Will a 580EXII fill the large PCB PLM

Title says it all. I'm going through a lot of scenarios as I contemplate going to all hotshoe strobes. I already have the large PLM that I was using with my Genesis strobes. Does anyone know if the 580EX will fill it?

i dunno. from the looks of it, you pretty much need a strobe without any sort of reflector/modifier, so it shoots out 180*, to hit everything.

Thanks. I tried it and I think you're right. I pulled out the diffuser to force it to 14mm zoom and then took a picture of the PLM and it didn't look like it was filling it.

It's the wrong tool for the job. Even if you did get some decent range, it would overwork the flash.

ootsk wrote in post #10680779
Even if you did get some decent range, it would overwork the flash.

Does a flash some how overheat or put under extra strain when placed in a oversized modifier? I'm confused

No, it will fire at full power, which it was designed to do. The flash can't fire at "more than full". Just follow Canon's recommended flash interval and cooling periods and shoot at full as much as you want to.

Here's a nice write up from Rob about the 580EX II and 64" PLM:
http://www.robgalbrait​h.com …p?cid=7-10046-10396-10407

It doesn't sound like the 580EX II can fill the 64", so the 86" is highly unlikely. But with the PLM, softness is much better with very minimal impact on efficiency.

Not only won't it fill the PLM completely or evenly but it's such an anemic setup. If you want to use Speedlight's with a modifier that large you're going to have to use multiple Speedlight's and spread them out so they're not clustered so tightly around the axis of the umbrella.

A DIY or something like the Lastolite tri-flash might do it.

thanks guys... not looking to jump through hoops to make it work, if it won't, I'll probably look into selling it.