and what about skyports - if i get them , and combine with canon 50d + metz 58/48 - can i be sure that this set will hold exposure like 1/500 or higher till 1/1000 as they advertise ?
i know that there is a lot of theory etc but i ll be glad if someone can confirm like - yes , canon 50d with metz 58 [ or even speedlight ] and skyport can fire till 1/1000 without any unwanted extras like black shutter on pic or sth

can t wait for answer because there is huge price gap between these 2 systems

thx in advance , cheers .

On sync speed, the Elinchrom Skyport causes a delay of around 1 mS or a bit less, IIRC.

A handheld flash (such as a Nikon SB-800 or similar) may in practical use need a bit more than 1 mS too, to dispose most of its light at full speed. Similarly for a studio flash, which in fact can be even slower in some cases.

If you have a camera that has a fast sync speed (such as a D70 or a G11 or something else with an electronic trigger or not using a focal plane shutter) and your flash duration is short, you will get sync up to 1/1000. If you need time to dispose of most of the flash charge (full power on a handheld unit or lowest power on most studio strobes), you should not go above 1/500 with these triggers.

If you have a more conventional SLR, such as e.g a Nikon D300, the curtains need a bit less than 2.5 mS to travel from one side to the other. When the first curtain reaches then other side, the flash can be fired. If the second curtain starts its travel before the triggers have sent the signal to the flash and before the flash has disposed most of its charge, you will get a dark edge on the picture.

In practical use, the D300 is specified at 1/250th sync. It is actually capable of syncing at 1/400th if there is no delay and the flash duration is ultra short. At 1/250th, it leaves a bit more than 1.3 mS for the flash duration, with no trigger delay. As the Elinchrom Skyports delay the signal a bit less than 1 mS, at 1/250th there will be less than 0.5 mS (1/2000th) for the flash duration, which is too short for e.g. many studio flashes.

If you want to have the same time for the flash duration as without triggers, you need to extend the shutter speed around 1 mS in this case.

This means in practice that if you sync reliably without triggers at 1/250th, you need to go to 1/200th. If you sync at 1/200th, go to 1/160th, etc (roughly).

So a good advice is to pick one 1/3 stop slower speed when using these triggers in the normal 1/250th - 1/125th range.

… and yes, this is not just theory. I’ve tested it in practical use and have burnt my fingers on this

– Per.