Paul C. Buff products coming to the UK....

Have you checked what speed you will end up with the Quadra at full power ??!!

I assume that you are going with PROFOTO then ;-]
 
ding76uk said:
"Regarding PCB Europe, please take this up with customer service . . . Lori. I believe a substantial shipment is on its way to UK now, but can't keep up with everything. "
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You'd think setting up a new distributor in a key market would be something you'd be up to speed on...:shrug:

Why do I get a nagging feeling that it sounds like Buff would just pull the plug on the UK operation if he felt it was too much hassle?
 
Cant even fulfil domestic demand by a long way, who cares about those on the other side of the pond?

Buff personalises his business too much. Spends too much time on forums and vapourware. I think he does himself no favours, which is a pity, as the equipment appears to be very good, but it puts me right off.
 
Flash In The Pan said:
You'd think setting up a new distributor in a key market would be something you'd be up to speed on...:shrug:

Why do I get a nagging feeling that it sounds like Buff would just pull the plug on the UK operation if he felt it was too much hassle?
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It just seems like he doesn't care, which is the worst thing in it all. With a little thought he could have had UK operations that compare with his US ones. If this had been done right, Buff could have dominated a large percentage of the UK market, instead it's "Contact Lorraine, I don't know" which reading between the lines is "I don't give a damn, the UK market is of no interest to me".

His whole attitude comes off a little holier than thou, which was shown when he closed the forums on his site when people dared to disagree with him and his way of doing things.

The Einsteins look really good, but they have taken forever to come out, and there are some issues with these that they need to fix, for example the Pocket Wizard thing. Just seems to have been a rished out product, and there is little hope of them catching up with demand in the US with a fully reliable product by the end of the year, so who knows when the UK will see them. Suppose we'd better "Ask Lorraine"
 
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Its maybe a little harsh to assume that Buff should be keeping tabs on the UK distro, as far as i can tell the importers are essentially just buying units at retail, shipping them over and dealing with vat+duty then selling them on. Essentially autonomous from PCB inc.

Well, that and he'd seem to be busy with the pocketwizard problem...
and trolling the fred miranda forums :puke:
and calling europeans names on his forums... :thumbsdown:

but the lack of communication from the importers has been a bit dissapointing, i emailed them the question i asked earlier in this thread, asking what the deal was with the warranty on units they sell and still havn't had a response. That was over 2 weeks ago :(
 
Garry Edwards said:
No answer to my email question......
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I'm not surprised mate, to be fair, you were never going to get a reply being related to Lencarta but more so implying the following:

Garry Edwards said:
I'm not sure that AB's success in the States is due to 'high quality' - I think that it's more likely due to a mixture of low price and patriotism (or xenophobia) neither or which will cross the pond.
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That aside, I haven't got the slightest idea what the whole operation is playing at. :shrug:

I was confident, optimistic and gave the benefit of the doubt but now I'm inclined to agree with Kris:

Kris said:
....I think he does himself no favours, which is a pity, as the equipment appears to be very good, but it puts me right off.
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The prices still don't bother me as I comprehend the differences between US and UK/EU prices. PCB gear still has a huge potential in offering mobile solutions at competitive prices.

I respect that there are issues and I also respect the Colin and Steve seemed doing all they can as I've had many emails from them both and they were very helpful.

Einstein pre-orders are being supplemented with FOC AB units which are then returned if and when the Einstein gets sorted.

What really pickles me now is the absence of communication and this notable nonchalance.

It makes no sense for a company that wants to make money. :thinking:
 
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Well for a mobile solution I think I'll stick with my Quantuum 300 +R and 600 +R Dual Power units, cost about £500 delivered for the pair!

I have only had them for a short while, but am very impressed with them so far for the money!

Delivery within 4 days, kit includes standard reflector, battery and all cables required.

