Elinchrom Skyport radio trigger review
Wednesday 20th of June 2007 by Ed
First impressions
Skyports arrive in their box, looks nice. Open the box up and there’s all they different adapters I was hoping for. Miniphone to miniphone, miniphone to PC sync (for cameras without hotshoe), miniphone to studio adapter of some kind. Also included are chargers for the the receivers (which can be used whislt charging) and plug adapter for worldwide use. The transmitter battery is included, as is a spare battery holder. There is an instruction manual included for both transmitter and reciever which tells you everything you want to know.
When you turn the receiver on there is a little green light which flashes to let you know it is on and working. They will autopower off after 4 hours of non use to save battery. The triggers still work when the aerials are not up, but the range is reduced somewhat. The receivers work even when very close to each other, see picture below!
Range
Indoors
They worked where ever I went in the house, upstairs, through doors etc.
Outdoors
I am impressed by the range of these, having had eBay slaves in the past. They would reliably fire up to around 100meters or so (as per the specification). Beyond this distance they would start to misfire. For skate/BMX photography they have more than enough range.
It is also bearing in mind that there are trees and stuff in the way here, so on a open playing field they may work even further distances.
Compatibility
I have tested the triggers with Vivitar 285, 283 and Canon 430ex flash. They all work fine, the 430ex will also fire off any hot shoe adapter I have, not just the expensive paramount ones…
I read that there may be compatability problems with Vivitar 285HV, but I don’t have one to conform this… It DOES work with the regular 285 version though!
Sync speed
I read some rumours that these don’t sync past 1/180 of a second. I havn’t had a problem, the triggers were syncing as fast as I could push the sync on my camera (Canon 350D). I think people are confusing their camera sync speed with the trigger sync speeds.
Size
These things are real small and light, much more so than pocket wizards or even eBay slaves.
Close up, with compact flash card to show size
Pros
- Cheaper than pocket wizard (esp. in the UK )
- Very light and small
- Works to a good range
- Can be used to alter power on studio lights (if you have newer Elinchrom ones)
- Syncs to any reasonable speed (Elinchrom claims 1/1000)
- Comes with sync cords and worldwide power adapters
- Good, well thought out manuals
- Work even when very close togeather
Cons
- Arial’s are bendy and look fragile… Avoid knocking them…
- Don’t look very weather resistant
- No hot shoe lock, just slides in tightly… Potentially could get knocked off camera
- Buttons to change channels are very small and can’t be changed with just fingers
Overall
For skate photograhy and portrait applications skyport’s are perfect for me. They reliably fire every time, and the range is more than enough. Would have liked to see a more robust arial, but these are designed to be studio triggers so as long as you’re careful should be okay!
For more informtation see
Elinchrom official site
Part two
I’ve now had my Skyport set for about three months and so thought I would write a more complete review, and put up some answers to questions people have asked. I’ve also included pictures which hopefully make how you connect them up to flash units clear.
Group flash mode
One of the most powerful and versatile features of the Skyport, is the ‘Group’ system which allows the photographer to set up each flash or group of flashes on a different Group and either select a group to fire individually, e.g. a particular flash (1-4) or use the trigger all setting. Using combinations of groups means you can essentially trigger four separate flash groups, or all of them at once.
The diagram below attempts to demonstrate this, the flash fired is at the top, and the trigger setting is shown below it. The green underlining shows the setting the switch should be on.
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|---|---|---|
| Group mode, group 1 (left) | Group mode, group 2 (right) | All mode (both fire) |
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The above diagrams show how groups can be used to fire single flashes or both just using the on camera trigger unit. (This requires the Groups to have already been set on the receiver).
There are a great many creative photographic uses for this, and it has one up on pocket wizards in this respect as they do not have a fire all feature that I am aware of.
Connection Methods
Paramount hot-shoe and cord
There are also specific cables out there for connecting directly from the hot-shoe into the Skyport receiver unit, such as this one available from Paramount cords. These may seem expensive but are much better built than the standard hot-shoe adaptors and as it is an all in one unit there is less to lose!
