Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

I have previously been using Pocket Wizards, and have not had a problem. I had also just used the flash on camera earlier last night without problems. I tried all three receivers in my Einstein and had the same problem so I know its not that.

When I connected the PC cord, i received the constants burst of flashes for awhile. If I unplugged it, turned everything off, then plugged it in, and then turned everything on, it was ok. But still did not fire the flash when pushing the shutter. One time it worked while using the cord on a test shot. I then adjusted the lighting as I had the power up way too high and I was never able to get the flash to fire again, either with the cord or without the cord.

I also just tested on my Nikon D80 both Pocket Wizard and then Cybersynch. The pocketwizard worked but the Cyber did not.

Hmm. Just to make sure, verify the CC is in the ALL channel position. If it still does not fire via the hotshoe, we will need to get that corrected for you under warranty. You can contact customer service to make those arrangements.

In the mean time, using the sync cord from the PC terminal may still work for an interim solution. It sounds like the sync cord was not fully plugged into the CC resulting in the continuous or intermittent firing. You should not see any of the silver plug when fully inserted. There will be a little resistance before this point, but keep going and dont stop until it is fully plugged in.

Just received 3 new Einsteins and cyber commander and 3 transceivers. Want to set it up the right way the first time....plan to use 2 lights as keys, one from each side(same power), and the third as fill from front. So the 2 sides will be the same power always in this configuration.
Questions:
1- Is each light considered a separate channel?
2- Should the 2 sides be set in the same group , and the front fill in a separate group?

Thanks DG

1- Yes, you will want to set each light to an individual channel
2-Yes, place the two keys in one group to treat them the same for triggering, adjusting and metering. You can also put the fill in a group by itself. This will allow you to fire either the keys or the fill seperately via the hotshoe.

ok I set up 3 lights into 2 groups. How do I get back to the main flash screen where all groups are on?

The main flash screen is the one where there is a blue horizontal bar at the top, and says "flash" in blue and "meter" in yellow at the bottom. If you have ALL or a group (GRP) selected, the blue horizontal bar at the top will say "bracket flash". By simply moving to an individual channel, the flash information will reappear.

If you are elsewhere in your menu system, letting the screen turn off, the main flash screen will default when the unit is awakend. Alternatively, scrolling left or right with the right joystick will scroll through the main three screens (flash, model, setup). By scrolling with the right joystick, you will return to the main flash screen within 2-3 clicks from anywhere.

So I think I'm ok

Once I'm back to the main screen, will every strobe fire even if it says "group 1" at the bottom left?
I have 2 groups.... so is that why "all" doesn't show up at the bottom of the main screen?

Also, is it correct that I don't have to save this, i.e. these settings will her there when I restart until I change something in the groups. i.e. the last exposure settings and groups will be the default when turning my system again?

Is there any reason to save something else unless I have specific exposure setting(s) I want to go back to at a later time?

Thanks DG

Not every reciever will fire. Only the receivers in that group will fire. Lights, however, will fire via the optical slave eye even if not in the group, unless the slave is turned off via the menu for Einstein or the sync jack for the rest of our lights. The idea is to disable the slave eye so that only the lights in the selected group will fire.


You should consider ALL and GRP's as a channel option. Just like channel 2 will not appear if ch1 is selected, ALL will not appear if a GRP is selected.



Generally, yes. However if the unit were to crash due to low batteries, etc, then the settings can be lost. It is not a bad idea to go ahead and save the set up.


Related to the comment above, something can go wrong if batteries get low, and the processors crash. I generally recommend seting up and saving at least one "master" set up. This would be all lights set up, probably at full power, model lamps to what ever you normally would have, defined properly, etc. If nothing else, this would save you from having to reprogram everything. If you are comfortable in doing set ups, it may not be a big deal.

I think I am now confused. I set up 2 groups so I could change/control the power of each group separately. But I want all lights to fire when the shutter is activated. i.e. one group consisting 2 side lights at one power, and one group as a front fill light at a different power.