Foto Tip get a big thumbs up from me, cheap fast delivery (3 working days), from EU so no additional VAT/Duty, do what they say on the tin, although I have not yet taken a series of photos to test their constant W/B across the power range claim.
 
EdBray said:
Well for a mobile solution I think I'll stick with my Quantuum 300 +R and 600 +R Dual Power units, cost about £500 delivered for the pair!

I have only had them for a short while, but am very impressed with them so far for the money!

Delivery within 4 days, kit includes standard reflector, battery and all cables required.

Foto Tip get a big thumbs up from me, cheap fast delivery (3 working days), from EU so no additional VAT/Duty, do what they say on the tin, although I have not yet taken a series of photos to test their constant W/B across the power range claim.
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Certainly looks interesting Ed, not much literature on the Quantuum gear on the web yet though, are they fairly new to the market?

EDIT> There doesn't appear to be any info on flash duration either, I take it that it's fairly slow?
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Garry Edwards
No answer to my email question......

I'm not surprised mate, to be fair, you were never going to get a reply being related to Lencarta but more so implying the following:


Quote:
Originally Posted by Garry Edwards
I'm not sure that AB's success in the States is due to 'high quality' - I think that it's more likely due to a mixture of low price and patriotism (or xenophobia) neither or which will cross the pond.
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I don't think I'm being unfair to AB here, they are hugely succcessful in the U.S. beginner market because they are American and, as Galbraith says, "They make cheap lights that work"
Their customer base are happy with them because of the price and the excellent customer service and the colour temperature problems don't seem to be recognised by this sector of the market.

If the Einstein really is as good as it says on the tin at low power settings then it will be a major step forward for sports photographers (pity it doesn't have enough power for fashion photographers, who would also find short flash durations useful) and I wish the importers every success with it.

But unless they are able to invest a LOT of money into good customer service, unless they are able to get and maintain good stock levels and unless they are able to buy cheaply enough to make a decent profit I think they'll struggle in the UK market, which is very price competitive and which already has a lot of good products available.
 
Garry Edwards said:
I don't think I'm being unfair to AB here, they are hugely succcessful in the U.S. beginner market because they are American and, as Galbraith says, "They make cheap lights that work"
Their customer base are happy with them because of the price and the excellent customer service and the colour temperature problems don't seem to be recognised by this sector of the market.

If the Einstein really is as good as it says on the tin at low power settings then it will be a major step forward for sports photographers (pity it doesn't have enough power for fashion photographers, who would also find short flash durations useful) and I wish the importers every success with it.

But unless they are able to invest a LOT of money into good customer service, unless they are able to get and maintain good stock levels and unless they are able to buy cheaply enough to make a decent profit I think they'll struggle in the UK market, which is very price competitive and which already has a lot of good products available.
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All good points Garry although I disagree with:

Garry Edwards said:
...the colour temperature problems don't seem to be recognised by this sector of the market.
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The AB colour temp issue is widely recognised, I'd credit folk with a little more sense in all fairness, it's the price and the huge amount of good imagery that's lit with PCB gear that sways folk not to care too much about colour temperature as a compromise, not to be blind to it.

That aside, your right about customer service but I can still see why they wouldn't bother answering any of your questions though.

Your initial post to Colin seemed condescending and rude, despite that you may not have meant it that way. :)
 
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ding76uk said:
Thing that surprised me was full power on Einstein. T1 1/450th at full power. Makes it completely useless to me at full power.

Would be interested to see t1 times on them Quantums too.
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is that in its improved t.1 time mode or its colour consistency mode
 
david1701 said:
is that in its improved t.1 time mode or its colour consistency mode
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David, I think you're missing the point here.
Both 'Color mode' and 'action mode' are reliant on electronic controllers that start to kick in only when the flash energy output is reduced, so at full power it doesn't make any difference which mode is set on the flash head, the t.1 measurement is the same and is roughly equivalent to most other flash heads and slower than many.

