To repeat what I had mentioned in an earlier thread, a large part of my rationale for buying into Paul Buff's Einstein system was the expectation that I would be able to leverage my investment in Elinchrom modifers through the use of Jerry Kacey's AB/Elinchrom adapter. Today, I received Jerry's WL adapter ring in the mail (I already had the Elinchrom part) and I've done a few preliminary tests.
To mount Elinchrom accessories on an Einstein, you need two components: First is the WL adapter which is a 6-1/2 inch diameter flat metal disk with four holes drilled near the periphery and an Alien Bee/White Lightning/Balcar mount in the center. The second required component is the Elinchrom adapter which screws onto the front of the WL adapter.
Fully assembled and in place, the WL/Elinchrom adapter looks like this:
Elinchrom accessories can now be mounted on the front while the adapter assembly itself is held in place on the Einstein by means of the Balcar mount on the back.
The good news is that this system works and is strong enough to support my largest Rotalux which is the 69" octa:
The down side of hybridizing mounting systems this way is the unavoidable necessity of introducing an additional adapter onto the front of the light. This will, of course, result in the flashtube being moved further back from the attached modifier than might be ideal. In the case of the ElinStein, the plane of the flashtube winds up within the throat of the Rotalux adapter ring:
With the Pyrex dome removed, the actual position of the tube is more readily apparent:
Whether the slightly recessed postion of the flashtube restricts light dispersion within the attached modifier remains to be seen. In any case, the Pyrex dome should help ameliorate any dispersion issues.
The Kacey WL adapter really comes into its own when mated with a beauty dish. I do not own Jerry's dish but I do, of course, have the Speedotron BD which I modded for use with Elinchrom lights. This afternoon I replaced the Elinchrom insert on the back of my dish with the Kacey adapter. The combination of the Kacey adapter and Speedotron dish mounted perfectly on the Einstein. With the central deflector removed to improve visibility:
With the Kacey adapter, the Einstein's flashtube is positioned fully inside the BD:
The mount could not be any lower profile:
Clearly, the Speedo BD and Kacey adapter are a match made in heaven. No issues there whatsoever. The ElinStein hybrid is a bit tougher call. The physical integration of the two systems obviously works well. Whether the recessing of the flashtube represents a real world issue I cannot say. I suspect not but have no first hand experience. However, judging from the very positive comments of those Alien Bee users who have used the Kacey adapters to mount Elinchrom accessories on their lights, it's highly likely that the pairing works very well indeed.
Dave F.
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