The Paramount cord next to the input socket on the Skyport receiver
The wired up setup with a Vivitar 285 (non-HV)
Generic eBay hotshoe adapter
The units come as standard with male mini-phone to male mini-phone (like stereo headphone jacks). One end of this connects directly into the Skyport and the other end plugs into a hot-shoe adaptor.
This system works reliably for me, but the hot-shoe adaptors are extremely flimsy. As you can see in the picture, two out of the four ends have come off, exposing the wiring inside. It still works but doesn’t look very pretty and is likely to break any day!
The broken off sides…
I got my adaptors as part of a set from my original cheap eBay slaves, and so can’t give you a particular part number, sorry. The cable is supplied with the Skyport kits though.
Other
You can quite easily make your own cable by splicing one of the miniphone cables which comes with it, into a standard pc connection and using a standard pc hotshoe adpaptor. (Do so at your own risk).
Channels
As the Skyport has 8 channels and within each channel there are 4 groups you could potentially have 32 people using Skyports in the same place, provided people aren’t using multiple groups of flashes.
Battery Life
One of the biggest concerns I and others had was the battery life of the units. It is worth noting that the triggers have replaceable, non-rechargeable battery and the receivers have a non-replaceable, rechargeable battery. Try saying that fast… The receivers work whilst plugged in/recharging, perfect if used in a studio.
I have had the original battery in the trigger for three months now and it is still going strong. I couldn’t put an exact number of hours on this, but they were being used for a couple of hours at a time, a couple of times a week.
I have had to recharge the receivers once during this three month period. I was ‘caught out in the field’ and had to make do with just one receiver. This was a annoying but just keep tabs on the amount you use it and recharge regularly to avoid this happening.
Weather Sealing
I haven’t used this in any extreme weather conditions yet, the most being some light rain, and I quickly put them back in the bag to protect them. They might be able to withstand a limited amount of water, but I don’t fancy trying.
Durability
One of the most talked-about features of the Skyport is the rather flimsy looking aerials. Mine are still going strong and this is partly due to them being not as flimsy as they look, but more importantly, transporting and storing them properly. You wouldn’t just chuck an expensive lens into a bag, so the same thinking applies here, and then you should be fine.
Range
I haven’t once gone out of range in normal shoots, even using a 70-200mm lens . The radio signals will still go through glass etc if your shooting the inside of a car from outside it with slave flashes inside, for example. Again with a 70-200mm when used to take bmx shots from way back in dense woodland they still worked (see here).
Extra receivers
You can now buy extra receivers on their own, rather than buying 2 part sets. The on/off button is in a slightly differnt position see Paulo Rodrigues picture of this ‘The Difference Between Recievers‘. The on/off is now a button on top, not a switch on the side like before… Doesn’t sound like a great idea as it would be easy to knock them on or off by mistake.
Sync speed
Paulo Rodrigues also said that “I can now confirm that they will sync upto speeds of 1/1000 on a camera that is capable of it. Which IMHO is pretty good.”
So great for Nikon D50 users etc.
Where to buy
UK
I brought mine in the UK, from a place called Robert White who were very fast and
helpful.
Another good option is the Flash Centre who were also knowledgeable .
US/Canada
I live in the UK so I don’t know where you can buy them, sorry! Heard good things about Vistek in Canada, haven’t used myself though, also doesn’t ship to US apparently?
Conclusions
I’m still really happy with how the Elinchrom Skyport triggers are working out, and using the Groups properly you have very good radio control of your flashes. Their size and weight means its no hassle to take them to places, so you always have the option of using off camera flashes. Remembering to keep them charged can be a bit of a bitch. But I guess if you’re really concerned you could buy an extra unit and it would still weigh and cost much less than a pocket wizard set.
For more information see the Elinchrom site, or visit Strobist for more useful flash and camera related stuff.