Exactly the same (effective) technology is used on hotshoe flashes - fire them at full power and the flash duration is fairly long. Reduce the power setting and th IGBT circuitry kicks in, quenching the flash, killing the characteristic tail to the right of the bell curve and retaining the unused stored energy in the capacitor(s).

If you want very short flash duration without IGBT circuitry then the answer is to have a physically small flash tube (the smaller it is, the less time it takes to light it up) but that has a downside too, because it has to work harder and so it has a shorter life.

Hope this helps
 
The Quantuums flashes are great and reliable units, and can be found branded Mettle (on eBay), and it used to be sold in UK as Elemental brand, by www.studio-flash.com.
As about the PCB products in UK, the price kills all the charm: I've been quoted for a Vagabond II the amount of 357 £, including shipping. I am not bashing the Vagabond, is a great power pack (for the price the USA buyers pay for it) but for me, I prefer to buy a 600-100 pure sine wave inverter and a good SLA battery and make my self a much more powerful power pack for that money, and I may still be left with some change :)
 
Since "Qantuum" to my knowledge is only a trade brand, the fact that a technically identical product is available under the "Mettle" lable would suggest to me that that Qantuums are build by Mettle and sold under the brand of the distributer.
 
I wonder who will be the first to come on this thread and announce...

"My Aiens Have Arrived!!!!!"

How long does it take to ship in and then ship out to customers???
 
Tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tock .
 
Kris said:
Tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tock .
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Yup. I've gone all Profoto now.

Still, I'd like to have a play with an Einstein and those PLM's.

Such a shame, there was so much potential for PCB in the UK.
 
if I can afford it I've got a way of getting some direct from the states in november and its still how I'd like to go with it
 
Technically I don’t have the gear ;-)
I just issued the cheque but they are not able to release the goods until it clears… it will take few more days…

I went for 2x Einsteins (temporary sub for AB1600 220V), VII, PLM, reflectors+grids, Beauty Dish and few minor elements

Now I am after cheap balcar inserts to replace the S mount in my Elinchrom octas … also I need 2x Stripboxes and I am good to go out in the wild :-D

I think there are quite few happy folks in UK shooting with Buffs gear already :) (flickr Alien Bees UK group)

Will let you know when I will put my hands on the gear!
 
Mothman said:
Now I am after cheap balcar inserts to replace the S mount in my Elinchrom octas … also I need 2x Stripboxes and I am good to go out in the wild :-D
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Lencarta will have strip (and other) softboxes in Balcar/Alien Bees fitting in a couple of weeks...
There'll also be available with speedrings to fit
Elinchrom
Hensel
Broncolor L
Broncolor S
Multiblitz V
Multiblitz P
Profoto
 
Oh Garry,

That is a great news! i will keep my eye on the website then.

---Sorry for OT

Garry, on the website there is a grid for 95cm octa - I was wondering how you are measure the octa - I need to find a grid for 100cm and 135cm Elinchrom Octas


Best
Jarek
 
Measure as per the pic on the left (I wish I could draw like that:) )
 
Mothman said:
Big Thanks! :) I will check.
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I don't want to pressurize you but...

There's only a handful (OK a couple of handfuls) of Balcar and the other less popular fittings arriving by air early September, the main order is coming by sea and will take a month longer. They've only been on the website for about an hour - in fact the page hasn't been tidied up yet - and several have already been bought.

You can pre-buy if you want to
Edit: Sorry, I'm talking about the speedrings here, not the softbox honeycombs
 
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Rough Edges said:
I tried looking for them Garry and I can't find them... Not seen a speedring before LOL...
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They're actually sold complete with softboxes, because speedrings are specific to softboxes and are not generally interchangeable between different makes.
This is the strip softbox and the various fittings are also available with 60 x 60 and 85 x 85 softboxes.
The new pages need tidying up, this will be done by the webmaster - I'm not capable:)
 
OOh like the strip boxes from Lencarta, are you doing grids for them?
 
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