PCB Einstein + Mola Beauty Dish + Adapter?

Hi everyone! I will be purchasing my first strobe unit ever and needed some help piecing it all together. I have these items in my shopping carts, but I'm not sure if I'm missing anything crucial. Can you guys look through this list and help me?

PCB
- [LINK] Einstein E640 Studio Flash Unit
- [LINK] Vagabond Mini Lithium 120VAC
- [LINK] Cyber Commander
- [LINK] CyberSync Transceiver Module

MOLA
- [LINK] Mola Demi 22" Beauty Dish Soft Lite Reflector (White)
- [LINK] Mola Opal Diffusion Glass
- [LINK] Mola Speed Ring for AlienBees

SUPPORT
- [LINK] Avenger A2030D 9.8' Turtle Base C-Stand Grip Arm Kit (Chrome-plated)
- [LINK] Avenger D600 Mini Boom (Chrome-plated)
- [LINK] Avenger E700 Baby Drop Down Pin (Chrome-plated)

So... Here are my concerns in the form of questions:

1) I know that people commonly buy a "Kasey PCB to Mola Adapter" to get the strobe head working properly with the Mola dishes... Is the "Mola Speed Ring for Alienbees" the same thing as the "Kasey PCB to Mola Adapter?" I get confused and uneasy because one is called an adapter and the other is called a speedring.

2) As you can see, I'm going to have the Einstein and Mola Demi hooked up to a drop down pin on a boom arm attached to a C-stand. With this configuration, what size sandbags to you recommend having on the arm and the base?

3) Do I have all the required pieces to get this setup up and running? I am very unfamiliar with this hardware and worry that I might be forgetting some kind of important transmitter/receiver piece or nuts/adapters/doodads to hook up the C-stand and beauty dish together.

Thanks in advance! Help greatly appreciated!

It looks like your setup is for studio only, right? Because there's no way you're going to be able to use that stuff on location without 1-2 assistants.

LostArk wrote in post #16421331
It looks like your setup is for studio only, right? Because there's no way you're going to be able to use that stuff on location without 1-2 assistants.

Mostly studio, but I would like to use it on location whenever the opportunity arises. Is there a problem with that? Does it take more than one person to assemble this or are you implying that assistants would be needed to carry all the gear? I would probably get help if I had to make a trek into the woods or something.

The rig you're looking at is going to be massively heavy on location when you consider the weight of the counterweight and sandbags you'd need. If you want to use that rig on location I would forget about booming it and just stick it on a regular ol' lightstand. Even that would probably get old fast. If you've never worked with strobes before you might just have to trust me on this. PCD monoblocks are hell for location work. Can't beat 'em for the price for studio work, though.

Also I would skip that Cyber Commander stuff and get the PocketWizard MC2 and a ControlTL radio & AC3 controller for your camera. A bit more expensive but it makes it a lot easier to mix and match Einsteins with speedlites, and you can use the ControlTL radios on things other than PCB stuff. Maybe skip the Mola BD and get the Kacey to swing the PW's if your budget is tight.

Oh, the Mola speedring you linked is the same exact thing as the Kacey adapter, except it's $35 more expensive.

Sandbags, I'd say for the counterweight 15lbs is usually good enough. Whatever you use for the counterweight I'd match it at the base.

LostArk wrote in post #16421440
Also I would skip that Cyber Commander stuff and get the PocketWizard MC2 and a ControlTL radio & AC3 controller for your camera. A bit more expensive but it makes it a lot easier to mix and match Einsteins with speedlites, and you can use the ControlTL radios on things other than PCB stuff. Maybe skip the Mola BD and get the Kacey to swing the PW's if your budget is tight.

I did some beta testing with Einstein and MC2 with ControlTL.
Don't bother. Use the Cyber Commander its a much better option. Gives you complete control over the Einstein's complete 8 EV range.

