Paul Buff Cybersync advice

[jlbeck]

So here's my setup. 5d Mk3, Alien Bees and PW Plus II triggers.

I'm see the black band as discussed here previously when trying to sync at 1/200th. Yes, it goes away at 1/160th.

I'm thinking of selling the pocketwizards and getting the Paul Buff Cybersync Transmitter/Receiver pair. Does anyone know
if these triggers suffer the banding problem?

I have a pair of the cactus triggers which I haven't tried yet. I rarely use them because the batteries always seem to be dead.

Any experience with these is appreciated.

[ablearcher]

I'm using 1/200 without any problems, not at full power though (AB800). You can also check with their tech/customer support - they are truly awesome.  I believe it will also depend on how much power of your AB you are using.

[jlbeck]

Thanks. I rarely use my AB800 above half power. The only drawback is the the CR2450 battery in the transmitter. I'd prefer a AA. I like the idea of powering the receivers from the same source as the flash.

The Photix Atlas II look interesting as well. About the same price and use AA batteries.

[pwp]

I use the Paul Buff Cybersync Transmitter/Receiver hardware http://www.paulcbuff.com/cst.php & http://www.paulcbuff.com/csxcv.php with my six Einsteins and the 5D3 has no trouble syncing at 1/200th sec.

I'd just love PCB to come up with something that enabled sync at higher speeds like 1/500th or 1/1000th even with the inevitable reduction in available power, as happens in speedlight HSS mode. Is this what the Photix Odins enable? If so, you may want to look at the Odins instead of the PCB Cybersync hardware.

-PW

[Normalnorm]

I have used a variety of Canon cameras (10D,1Dmk2,1Dsmk3,5D,5Dmk2,5Dmk3) with Buff products and various sync vendors(Buff,PocketWizard, Chinese triggers). None of the triggers gave me maximum sync speed with reliability. Outdoors I can fudge it but indoors I can almost always see a band.

In the studio I use 125th and outdoors I use 160th.

Just the nature of their shutter.

The Phottix and other triggers claim higher sync speed but it is not a high speed sync but rather a trigger timing adjustment that, depending on you camera and strobe combination, may allow you to sync at higher speeds. Ironically it seems that the best strobes for this are those with the longest durations thus negating to some degree the action stopping power of strobe.

[agierke]

the PCB triggers do not assist in any way syncing at higher speeds. i have noticed banding at 1/200th of a sec using PW+Dynas as well as PCB+Einstiens/AB800 on the Canon 5D mrk 2.

Buff himself has grumbled about camera makers insistence on limited sync speed shutters and doesn't seem overly motivated to tackle this problem.

a few of us were talking about this in another thread recently and it seems that the Odin's may provide the best option out there. its a crapshoot though as its highly dependent upon what strobe you use and the flash duration of that strobe.

it does indeed seem to require longer flash durations. unfortunately, the trend seems to be faster and faster flash durations in modern strobes.

a few of us are dying to get some real world reportage on canon+odins+einstien combo if anyone is up to the task. i would do it myself but work is keeping my priorities away from buying new gear and testing right now. i may have an opportunity to test PW TT5/TT1 combo but probably not for a few weeks. i have heard that those units are notoriously unreliable and unsupported...so i'm not holding out much hope. 

[pwp]

The PCB triggers do not assist in any way syncing at higher speeds. I have noticed banding at 1/200th of a sec using PW+Dynas as well as PCB+Einsteins/AB800 on the Canon 5D mark 2.

Buff himself has grumbled about camera makers insistence on limited sync speed shutters and doesn't seem overly motivated to tackle this problem.

A few of us were talking about this in another thread recently and it seems that the Odin's may provide the best option out there. Its a crapshoot though as its highly dependent upon what strobe you use and the flash duration of that strobe.

It does indeed seem to require longer flash durations. unfortunately, the trend seems to be faster and faster flash durations in modern strobes.

A few of us are dying to get some real world reportage on canon+odins+Einstein combo if anyone is up to the task. i would do it myself but work is keeping my priorities away from buying new gear and testing right now. I may have an opportunity to test PW TT5/TT1 combo but probably not for a few weeks. I have heard that those units are notoriously unreliable and unsupported...so I'm not holding out much hope.

Despite scouring the web for a definitive answer on the question of Odins working with Einsteins to achieve even a moderately faster flash sync speed, I didn't come up with much. Hell even 1/500th would be very very useful.

What I did read was a trick setting where you trigger the Einsteins with a speedlight set to HSS. Apparently when set to HSS the flash is programmed to fire earlier than in the standard setting. I'll test & report back. Even so, this arrangement would be of limited usefulness because of proximity restrictions. But maybe if you used Odins on HSS and used a speedlight to trigger the Einstein this would work. You'd put the speedlight on a stand right up against the Einstein photocell. Could work!

