Paul C Buff Einstein e640 after 6 months

[gjones5252]

My original forum post http://www.canonrumors.com/forum/index.php?topic=27445.30
was starting to take a turn down a different road so I wanted to start a new post just so it may be easier for people in my same position to find recommendations.
I purchased the proposed list on the other site and so far all has turned out very well. I wont do a huge review but i will note a few things.

640's--Good, powerful(coming from speedlights), i can tell their housed in cheap plastic. I do take extra special care but no more care than i do with any of my equipment.
Vagabond--amazing, i shot a whole wedding on these because i could. battery power didnt drop to the below 50% till the end of the reception. charge in no time at all. great added weight on the bottom of my stand.
Cyber commander--eh, it works. if they update the user interface it would be awesome. I am about to start reading the manual again just to become really good at using it. Its just not intuitive.
everything else is great and pretty much works as you would expect and as advertised.

Here are some pictures i have taken with these.
BMX photo two lights on either side, forgot the dishes that night(happens more often then i even want to admit. bare bulb
Dodge car shoot. Two lights plus speedlight. Both had dishes and theirs socks on.
Product shoot, Both lights with ghetto umbrellas, One umbrella white shoot through one is bounced back.
Last minute harvest party shoot, shot about 100 groups with size from 1 to 15, One light behind camera with said ghetto umbrella shoot through, one light for highlights with dish and sock


Wedding shot both lights with dish and sock
one light dish and sock


Some of these are images i like others are just examples of what the lights can do.
I welcome feedback. thanks for the advice on what to buy. It has paid off quite well. Although my wife wasnt happy with more gear to carry. You win some you lose some.

 

[pwp]

Glad you're liking the Einsteins. You're clearly using them pretty solidly! Nice work. Yes they feel like they need to be handled more delicately than say Profoto, but that may be illusionary. I've had Einsteins since they were first announced and the cost of ownership in terms of repairs has been WAY less than my previous Profotos and Elincroms. 100% less to be exact. That's six hard working Einsteins for as long as they have existed. A very early one blew a main board in it's first week and was promptly exchanged under warranty. PCB after sales service is justifiably legendary.

Agree on the Cyber Commander. Highly useful once you learn how to drive it. But what a shocker of a GUI. Very confusing and crazy design. The user guide needs a re-write too. The whole thing defeated me until a darn 22 year old figured it out.

Vagabond battery life won't be as long as it is now after a year or so. But that's to be expected. FWIW I've had two Vagabond charger bricks fail. Not a problem, PCB service swapped to new ones without question.

I use mostly PCB mods; dishes & accessories ie barn doors, grids etc, PLM's 86 inch & 64 inch plus a couple of strip lights. All good after years of hard labor. Adapted an old favorite large beauty dish with a Balcar ring (same as PCB) plus brollys I've had since LBPCB (Life Before Paul C Buff)

No wonder these things are selling like crazy.

-pw

 

[YuengLinger]

I'm also glad to see somebody else using the E640's.

I agree about the Cyber Commander being clunky. I never even tried to store setups, though, as I'm familiar enough with it to change settings very quickly, using "Groups" to turn off and on lights, or just turning off a light altogether in Light Settings.

Do you store setups? If so, I'd like to know how that works for you as you seem to do so much location work.

 

[Zeidora]

Just recently got one Einstein with small softbox. Broke the milky glass dome over the flash tube the first day, my own fault. At $9 to replace, not a worry. Just use them with PC sync cord, and that works very well. Not sure I'll go wireless anytime soon.

Agree on welcome addition of power compared to speed light.

Color temp is as stable as advertised; I checked with Minolta Colormeter III. The various mods do affect it, but it is predictable. Dialing in the color temp manually with my 5DsR gives a bit better color than using the stock flash setting on the body. I use one of the Custom functions to have that all dialed in. You could also adjust that in RAW conversion, of course.

One interesting thing to note is, that when using it in conjunction with a 580 via TTL sync cord, LiveView cannot be used, because it suppresses the flash trigger. Very odd. But this is a camera body issue, the Einstein works great.

 

[neuroanatomist]

One interesting thing to note is, that when using it in conjunction with a 580 via TTL sync cord, LiveView cannot be used, because it suppresses the flash trigger. Very odd. But this is a camera body issue, the Einstein works great.

It's a settings thing. The default setting for Silent Live View Shooting is Mode 1, you need to set it to Disable to fire a non-Canon flash in Live View mode.

 

[deleteme]

I am astonished that the priest/pastor/officiant let you use flash much less Einsteins set up as you do in the church during the ceremony.

When I was doing weddings that was never even a possibility. Some pastors and priests would not even allow photography!

 

[Zeidora]

One interesting thing to note is, that when using it in conjunction with a 580 via TTL sync cord, LiveView cannot be used, because it suppresses the flash trigger. Very odd. But this is a camera body issue, the Einstein works great.

It's a settings thing. The default setting for Silent Live View Shooting is Mode 1, you need to set it to Disable to fire a non-Canon flash in Live View mode.

Thanks neuro! You actually memorized the manual, impressive! p. 245!

 

[Snafoo]

I have two AB800s, not Einsteins (alas), but my experience has been identical to yours - love the lights, love the Vagabond, hate the Cyber Commander. I suspect that Paul C designed the GUI himself but should have brought in someone with GUI design experience, because it definitely looks home-built. I would be more than willing to buy a new Commander if it had a more modern, user-friendly GUI.

 

[YuengLinger]

I have two AB800s, not Einsteins (alas), but my experience has been identical to yours - love the lights, love the Vagabond, hate the Cyber Commander. I suspect that Paul C designed the GUI himself but should have brought in someone with GUI design experience, because it definitely looks home-built. I would be more than willing to buy a new Commander if it had a more modern, user-friendly GUI.

Maybe you are getting your wish. The CST's are now version II, and the CC itself is out of stock...