Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

Hello All,

Have a few questions I am hoping to get answers too.

Firstly is it ok to plug a Einstein directly into a power outlet (I live in the continental United States) or would it be better to plug it into a surge protector or should I only plug it into a vagabond? Also, if it is ok to plug it into a surge protector is there any particular brand or type that is better over others?

Lastly under "light settings" what does "slave cell" mean and do?

Appreciate any help,

I use my Einsteins directly plugged into the wall outlet (US AC 110-120VAC) routinely, and into a Vagabond II on occasion. Both work fine.

I'll defer to Tech Support regarding a surge protector: I would guess it is okay, but I could imagine that some surge protectors might be too sensitive, tripping too easily (but this would depend on how much strobe-firing "surge" transient makes its way out to the AC lines).

Slave cell is a flash detecting sensor that fires/triggers the strobe--if you have that enabled, then any other flash that occurs within range to be detected will also fire your Einstein. So you can, for example, put a radio trigger on one unit, and when it fires, the other "slave" units will fire as well. This can save some cost on radio trigger/receivers. But it can also mean that if you are ever photographing in the vicinity of other photographers, their flash units can fire your strobe as well, when you don't want it to fire. Also, outdoors or large spaces may not provide enough bounce/reflection of the "master" strobe, and the "slaves" may not always detect the master flash and fire as desired.

BDP is correct in all aspects. However, to add to the post: if you do use a strip, it is typically best to use just a basic power strip rather than a hyper-protective surge protector as they can trip with the full draw after a shot. Also, if using lights as slaves, it may be better to use the light with the broadest spread or highest power as your "master" rather than your main light for the simple reason it is your main light. With recievers for Einstein at $30, I would HIGHLY reccomend getting recievers for each light, as you gain more than just better triggering reliability.

thank you! I have cyber commander and CSXCV Transceiver Module for each of the Einsteins. I love the system so far. Have not had a chance to use it on a actual shoot yet, but so far, the tests have been great. I was only curious about the slave cell option. That would only be used in a all else fails situation.

Do you guys plan to create a cyber commander type unit in conjunction with LPA Design? I know the minittl units will work well with the MC2 units. But for those who do not use Nikon or Canon (I am a Sony shooter) something with the functionality of the cyber commander but compatible with the MC2 unites would be a God send!

Being a Sony shooter too, I would like to see more options on the market for TTL, however, I am not sure what the MC2 would bring you the Cyber Commander cannot, particularly since you are limited now to basic triggering (maybe cycling and intervalometer). Additionally, there are ways to run parallel systems. Our remote system and LPA's remote system will remain seperate, as one or both systems would require a change to be compatabile with the other, then they would not be compatabiel with the original versions of the respective systems.

The MC2 would open up the benefits of using a pocketwizard. But I would love to also have the benefits of a device that is pocket wizard compatible and has the features of the cyber commander. On another note, it would be lovely if LPA Design put out a minittl unit that was made specifically for alpha cameras. The high speed sync alone would be a pretty nice feature.