love the light quality.

Still interested in an exchange of my Extreme Silver with grid pattern fabric....

I shoot team & individual sports, both indoors and out. I have a lot of trouble overpowering the sun while providing even, shadowless light on teams ranging from 10-60 kids. Since fall photos are just about done, I'm more concerned about indoor gym shots for 10-40 kids. I'm thinking that the PLMs will work, but need some input as to the type (soft silver?), size (84?) and quantity needed. I own two AB800's.