Can someone with Einsteins & Odins give this a whirl?

-PW

[Studio1930]

I have PCB triggers as well as radio poppers and I have used them with AB and WL lights with 1Ds3, 1Ds2, 1D4 and 1DX without issues at full sync speeds.  No banding (shutter sync issues) but you must have good batteries.  I have even pushed the shutter a bit with success (can't remember which body but I think the 1D4).

I have not used PW or 5D3.

[wickidwombat]

The PCB triggers do not assist in any way syncing at higher speeds. I have noticed banding at 1/200th of a sec using PW+Dynas as well as PCB+Einsteins/AB800 on the Canon 5D mark 2.

Buff himself has grumbled about camera makers insistence on limited sync speed shutters and doesn't seem overly motivated to tackle this problem.

A few of us were talking about this in another thread recently and it seems that the Odin's may provide the best option out there. Its a crapshoot though as its highly dependent upon what strobe you use and the flash duration of that strobe.

It does indeed seem to require longer flash durations. unfortunately, the trend seems to be faster and faster flash durations in modern strobes.

A few of us are dying to get some real world reportage on canon+odins+Einstein combo if anyone is up to the task. i would do it myself but work is keeping my priorities away from buying new gear and testing right now. I may have an opportunity to test PW TT5/TT1 combo but probably not for a few weeks. I have heard that those units are notoriously unreliable and unsupported...so I'm not holding out much hope.

Despite scouring the web for a definitive answer on the question of Odins working with Einsteins to achieve even a moderately faster flash sync speed, I didn't come up with much. Hell even 1/500th would be very very useful.

What I did read was a trick setting where you trigger the Einsteins with a speedlight set to HSS. Apparently when set to HSS the flash is programmed to fire earlier than in the standard setting. I'll test & report back. Even so, this arrangement would be of limited usefulness because of proximity restrictions. But maybe if you used Odins on HSS and used a speedlight to trigger the Einstein this would work. You'd put the speedlight on a stand right up against the Einstein photocell. Could work!

Can someone with Einsteins & Odins give this a whirl?

-PW

you're not in perth are you? otherwise we could meet up and try your einsteins and my odins

[pwp]

Despite scouring the web for a definitive answer on the question of Odins working with Einsteins to achieve even a moderately faster flash sync speed, I didn't come up with much. Hell even 1/500th would be very very useful.

What I did read was a trick setting where you trigger the Einsteins with a speedlight set to HSS. Apparently when set to HSS the flash is programmed to fire earlier than in the standard setting. I'll test & report back. Even so, this arrangement would be of limited usefulness because of proximity restrictions. But maybe if you used Odins on HSS and used a speedlight to trigger the Einstein this would work. You'd put the speedlight on a stand right up against the Einstein photocell. Could work!

Can someone with Einsteins & Odins give this a whirl?
-PW

you're not in Perth are you? otherwise we could meet up and try your Einsteins and my Odins

No not in Perth, we're in Sydney. Nice offer though. How do the Odins go with your monos (Elincrom?)

-PW

[wickidwombat]

Despite scouring the web for a definitive answer on the question of Odins working with Einsteins to achieve even a moderately faster flash sync speed, I didn't come up with much. Hell even 1/500th would be very very useful.

What I did read was a trick setting where you trigger the Einsteins with a speedlight set to HSS. Apparently when set to HSS the flash is programmed to fire earlier than in the standard setting. I'll test & report back. Even so, this arrangement would be of limited usefulness because of proximity restrictions. But maybe if you used Odins on HSS and used a speedlight to trigger the Einstein this would work. You'd put the speedlight on a stand right up against the Einstein photocell. Could work!

Can someone with Einsteins & Odins give this a whirl?
-PW

you're not in Perth are you? otherwise we could meet up and try your Einsteins and my Odins

No not in Perth, we're in Sydney. Nice offer though. How do the Odins go with your monos (Elincrom?)

-PW

The odins work great with the Elinchrom right up to 1/8000 th sec
only issue i had was at exactly 1/250th sometimes got black frames
it might just be because its on the cusp of changing from xsync to however
it syncs for high speed. basically a non issue because if i want to shoot at 1/200 i'll just use the skyport trigger
and use the odins if i want it faster. I ended up ordering a stratto 2 reviever to see if it works in the same capacity on the elinchroms

I also discovered that a $2 3.5mm audio jack splitter cable lets you have 1 reciever drive 2 mono lights too!
much cheaper than a $150 per odin reciever