EL-Skyport

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone here had any info concerning the new Elinchrom EL-Skyports, which look to offer an economical alternative to PocketWizards.

In particular, I'd like to know if it's possible to:

1) Trigger a camera remotely
2) Use a transmitter to trigger a camera via a transceiver, which will in turn trigger a remote flash.

Regards,

Tim

I have done some beta testing with them.
They are very good and fast.
With normal radio triggers I sometimes get some misfires but with the skyport it was 100% accurate.
You cannot remotetrigger the camera, that's not what a trigger does, you can trigger your flashsystem and with the RX series you can even set the output.

You can also add a USB version on which you can wireless control the whole studio (RX) from the PC.

Hi Franck,

Thanks for the info. It's a shame that you can't trigger the camera as well, then they would have been a direct comptetor to the PocketWizard in a much smaller and cheaper size.

Tim

I don't see the need to trigger my camera, as far as I know the pocketwizards also can't do that, the software from Canon can however.

For me it's important that when I shoot I get my flash every time, and the added bonus of adjusting my RX's from the camera is wonderful

Hi Franck,

PocketWizards are in fact designed to do exactly that. There are many pros who rely on this feature to get otherwise impossible shots. Futhermore, since the new PocketWizard Plus II's are now transceivers, they've added the second feature that I asked about above.

That is, you attached one PocketWizard to both the remote socket and the PC sync. It automatically puts itself in receive mode. When activated by another PW it fires the camera then turns to transmit mode. When the flash sync fire the PW fires any other remote strobes and returns to receive mode. It's a neat solution that only requires one PW instead of two.

I see that there is a transceiver version of the skyport, I was hoping that it too would have this feature.

I've spoken to the UK Elinchrom distributor, and they think that the Skyport will be able to trigger a remote camera, but they're not yet sure. I've contacted Elinchrom but they haven't responded.

Tim

Weird because every camera has their own trigger system.

But I will look into that.

Frank Doorhof said:

Weird because every camera has their own trigger system.

But I will look into that.

Click to expand...

Frank I think the advantage of these radio units is the distance they can operate. How far can a Canon or Nikon flash remote trigger work?

Asher

I always used radio triggers to be honest.
I never (well almost never) work with standard camera flashsystems, always studio strobes.

Frank Doorhof said:

Weird because every camera has their own trigger system.

But I will look into that.

Click to expand...

Electronically, they all trigger in much the same way. You just need to make sure that you order the appropriate cord for your camera.

Tim

Asher Kelman said:

Frank I think the advantage of these radio units is the distance they can operate. How far can a Canon or Nikon flash remote trigger work?

Asher

Click to expand...

Asher,

Are you referring to the Canon/Nikon remote hotshoe strobe system? They both use pulses of light rather than radio to control and fire the strobes, so the range is quite limited. I find that they work exceptionally well in a closed indoor environment, but outside radio is definitely the way to go.

PWs being far too expensive, I tried the cheap e-bay radio slave solution. Turns out that there's a good reason that they're cheap. I was hoping that the Skyport would be a good compromise.

Tim

Skyport has a good range, it works in my whole studio and even when I'm at home (20mtrs further) it still triggers

Tim,

I was referring to handheld remote that are IR or radio controlled but not part of a flash system.

I don't by the way own one!

Asher

Tim Armes said:

Electronically, they all trigger in much the same way. You just need to make sure that you order the appropriate cord for your camera.

Click to expand...

A source for trigger cables can be found here. Or one can DIY one together from a remote (the camera connector is often proprietary).
A description of the Canon connector wiring can be found here.

Bart