Alien Bee: options to control power wirelessly?

Hey guys, this probably got asked many times before and I'm sorry for that.

I have 4 alien bees. I have been using cactus triggers for a while now. They work perfectly but I'm looking into triggers that allow me to control the power wirelessly.

What are my options? If possible, include costs. Cost is a huge factor here but the expensive ones will not be completely excluded. I'd like to know what's out there today.

Heya,

This does it. Costs money.

But really, each pocketwizrad + AC9 overall costs as much as your lights do.

I don't think there's an inexpensive way to do this. Hopefully someone else knows better.

Very best,

fashionrider wrote in post #17880456
Hey guys, this probably got asked many times before and I'm sorry for that.

I have 4 alien bees. I have been using cactus triggers for a while now. They work perfectly but I'm looking into triggers that allow me to control the power wirelessly.

What are my options? If possible, include costs. Cost is a huge factor here but the expensive ones will not be completely excluded. I'd like to know what's out there today.

The best option is the Paul buff cybersync plus models along with the cybercommander .

MalVeauX wrote in post #17880458
Heya,

This does it. Costs money.

But really, each pocketwizrad + AC9 overall costs as much as your lights do.

I don't think there's an inexpensive way to do this. Hopefully someone else knows better.

Very best,

gonzogolf wrote in post #17880460
The best option is the Paul buff cybersync plus models along with the cybercommander .

damnit! I already sold both my kidneys to buy my camera and lenses! Don't have a 3rd kidney to sell and I need my liver to support my drinking habits.

fashionrider wrote in post #17880478
damnit! I already sold both my kidneys to buy my camera and lenses! Don't have a 3rd kidney to sell and I need my liver to support my drinking habits.

Shocking but true. You can walk the 12 feet over to the strobes and manually adjust the power.

Heya,

I totally get the want to change the levels remotely, especially if you're using them up high out of reach. Otherwise, at least you can just meter everything set it all up, and shoot as you wish without having to change them anymore in a studio setting.

Unfortunately they were not made to be remotely power controlled, old design. A lot of strobes lack that feature.

The alternative, if you wish to explore, is to change strobes (selling your Bees and moving to another system that allows remote power changes, something more modern). Not sure if you are ready to do something like that. But it's yet another option.

I just walk over to my strobes and adjust their power and meter and adjust the power and meter, in my studio setting. I'd love to not have to do that. But relative to the cost to gain that option, I still walk over and just do it. I'd rather spend the money on things that are not just a few seconds of inconvenience.

Very best,

I happen to agree that the Cyber Commander and Cyber Sync triggers are the best for this situation but, a possible cheaper alternative and one that works really well would be a used set of Radio Popper PX and JRX radio triggers. I used the Radio Poppers for years before buying into the Cyber system. I used the Radio Poppers mainly to give radio control to my Canon Speedlites but, they worked equally well with the Alien Bees, and the integration of the Speedlites with the Alien Bees and having full control of flash power output of all flashes was the first in it's day. You need a Radio Popper JRX Studio receiver for each Alien Bee and then the flash power level and triggering can be controlled by either a JRX or PX transmitter. I sold most of mine 3 years ago for about a 1/3 of what I paid for them so I can only imagine what they go for today. In order to get the flash power control of the Alien Bees, the JRX Receivers have to be the "Studio" and not the "Basic". They both look the same and as I remember they even have the same RJ11 jack for the 4 pin cord to connect to the Alien Bees but, the "Basic" will not work to control flash power. There was even an RP Cube that worked with the "Studio" receivers to where you could control flash power of either Canon or Nikon flashes.

MalVeauX wrote in post #17880489
I totally get the want to change the levels remotely, especially if you're using them up high out of reach. Otherwise, at least you can just meter everything set it all up, and shoot as you wish without having to change them anymore in a studio setting.

Unfortunately they were not made to be remotely power controlled, old design. A lot of strobes lack that feature.

They were actually designed for remote power control, originally with the RR1 that plugged into the RJ-11 "phone" jacks on the back of the bees and the white lightning units. The CyberSync system replaced this. One thing PCB hasn't done so clearly is make it obvious on their site that the Cyber Commander works with the Alien Bees, they designed the Commander to match the Einstein and they really push you to buy the Einsteins. But it does work with all their older strobes too, including full remote control of power levels.