Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

I was wondering when these will be available

We do not have any projected date for this as of now. We are only providing relevent information to Pocket Wizard for product. We have no other involvement in the development of this item. LPA/Pocket Wizard may be able to provide more information.

I dont really understand the point of this product when the cyber commander is obviously a more capable unit and most likely a cheaper solution.

Over all, Cyber Commander will be less expensive. However, many Photographers are already invested in the PW system. Also, it will allow more interoperability with other brands of flashes that will also allow power adjustment. It will have a more limited amount of control over the light and as best as I can tell, will not run the entire range of adjustment on the Einstein (do not quote me on that). Both have their place, and I expect some photographer running both systems for different applications.

As a PW user and loving them (Plus II's), I waiting for my first Einstein to be delivered (6 months now :cry: ) to field test it with the CyberSync. If range, reliability, etc pans out than I will very likely buy into the the CC unit.

My big concern about them right now is a "2 hour battery life" that I read somewhere in the PDF manual I think. I get 40 hours on a set of PW batteries. What I don't know is can I turn it off and use a CyberSync on my hot shoe and still have all the adjustments hold?

So if I can just use the CC as a light meter and make my adjustments than turn it off than do a 3 hour shoot without having to change batteries in the CC, than that may be OK.

Don't want to get ahead of myself though. I REALLY like my White Lightnings X1600's, I keep a couple of them in my trunk and they get banged around the light stands and my working box, they just work every time. I even had one hit the ground from about 10 feet up, the umbrella and the reflector took a hit but the light just kept going. Can the Einstein withstand the same abuse??? I guess I'll find out.

I wish the Einstein's were built with the WL casing. I know, can't keep everybody happy...

Two hours on a set of batteries? Thats pretty low, even at 50% brightness. Initial appearance of battery life is disconcerting to some. However, When users get the remote, they spend a lot of time learning it. This requires a lot of transmitting and screen on time, both of which use more juice than sitting idle. Once in actual use, the screen is not on except for brief adjustments. This results in much longer battery life. As well, screen brightness can be adjusted, as can screen time out. Once the unit "goes to sleep" it is in a state like the CST, idle except briefly when the flash sync circuit is closed.

Rear sync comes to mind with PW !

I was able to keep a CC screen continuously lit for about 10 hours using a pair of Ultra Lithium batteries at about 30% brightness, With Alkalines, it's more like 3 to 4 hours. But that's not the point,

The CC is designed to be in standby mode most of the time (it can fire instantly from standby). In standby, the battery life is about 5000 - 10,000 hours. That's close to a year.

The screen-on time per battery set is around 4 hours (14,400 seconds) (longer at reduced brightness and/ or with Lithiums.) So if you limit the screen on-time to about 20 seconds per adjustment cycle, you have about 720 twenty second adjustment cycles. If you do 10 adjustment cycles per day, the battery life from this action will be about 72 days and your overall battery life will be about 60 days. Drop your screen on-time to 10 seconds and you can do twice as many adjustments per battery set.

This is the intended sort of use. Let's see a Pocket Wizard left on and ready to fire for 60 days! I believe the number is abut 4 to 5 days.

Now, if you are familiarizing yourself with CC and keep the LCD on continuously and insist on running at high screen brightness, sure, you can deplete the batteries in 3 hours or so. Pretty much like starting your car once per minute, then turning it off . . . . not the intended use. Your battery will be toast in a day or so.

Many users prefer the high speed sync methods, longer range and other features of PW. As Tech said, many users already have an arsenal of PWs and want to add an Einstein or two (or four) and already have a dozen speedlights and PWs.

They are simply two different systems . . . Cyber Commander is far more advanced for dedicated studios while PW is more tuned for outdoor location shooting, timed sequences and delays, etc.

1. How much control can be achieved on an Einstein with this unit?

2. As for the question of how/why to use this product, I am a good example. I already have Dynalite studio strobes with built in PW. Sweet! Now I have an Einstein/mini lithium as a strictly portable solution, and I have 3 Nikon speedlights. Going to CC doesn't make sense for me. I already a big investment in PW.

If the MC2 will allow me to control the Einstein as a key light, and then using the PW Flex TT5, also control my speedlights, then I have a true totally portable, multiple light setup.