I am small handicapped person and shoot mainly outdoors. Never a problem using one/two Einsteins. Get wheeled lightstands. Having a cart for the stuff is another plus. Look for information in this forum.

dmward wrote in post #16421865
I did some beta testing with Einstein and MC2 with ControlTL.
Don't bother. Use the Cyber Commander its a much better option. Gives you complete control over the Einstein's complete 8 EV range.

I have used both the Cyber Commander and a Pocket Wizard Flex TT5/AC3 combination with my Einsteins.

it is true that the Cyber Commander gives you full control over the strobe's complete range.

But I prefer the Pocket Wizards. There is just nothing simpler and quicker than the physical switches and dials on the AC3 controller. Three zones, and 7 stops of control, all much faster than the joysticks on the Cyber Commander.

If you choose the top range, that's 640WS down to 10WS. If you choose the bottom range, that's 160WS down to 2.5 WS. One of those choices should cover just about any situation you run into.

Also, the Pocket Wizards allow you to use your Einsteins in combination with other lights, like speedlights.

And while the Cyber Commander his a built-in flash meter, the Pocket Wizards make it compatible with most higher-end flash meters, including (possibly) the one you already have.

dmward wrote in post #16421865
I did some beta testing with Einstein and MC2 with ControlTL.
Don't bother.

Beta testing, as in before the Einsteins were released?

Apparently the early versions of the Pocket Wizard radios for the Einsteins had very poor range. The current versions are reported to be much better.

InterMurph wrote in post #16422298
Beta testing, as in before the Einsteins were released?

Apparently the early versions of the Pocket Wizard radios for the Einsteins had very poor range. The current versions are reported to be much better.

Yes the early MC2 and AC9 devices were sensitive to RFI.

I updated my MC2 and AC9 devices as appropriate and finally got rid of all my ControlTL stuff when Canon introduced the 600EX-RTs. I was never happy with the integration of the Einsteins and Speedlites.

I have hand held light meters and, like the Cyber Commander, they measure light output from the strobe. High end light meters have lots of interesting features but at the end of the day they read the output of the strobe. Nice thing about the Cyber Commander is that when it reads the output, it remembers it along with the output from all the other strobes in the setup. Permitting the photographer to adjust the output without having to remeter.

The Cyber Commander and Einstein were designed to work together. I'd take advantage of the integration. It makes like easier.

Thanks for all the insight so far, everyone.

I think I am going to go with PocketWizard and get the PowerMC2 + FlexTT5 + AC3 combo. Regarding the AC3 and the limited EV range, how do you select between the top and bottom range?

To select the top range, manually set the power on your Einsteins to 640WS, then set the dial on the AC3 for the corresponding zone to +3 stops, then power cycle the Einstein.

To select the top range, manually set the power on your Einsteins to 2.5WS, then set the dial on the AC3 for the corresponding zone to -3 stops, then power cycle the Einstein.

InterMurph wrote in post #16422932
To select the top range, manually set the power on your Einsteins to 640WS, then set the dial on the AC3 for the corresponding zone to +3 stops, then power cycle the Einstein.

To select the top range, manually set the power on your Einsteins to 2.5WS, then set the dial on the AC3 for the corresponding zone to -3 stops, then power cycle the Einstein.

At least they made that easier.
Early on it had to be done in the firmware utility.

dmward wrote in post #16423023
At least they made that easier.
Early on it had to be done in the firmware utility.

That doesnt sound easy at all.

InterMurph wrote in post #16422932
To select the top range, manually set the power on your Einsteins to 640WS, then set the dial on the AC3 for the corresponding zone to +3 stops, then power cycle the Einstein.

To select the top range, manually set the power on your Einsteins to 2.5WS, then set the dial on the AC3 for the corresponding zone to -3 stops, then power cycle the Einstein.

To use the lower power range you could also set the AC3 to full power, then dial the Einstein power from full to -2 stops. No need to power cycle.

Edit: No need to set the AC3 to full power. To access the lower power range just reduce the Einstein power level by exactly two stops, to go back to full power raise the Einstein power level back up exactly 2 stops.

As a software engineer, I believe a power cycle to be necessary for almost every occasion!