Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

Tried searching but all words are too common and ignore; "cyber commander battery life". erg... :(

Anyway, what are people getting with regard to real-world battery life on the Cyber Commander? The specs state 2-3 hours, but that seems awfully short.
Is this screen-time? Or is this even while resting?

I would hope this is regarding the time that the screen is on, and that "sleep mode" (that being where it still triggers the flash when the camera shutter is triggered) would allow a much longer life expectancy.

Regardless, I have a twelve hour event in a week and I just need to be prepared, should a case of AA batteries be required to hold me through the day!! :roll: :roll:

Thanks

That's correct - the 2-3 hours refers to time with the screen on. It would last much longer if just used to trigger the strobes.

You might want to get a CST to keep on camera and then you can just use your CC for metering/power adjustments/backup. The CST battery is estimated to last a couple of years under normal circumstances.

Super! :-)

I was thinking about getting a CST, but unless I'm missing something it doesn't appear that the CST allows for a setup with more than a single frequency. i.e. No "All Frequencies" setting. Since I often use groups and often have one or more strobes out of reach, that would not work out as well for me.

Oddly, the manual states something about "This fires the system, using power levels, grouping, etc. as set up on Cyber Commander.", but I'm not sure how it would do that.

Maybe I'm not setting up my lights correctly?
I'm currently setting each group on its own frequency.

I just got the units working yesterday, so it is very likely that not using the best practices for setting this up yet. If thats true, the CST might be a good option.
I guess I'll play with the CyberCommander a bit more and see if I can set it up in a way that would be compatible.

Any sage advice for setting this up would be appreciated.

Thanks.

OK, tried re-reading the manuals. I'm sort of stumped on how the CST reacts with the commander.

If I read things correctly; if the CST is active while groups are selected by the Commander, it picks that up and works off that selection?

"If the camera or CST is activated while a group is selected, the exposure will only come from those lights enabled in the selected group"

Still not sure how the CST selects a group v.s. a channel/frequency.

Thanks.

It's actually very simple.

The FREQUENCY must be set the same across all your Cybersync products. The only thing you can set at all on the CST is the frequency. Nothing will work right unless you set everything to the same frequency.

The CHANNEL needs to be different for each light in your setup.

When the CST is on the hotshoe and you press the shutter release, it basically sends an "all channels fire" message. All the strobes will fire at whatever their current power levels are. If you have selected a group on the CC, any strobes not in that group will have been disabled from firing by the CC. So when the CST sends its "all fire" signal, only the strobes in that group will respond to it. But the CST doesn't actually talk to the CC or vice-versa. The CST does one thing: send an "all channels fire" signal when you push its test button or trigger it via shutter release.

All group assignments, power adjustments, group selections are made from the CC.

Duh, I'm an idiot. :oops: Thanks.

But thanks also for clarifying how the groups thing works.
That makes sense now.

If I recall, the 2-3 hours also assumes alkaline batteries and a 40-50% screen brightness, running continuously. If the brightness is lower, and the screen is on only as long as it needs to be, then you will see the batteries last for quite some time. In real world usage, the screen would be on to initially set the lights up, and not often adjusted. When adjustments are made, it may take 2 minutes of screen on time for a major change. Outside of that, the screen is off, and power is only used to send a trigger signal.

Typical shoots will probably use the screen for 5 minutes.

It's really not that difficult or mystical. Firing from the CST does exactly the same thing as firing from the CC hotshoe. The CC sets up the lights and tells them whether or not to fire. Firing from either the CC hotshoe or CST hot shoe fire whatever lights are enabled to fire by the CC. It's a what you see is what you get situation.

In normal use, you should have the CC channel selector set to any channel from one to sixteen, the power settings for each light will be displayed in bar graph form and, assuming you are using the modeling lamps, the lamps will visually show you which lights are enabled to fire as well as the relative brightness of each enabled light. The CST will honor all these settings.

Same thing happens with groups. If you have the CC set on a group rather than on a particular channel, only those light contained in that group are enabled to fire, either from the CST or CC hotshoe connection. The CC display and the modeling lamps will show you which lights are enabled within that group, and firing from either the CC or CST hotshoe will fire only those lights contained in that group.

Again, whatever you have set up in the CC will fire from either the CC or CST . . . WYSIWYG.

The test and meter buttons of the CC are different than the CC hotshoe connection. These buttons will fire only the channel or group the CC is set to. This allows you to selectively test or meter one light at a time, or one group.

Let's say the CC is set to channel three and you press the CC Test or Meter buttons. Only the light on channel three will fire. If you want to fire or meter all lights from the CC you must select "ALL" on the CC before you press the test or meter button. But you can avoid having to set the CC to ALL by simply pressing the test button on the CST. This is one of the advantages of using the CST on the camera and handholding the CC.

While it may sound confusing to some, it is logical and all explained in the manual. The CC is enormously powerful in function, and I don't know of an easier operating protocol short of putting a dozen buttons on it or eliminating the selective firing and metering capabilities.

Yeah, I was mixing channel and frequency so I was confusing myself. :?
Since the CST fires "All channels" that is perfect.

I was also assuming that the Cyber Commander actively fires strobes within a selected group. I did not realize it instructed the strobes to not listen to commands to fire (essentially disabling those not in the currently selected Group).
Its really a brilliant way to make it all compatible with various devices.

I just didn't get that from the manuals. It refers to the capabilities but doesn't come right out and say how its done. Sadly I've become cynical and do not rely on most manuals' claims, as often a bit exaggerative on their claims or worse yet seldom correct to begin with. 8-)

I will probably be ordering the CST and a few other triggers to work with my non-PCB lights.

One thing I am really pleased with, is that my camera can now sync at its top sync speed and not get darkened bars. Other remote trigger brands (rhymes with Elinkrome Shyshorts) sync reliably only up to 1/2 to 2/3 stops below max sync speed for my camera -- which is not very fast to begin with at only 1/180s.

Thanks for the fast help and concise explanation.
I canot express how much such good support means to me.
I spent three months arguing a simple problem with the "other vendor's" product only to find out their product could not perform as advertised and I was in fact right from day one with my initial simple inquiry.
Their support is so poor and personnel so arrogant and un-helpful, I will never buy their products again.