Please ask any questions below, or go to my photograhy website for contact details. Cheers, Ed.
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July 18th, 2007 at 10:09 am
Having used a skyport with my Nikon D2X I have experienced some sync problems with shutter speeds of 1/250th in the form of under exposure along the top of the image. The Flash Centre advise using 1/160th tops for full sync. compatiblity. Whilst reliablity is not 100% and the sync speed issue a little annoying to discover by surprise the price and size comparison with Pocket Wizards leaves me happy to keep the Skyport.
July 21st, 2007 at 12:54 pm
It is just down to your camera, simple as that. A Nikon D50 should sync to just about any speed because it has a cheap electronic shutter curtain, not a mechanical one. 1/200 should be okay on the vast majority of cameras.
September 3rd, 2007 at 10:29 pm
Any further word on compatability with the Vivita 285HV? I am about to order a 285HV and the Elinchrom set would be a significant saving over the PW in size as well as dollas.
September 4th, 2007 at 7:08 am
The Vivitar 285 HV unfortunatley won’t work with skyports according to everyone who has tested them. I don’t have any to test, but lots of people say they don’t. I still like them and you can use them with the normal Vivitar 285 (the old cheap version you can get for about £30 on e-bay!)
September 24th, 2007 at 12:26 pm
concerning sync speed, I just got my skyports and with a d70 they sync reliable up to 1/800s!
January 5th, 2008 at 5:22 pm
You can now use skyports with the 285hv with a special cheap (18$) cable available from flashzebra.
January 9th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
I have a set and have been very pleased. It´s not the most professional gear but very good for the price. Just ordered an extra receiver. Mostly I use an old Canon 540EZ and I haven´t figured out how to use the new 430EX because of the auto power off function. The receiver doesn´t wake up the flash - at least not through a hotshoe adapter - and you can´t turn this function off with this flash. Does anyone have any suggestions how to force the 430EX on or make it wake up with the elinchrom reeiver?
January 9th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
You make the 430ex stay on for ever by turning on custom function no. 1 (setting it to 1). Hope that helps.
January 10th, 2008 at 5:06 am
But of course, thanks man! Totally forgot about those C.functions. I just got myself a new slave flash
January 11th, 2008 at 4:42 am
Anyone know how fast these can trigger, as in frames per second?
January 20th, 2008 at 9:28 pm
Thanks for the informative review. I’m interested in the first comment that “reliability is not 100%.” Is this accurate? My problem with the Gadget Infinity triggers is that they simply fail to fire with my 40D and 430EX sometimes (I’ve replaced batteries, tried all channels, tried multiple connection methods, etc.). Is the Skyport 100% reliable within its range, or does it suffer the same problems? Thanks in advance.
January 21st, 2008 at 4:59 am
As far as I am aware they are 100% reliable, and have been for me anyway. The problem mentioned in the first comment is to do with the shutter on the camera I believe. With the right camera Skyports should sync up to 1/1000 of a second. Certainly with my 40D and 430EX it’s fine at 1/250.
February 13th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
Ed, Great reporting. Can you use the test button as a manual trigger (or is there some other manual trigger method available?) If you can, what would be the viability of setting up 4 groups and triggering then in a sequence at, say, 1 second intervals - or maybe a bit less? Grateful for any advice you can offer. Grant
February 13th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
Yeah that should work, just depends how good at timing you are! You would have to change the group on the trigger each time, or buy 4 of them too!
February 13th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
Hehe! Thanks for the answer. I think I may be quicker changing the groups than operating 4 transmitters. On the other hand if the group change slider is not absolutely clear on the stops from one position to the next things may not be so good. I was going to get some PW MultiMAX’s which should make it easy but probably need 5 and for an experimental one off exercise by the time I have the PW MM’s, some additional flash units and something to put them on plus the connecting cables the budget goes stratospheric. On the other hand MM’s would give me camera control options as well. All subject to availability and I need everything in place in the next 2 weeks or the whole thing is a waste of time, effort and money. Ain’t life fun? Thanks again. Grant
March 16th, 2008 at 11:25 am
Great review - thanks! Hey a quick question: I’m trying to find out if I can adjust the power on Elinchrom Ranger RX from the camera transmitter. They make it sound like you need to have the computer adapter for that.
