Elinchrom Skyport radio trigger review

The second part of the review is now up here

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

The second part of the review is now up here or

Elinchrom official site

Cheers, Ed.