Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

i am having trouble with large softboxes falling off of my alien bees lights. I have larsen 4x6 and a buff large box. both of boxes fall off of multiple alien bee light. i have tried both the larsen and large buff box on an einstein, an AB 800, AB 1600, AB 400. The fingers are just not holding these larger boxes on. I have never had this happen with my large parabolic umbrella, or any of my smaller boxes. And yes, all of the fingers are inside of the ring when i place the boxes onto the lights.

When mounting the boxes, do you ensure the modifier is seated fully. By this, I don't just mean all four fingers are in the ring, but that they are also fully extended? For example, if you mount the box with the light on the stand, the weight of the box may be heavy enough to prevent the fingers from expanding naturally, as they would have to lift the box and expand. If you lift the box, then they will expand and should not release.

If you have ensured this, the light(s) may need to come in for us to correct.

if thats the case, i'm going to have to send in every AB light that i own. I have an einstein, two AB 800's, 1-AB1600 and 2 AB 400s. I actually took my AB 1600 off of the light stand and placed it in place on the large softbox which was on the floor. I definitely had all of the 4 fingers in the ring on the back, picked it up and placed it back onto the stand with the softbox attached. Played with it a bit-turned it and it fell off. These fingers are just not strong enough, not the ones on my lights anyway. As far as the larsen box goes, the ring on the back of that one looks identical to the paul buff ones on the buff softboxes that i have. the larsen softbox falls off too. this is not going to be acceptable.

What, specifically, do you mean by "turning" it? Do you mean rotate it from vertical to horizontal (or vice versa)? If so, do you have the thumb nuts loosened so that the box spins on the inner ring, or are they tightened so the inner ring is spinning on the fingers?

the inner ring is spinning on the fingers. When i say turning it, I don't mean spinning it around like a top, just gentle turning from vertical or horizontal. I went out and looked at my lights closer and can say for sure that the einstein has very little tension on the fingers, my AB 1600 has maybe a little more tension. One of my AB 400's is actually very tight and holds the larsen and buff large softbox very well. I will have to test my other 400 and two 800's again to see exactly which ones need to go in. Is tightening the tension something that my husband can do? He's very mechanical, but he will not do it unless someone from paul buff says that its alright. Really only the einstein and AB1600 is still under warranty-the two lights that i need mostly for these two large softboxes.

Opening the lights would void warranties, plus it would possibly require the replacement of parts that only we have. Most speedrings have an inner and outer ring. They are designed so that the outer ring spins on the inner ring, but they can be locked down. I would suggest loosening the little nuts on the speed rings so that the outer ring will rotate on the inner ring and not the inner ring on the fingers and see if things improve. Try on both lights, as one may have an issue while the other may not.

Larsen speedrings are different than anyone elses, so they may or may not have the two part rings (though I imagine they do).

I think that i still need to send my einstein and AB1600 to have the tension adjusted on those fingers. The larsen softbox spins, but I never realized that my buff ones would do the same! I will have to go looses those screws on all of them now.