Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

I received a Cyber Commander and a couple of receivers to use with AB400s last week. I also usually use a couple of Nikon speedlights and another third party strobe (although I haven't yet gotten receivers for those).

I believe I have the equipment properly set up, but the metering isn't even remotely close. I had to adjust the calibration by +2.8 to get in the ballpark. Is this normal? After the calibration adjustment, the metering from one light to another seems fairly consistent, but not all that consistent when combining lights in groups. Any help would be appreciated.

I'm using a D300s and I do have the ISO set correctly on the CC to 200.

Are you metering from the camera position or the subject's position? You should be metering from the subject's position.

duh... thank you.

I've also found it is critical that the dome be pointed towards the light, not towards the camera.

Some meters work well pointing in either direction... (my Sekonic for instance), but with that "limitation", I've pretty much stopped using my Sekonic and will probably sell it. :-)

I know some photographers that have grown up learning that you meter towards the light, others live by metering towards the camera.

Hopefully not making it sound so much like a question of one way being right or wrong.
I'm just pointing out something I've found that may help you get more consistent results with this particular device. 8-)

Thank you. I'll experiment with that. I have been pointing the dome toward the lights.

I come from the school that says if you want to know what the camera is going to see, point it at the camera.

That is WRONG! You aim the meter at the camera from the subject. Aiming it at the light gives you a stronger and completely irrelevant reading to what the camera sees. Sorry, but any photographer who aims the meter at the light instead of the camera when setting up camera exposure... does not know what they are doing.

Imagine a light placed behind the subject, rim lighting the head and shoulders. If you aim the meter at the light you are going to get a very bright reading for what is going to be a minor amount of light seen by the camera.

This would be an extreme, and difficult case for aiming the meter toward the camera and making sure none of the direct light from the flash is seen by the meter.

ok...I'm going to have to ask dumb questions now (but hey, if you're afraid to ask dumb questions, you'll stay dumb :-))

I was taught to do both. I.e., if you're measuring your rim light and you want it 1 stop over key, point the meter at the light while holding it at the model's head and measure that...measure key by point it at the light in front of the model's face...measure fill the same way (do one light at a time).
Then after all that is done, measure once more with the light aimed at the camera position to get camera exposure and adjust if needed to hit the f stop you want because key/fill might add up.

Is this the wrong way to do it?
I.e., do you always aim at the camera position including measuring rim and fill/key so you can skip that last step?

To go a bit further, would I be correct in assuming that the Cyber Commander is faulty (or at least MY Cyber Commander is faulty) if the reading are only accurate when pointed at the light?

When compared to my Sekonic the readings are an exact match, maybe .1 stop off at times. Thats is when aimed at the light.

When aimed at the camera, the Sekonic stays very consistent.
The Cyber Commander, on the other hand, varies by several stops and changes quickly if only a few degrees from being aimed directly at the light.


I have, by experience, just generally learned and preferred to use the meter by pointing it at the camera.... especially useful when multiple lights are hitting a given surface.

Of course, if the cyber commander is supposed to work equally well, perhaps there is a problem, at least with the one I have?