March 17th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
I think you can, just the power up and down for each channel. I don’t have RX units to test it on though unfortunately. That’s what the +/- are for I think. Sorry not to be more help!
May 15th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
I can confirm that the standard universal transmitter will adjust the output of the RX heads. I’ve used it with a ranger setup and it works perfectly. Its nice to be able to mix the Ranger RX setup with my sb-800 and still control the ranger output from my camera with just one transmitter.
May 18th, 2008 at 5:03 am
Hey there, I have an interesting and irritating problem; my Skyport receiver is switching off from time to time (when used on Viv283). Does anyone else experienced the same problem? Battery’s fine, all is ok… But the bugger is switching itself off randomly (and this is NOT because of it’s stand-by functions putting it to sleep…)
May 22nd, 2008 at 9:29 am
hey man, just wanted to say thanks for putting up all the info. Just got the adaptors through for my skyport system and everything is working beautifully.
May 23rd, 2008 at 2:02 pm
Skyport receiver how much time need a full charging
June 3rd, 2008 at 2:50 pm
do the skyports have battery indicators?
July 6th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
No they don’t unfortunately, apart to say whether they are on/off. A full charge takes about 3-5 hours if I remember right
August 5th, 2008 at 11:53 pm
I just bought the Skyport Universal Trigger set and can’t get it to work with my 20D and 430EX. The strobe is hooked into the receiver via the paramount hotshoe-miniphone adapter, and the transmitter is on the hot shoe of the 20D. I thought it was that simple. Still, I can’t get it to work. Any ideas??
August 6th, 2008 at 8:00 am
Have you made sure simple things like the batteries are charged? Also make sure the flash is sitting properly in the the paramount hot shoe, can be a little fiddly.
August 17th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
Hey. I wanna buy them, but i’m not sure if they’ll work with my setup. i got 2 metz cl45 and one metz ct45 flashes, a hasselblad 503cx and a canon 20d which i’d like to use with them. the thing is, i don’t know if there are cables for the met flashes which don’t have a hotshoe…can you help me?
August 19th, 2008 at 4:40 am
John, can you trigger the receiver using the test button on the transmitter? Also make sure the flash does not fall asleep after 90secs by setting custom function 1 to 1 as mentioned earlier.
September 10th, 2008 at 4:42 am
Hi, Good review. I have a trigger and 3 receivers. I purchased the flashzebra cables to connect to my vivitars 285HV and they work every single time. I also bought 2 paramount hot-shoe cables to connect to my Sigma 530 and Canon 580 ex II and these barely work. I have a success rate of below 50% which is very annoying. Depending on how I turn the 3.5mm jack in the receiver I can increase this success rate but again this is not good.
November 17th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
Sounds like dodgy cables to me, send them back? Mine work every time from paramount
November 20th, 2008 at 8:09 pm
I have a nikon SB 600. Can I use the pc synch - miniphone cable attached to a pc hotshoe adapter for my SB 600? Or does it only work on miniphone - miniphone? How about the minisynch vmc 112 cable ( I know it is a different brand, but can it be cross - rigged) attached to a pc hotshoe?
November 21st, 2008 at 5:40 pm
Not quite sure what you’re asking, but as long as the thing going into the Skyport is a mini-phone connector what ever is at the other end should work… You can see a Canon Speedlite being fired from a hotshoe flash in the article.
December 20th, 2008 at 7:48 am
I just purchased a set of Skyports and had them up and running in not time at all with my 40D and 580EX II, as easy to set up as the poverty wizards I had before but these are working a treat, no miss-fires yet. Although early days, I have high hopes for these puppies.
December 21st, 2008 at 11:29 am
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