Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

Hi All,

I am new here and this is my first Einstein, first PCB product ever. After googeling much online reviews I bought it three weeks ago. Wondering is my newbie problem or indeed the Einstein I received is a dud. My first initial test was just to fire a couple of test shots straight out of the box couple of weeks ago, no issues. While doing a product shoot yesterday the unit would trigger but no strobe light produced. This happened intermittently, some image was completely dark. So to diagnose the problem I did the following:

- Plug the unit directly to a power outlet, no other attachments (no wireless receiver, no battery).
- Did an easy reset.
- Turn off model light.
- Wait for the unit to be ready state.
- Press the Test button to fire, each test fire I would wait for the beep and refire, in most cases the first 3 to 4 test fire no strobe is produced, not until the 5 or 6th test fire onward. If I wait for another 30 to 40 seconds and repeat the same procedure same result is produced. Some time the unit wouldn't produce any strobe until the 10th or 11th test fire.
- Change the back screen menu to the diagnostic screen and repeated the above step, the number to strobe count fire will continue to tick over even when no light is produced.

I have tested the unit using the lowest possible power setting, also at half power, same results. This is not ideal in real world situation when shooting. So to all the members here with Einstein, am I doing something wrong here? Or I do have a defective new unit? :?:

Thanks muchly,
Sirmorebeer

I would suggest first reseating the flash tube to ensure it is fully installed. If there is still no luck, inspect the tube to look for any breaks in the wire or legs. If that is not the case, then there is something wrong either with the head or with the tube. If it is only three weeks old, it should be fairly painless to get corrected.

Thanks for advise, checked the tube itself couldn't not see any damage and I've spoke with Australian support over the phone. Without a spare tube to test one cannot conclusively determine what the problem is. The Einstein is new, it was my first shoot prior to that was only couple of test fire. So the unit is going back to PCB Australia. What a shame, it is my first PCB product. Fingers crossed, hoping for a speedy resolution & I can get it in time for my next project.