I’ve been using the AlienBee CyberSync’s for about 5-6 months now and thought I would share my thoughts as there is limited information out there for these little buggers, and a while back I said I would.
Paul Buff and his Company: I think I’ll open this mini review with the experience I had purchasing the Cybersyncs. I ordered them online, and it automatically gave me an expected ship date. No problemo. The next day I get a call from customer service, they wanted to let me know that due to some error they would ship a day later, a single day, than what they had told me. A real person called me, not an email, not a recorded message, some places wouldn’t even let you know that there is a slight shipping delay. I don’t care about the delay and I’m very impressed that they would actually give me a quick call to let me know, speaks volumes about the company, to me at least.
The CyberSyncs: In the Box: Both items come packaged in small/simple boxes. The transmitter comes with a button battery installed and a short cable to connect it to a PC port. The receiver also comes packaged with a longer (4') mini plug to PC cable.
Size/Build Quality/Initial Impressions: I’ve briefly used Pocket Wizards before, and had a chance to handle them so I had a baseline to compare size. These Cybersyncs are TINY. Which I really like. The transmitter is quite unobtrusive compared to the PW’s. The CS receiver is larger but still a good size considering the application. Most of it’s bulk is taken up by the 2 AA batteries it houses(the transmitter runs off of a button cell).
The build quality lags behind the PW’s, the CSs just don’t feel as robust, but this is a double-edged sword because you are going to give up some durability in favor of a smaller size, and I think the compromise was a good one. The CS units seem like they will stand up just fine for their size. Besides, the receiver is so small and light it doesn’t hit the ground as hard when you drop it (which I have, without problems).
There are a few QC issues that I noticed, but certainly no deal breakers considering the affordable price. The only problem I’ve have is that the latch on the battery door of one of my receivers (but not the other) takes a good squeeze before it latches, but once it does latch it’s quite secure. I pointed it out in the picture below. Only a slight flaw, because the unit is fully functional, but I’m sure it wasn't designed to work this way.
The other issues I have are more along the lines of design shortfalls than actual defects. First, the trigger buttons on both the transmitter and receiver are very long, and they serve as the on switch for the receivers. What this means is that if you leave the batteries in the receiver, and throw it in your bag, 90% of the time the batteries will be dead when you get them out again. This is because the button is so easy to depress that the receiver essentially stays on in your bag (under normal use the receiver turns off after a certain amount of inactivity). There are some easy fixes to this, I took a nylon washer and Velcroed it over the button, so that it doesn’t depress itself. With the washer in place you can easily press the button with your fingernail, or remove the washer and have it function as normal. Or you can just take out the batteries when you are done with the receivers, not a big deal for some, but if you use them a lot it could grow to be a pain. Hopefully Mr. Buff will address this in the future with an on/off switch. FWIW the transmitter is “always on” and only draws power for each trigger.
My final beef, which is a minor one, is that the receivers aren't equipped with a good way to connect them to
anything. I opted for velcro, which works fine. But most other recievers have a loop to connect a lanyard that you can use to hang the units from a light stand or the strobe itself. There is nothing included with the CyberSync receivers, unless you just hang the unit from the cable it connects with. This is a design oversight in my opinion, but not really a big deal in the grand scheme of things.
Usability: The units are very easy to set-up and use. The transmitter slides snugly into the hot shoe. There isn’t a lock on the shoe of the transmitter, and it is held on by friction alone. Whether or not this holds up in the long run who knows, but after about 5 months of use, I haven’t noticed the shoe wearing and don’t anticipate any problems.
The transmitter also has a PC port, and includes a short cable, if you want to trigger using a PC connection. This is handy if you use a light meter, or want to have a flash in your hotshoe and still trigger some slaves. For the observant ones out there I modeled this on my K10D which doesn't have a sync port, but I was shooting the pictures with my K20D, which does have the port..... So I've used this feature on the transmitters and it works just fine.
The channel selector is easy to use, just don’t cut your fingernails before a big shoot. It’s rudimentary but effective, simple and straightforward, so I have no complaints. It has 16 selectable channels.
The receivers have a single port and include a mini-plug to PC cable. They are very simple to set-up and use. Really nothing to screw up here. Pre-release cables are available (from flash zebra) to remotely fire a camera but I haven’t used them so can’t comment on that.
Reliability: I’ve been impressed with the functionality of these triggers under varying conditions. From shooting in the woods on a cold day, to indoor studio lighting stuff, they have never mis-fired. I’ve tested them shooting at 3 FPS (which is the limit of my K20D) and they kept up without a problem. If you are using them with a faster system, who knows, I can’t vouch for that.
I’ve never formally tested the usable distance claims, but I’ve haven’t had a problem with reliability at 150 feet and Alienbees claims usability up to 400 feet.
I use them with a pair of Nikon SB-28’s, and I’ve really enjoyed the system. If the flashes go to sleep, and quick tap of the fire button the transmitter wakes them up again.
Conclusion: I think Paul C Buff and Alienbees have a winner on their hands. The only flaws I could find were a slightly cheap build quality, but for the price it’s not even really a flaw. A balance has to be found between manufacturing costs, quality, and functionality. When it comes right down to it, the functionality, simplicity, and usability of these triggers certainly outweighs any compromises made to make the unit either smaller or less expensive to manufacture. Honestly, if these triggers fire every time (for me they have never failed) than I don’t care if they feel a little cheap. For the price of 2 basic PW’s ($380 for the pair- enough to trigger one strobe) you can fire off a 4 lights with the Cybersyncs (1 Transmitter and 4 recievers are $340 at time of writing) and have enough cash left over to take your model out for drinks.
Size (and conversely weight) is an important factor to me, and these are about as small and light as they come. Certainly an advantage (in my eyes) over the PW’s. The size of the receivers is less important to me, because I’m not carrying them around during a shoot, but the transmitters are small and light, which I certainly appreciate after a long day of shooting. Any compromise made in durability is certainly made up for in portability.
Overall I highly recommend these remotes. You could go with the cheaper (but notoriously less reliable) eBay cactus triggers, or step it up to the pocket wizards if you are a demanding user. In the end I think the CyberSyncs are going to fill the need for a lot of photographers, and provide a reliable, inexpensive alternative to start exploring the world of off camera lighting.
Warning: The preceding may not be appropriate for those offended by grammatical or spelling errors.
Last edited by bigben91682; 12-15-2008 at 02:50 PM.