Paul Buff
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 p.3 #16 · PCB new 22" High Output BD | |
Jaddie,
Pretty observant and correct. Here's a short overview of how Cyber Commander is set up and used:
In order for CC to do what it does, it must know everything about the lights it is controlling. Classic Buff lights don't have the ability to spit out their DNA so the user has to help a little. CC has an internal database of every parameter of every light we have made since 1986, including it's flash duration and color temperature at every power setting, etc.
Setup works like this: A menu item called "Find Studio" polls every CyberSync receiver that is set to the chosen frequency. This is essentially instantaneous. If the light on a particular channel is a next generation Buff light, nothing more needs to be done because the light itself returns all parameters to the CC.
But when it sees a CSR+ or CSRB+ it has to ask the user "what is connected to this Channel." A logical menu asks "Is it an AlienBees, White lightning, Zeus or something else (such as an another brand, Speedlight or other light that can be fired and metered and grouped, but not otherwise controlled.)
If, for instance, you press AlienBees, you get a menu that lists all possible ABs . . . B400, B800, B1600 or ABR800. When you select the appropriate model, the menu gives you a list of model lamp wattages - 40W. 60W. 75W, 100W. 150W or 250W. Select the lamp wattage instaled lamp and CC now knows everything about that channel. Nothing in this process is abbreviated or skipped, so the list includes every possible Buff light configuration, including such complexities as "Zeus 1250 with standard head set to 1/4 power by the ratio switch." The Zeus menu has 14 possible configurations, including Zeus 1250 or 2500, Bi Tube heads, etc. It's actually very easy to do this setup and it only takes a few seconds per channel.
There is a reason for this requirement. If you were to mix different lights with different modeling lamps and the CC didn't know the specifics of each light, you would be able to control the power of each lamp individually or together by bracketing, but you would not know the power of each light relative to each other lights or be able to maintain proportionality of modeling lamps to flashpower. You would also not know the power range of each light or it's flash duration or color temperature VS power setting.
Because of this process, you end up with a bargraph of all 16 potential lights that is lined up such that a 2500WS light adjusted to 640WS is on the same horizontal line as a 640WS light set at full power so you can see at a glance how much power each light is actually producing. If you select any one light you can read, on a digital display, every parameter and setting. You also see a bounding box for each light that tells you the range of power adjustment available. End stops are provided to keep you from changing the ratio between lights by trying to go outside any one light's capability.
If you want absolute WYSIWYG modeling, you can offset all the modeling lamps ,individually or collectively, in any fashion you want - such as 640WS of flashpower yields 150W modeling intensity for every light in the system. Once you do this, if the modeling lamps are set to be proportional to flashpower, that relationship will remain constant when adjusting or bracketing.
Im' not even going to get into the flashmeter and it capabilities here.
This can be difficult for the casual user to grasp, for when you mix a 2500WS Zeus with a 250W lamp with a 160WS B400, and set the ratio to 2500WS = 250W modeling, you can never gat more than 16W modeling out of the B400. This is not a flaw . . . it's the reality of what the exposure is going to look like.
Additional Programming: Beyond the basic setup, In addition to specifying what light is on what channel, you can also "Name" each light from a list of names the includes name such as "Left Main", "Center Hairlight", Center Fill", AUX2, etc. This way you don't have to remember what number is what light - you are told where each light is in the setup. You can also individually or collective direct all modeling lamps to be proportional to flash power, to be Separately Adjustable, Full, or Off plus a host of other parameters, particularly with regard to the next generation Buff lights.
All setup information is stored in non volatile memory and infinite setups can be saved to, and recalled from, the Micro SD card.
Where are we?
We have had 500 Cyber Commanders built and ready for about a month. We received and tested firmware Version 20 this week and have been testing it extensively. Everything works with the exception of two easily corrected small bugs. We are scheduled to receive V21 Tuesday and have high hopes that this version will correct all bugs and allow us to begin shipping.
Cyber Commander ships with a Micro SD card that stores all setups and also allows user updating of firmware, should further update be called for. This can be done via email or download of the firmware and performed from a Mac or PC with card reader in a few minutes.
I realize I am the target of a few slammers and and have always taken responsibility for the delays even when the they were out of my hands. But I believe that most who have been involved in the creation of a product of this technical complexity can sympathize with the delays. We could, of course, have shipped months ago with a bunch of software bugs, but then what would be said about my company and product?
Can you say MicroBuff!
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