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Thursday, March 27, 2008
Like many of the people involved with the Strobist community I had several weeks of internal debate on the subject of which off camera flash option to go with. Initially there were only two options that I was aware of besides using PC-sync cables. Since I did not want to deal with wires running all over the place, having to bundle them up every time I wanted to put them away, detangle them when I wanted to use them, or trip over them when going to answer the phone, I decided that I needed a wireless option. After doing some homework and actually buying and using them I have found that there is a secret 3rd option not mentioned nearly often enough: Elinchrom Skyports [IMPORTANT: I am referring to the Universal Skyports, not the "RX" model. The "RX" models are for use with Elinchrom's strobes]. Before I get into my review of the Skyports lets discuss the two most common options that people use today.
The first wireless trigger that I was ever aware of was also the most expensive but most reliable of the two: Pocket Wizards. Pocket Wizards are triggered wirelessly by being attached to the hotshoe on your camera and, via adapters, to the hotshoe of your flash(es). Unfortunately there is a large premium that must be paid for the “Pocket Wizards”, running at around 190 dollars shipped for just a single one of their base models (which by the way you need a minimum of two Pocket Wizards to use a single flash). That means for just a single flash setup you will need to shell out for two Pocket Wizards, coming in at just under the 400 dollar mark.
For people like me who bought their camera and two lenses for 500 dollars this just simply 
seems insane. Especially considering that the Pocket Wizards are quite large, have only 4 channels on their base model, and are so severely marked up that it makes me ill to consider how much it really costs to make one. The benefits of the Pocket Wizards were very tempting though. The simple assurance of reliability was one of the biggest reasons why I even considered the Pocket Wizards. In an art form, profession, or hobby that is so much about timing, missing a shot because your flash didn’t fire or is still charging the capacitor after misfiring is not something I want to worry about. I have enough trouble getting great shots without having to fight my gear over it. The Pocket Wizards proven reliability, universal acceptance, and long fire range is a great draw for many people.
My biggest problem with the Pocket Wizards, besides their exorbitant pricing, is their size and channel limitations. Since I am now active in the Seattle Strobist/Flickr group having only 4 channels gets really crowded really fast. At nearly every single one of the meet-ups that I’ve been to, there have been people who couldn’t use their (minimum) 400 dollar investment the way they wanted to because they had to share the same 4 channels with 15 other people. The size of the Pocket Wizards also seems unnecessarily tall and bulky. In the 21st
century with gadgets like the iPhone that manage to squeeze so much into such a small package you would think that when paying through the nose for Pocket Wizards you would get something a lot less bulky. [Above image courtesy of CalumetPhoto]
If the Pocket Wizards do not fit your budget the second off-camera flash option is, traditionally, to buy the Cactus triggers from the eBay seller “Gadget Infinity”. These Cactus triggers, often dubbed “poverty wizards” or “eBay triggers”, have a much lower price but sacrifice reliability and range. From what I’ve seen this reliability seems to vary all over the place based on camera brand, flash model, indoor vs. outdoor use, and how Jupiter’s moons are aligned. Okay, that may be a bit of an overstatement but the point is that the Cactus triggers are no poster child for reliability.
That said, depending on your set-up, they can be very usable. A fellow Olympus user and Seattle Flickr organizer has had great success with hers (Using an FL-36, Metz 48 AF-1, and her E-500). Despite the fact that she also has Pocket Wizards she does not use them nearly as much because, for her, the Cactus triggers work fine and are much smaller and do not share the same frequency as Pocket Wizards.[Above-right image courtesy www.GadgetInfinity.com]
After all my research was done I found myself wanting a wireless trigger set that would do the following:
- Be very reliable (near 100% trigger rate when within 100 feet)
- Have at least 8 channels
- Have a small form factor
- Be reasonably priced
- Have a long trigger range (minimum of 200 feet outdoors, even though that still seems a bit over kill you never know what you’ll need).
The Elinchrom Universal Skyports meet every single one of these needs with flying colors with the slight exception that I still feel that all non-eBay triggers are overpriced for what they are. That said you get much more bang for your buck with the Skyports than you do with the Pocket Wizards. At the same price of a single Pocket Wizard (~$190) you get both a transmitter and receiver, enough for a single light set-up. Another huge advantage over the Pocket Wizards is that they have 8 “main channels” and within each “main channel” there are 4 “sub channels”. This leaves us with an effective 32 separate frequencies; matching the flagship Pocket Wizard MultiMax’s which costs 300 dollars for just a single unit (effectively $600 vs. $190 when comparing a 32 channel setup). This fact alone should make many photography groups question whether they will continue to encourage newcomers to continue buying into the Pocket Wizard franchise. (note: MultiMax’s have additional features over Skyports such as fine tuning trigger delays, etc)
A hidden and major bonus of the Skyports not often mentioned is how you can utilize the “sub channels” to remotely disable or enable up to 4 groups of flashes. If, for instance, you had a simple 2 light set-up with a flash at camera right and left and you wanted to switch from the even light of having both lights fire to having just one of them fire you can accomplish this completely remotely by flipping a switch on the transmitter that sits on your camera.
To have this work all you would need to do is set each receiver to a separate “sub channel” (Lets say flash A is on sub-channel 1 and flash B is on sub-channel 2). From there when the time comes you would just need to switch your transmitter’s triggering mode from “All sub-channels” to “single sub-channel” and select the sub-channel/flash group that you want to fire. This does limit the total frequencies back down to the 8 “main channels” when within range of other Skyport users and you can only select one of the four flash groups that you want to fire but it certainly cannot be considered a minus against the Skyports. Minor limitations aside the number of channels while using this feature is enough for most meet-ups and gives you an effective and useful feature that Pocket Wizards do not. [NOTE: the 8 channels are plenty for now since so few people use Skyports currently but still quite accommodating for even fairly large groups of Skyport users.]
Another crucial requirement that must be met before many people, including myself, is having a very reliable trigger rate. Since I have not personally used the Skyports enough to give any authoritative word on reliability I am not prepared to say that they are foolproof. That said, I did lots of forum, blog, and review reading and found nary a problem with trigger rate reliability that wasn’t human error or some other failure not having to do with the Skyports themselves (cables not plugged in correctly, batteries weak, receiver/transmitter set to wrong channel, etc.). I can support this with further evidence that I have not had a single misfire since I have had them.
There have been reports that the Skyports do not work well with the Vivitar 285HV but I also understand that this problem also occurs with Pocket Wizards. The remedy to this problem on both platforms is to use a special 285HV compatible cable that is provided through Flashzebra (www.flashzebra.com).
Despite their great value the Skyports do not have their issues. One of the most readily apparent of these is that they do not have a locking mechanism on the transmitter to secure it to the camera’s hotshoe. This is, clearly, a stupid choice by the designers. Instead of having a lock on the hotshoe the transmitter simply slides in and is held there by the friction of a spring loaded metal tab. I have not had any issues with the transmitter falling off or being unseated properly because the mass of the transmitter is so little and the friction is plenty to hold it there. It would take a good bump to dislodge the transmitter from the hotshoe but none-the-less it can and has be done.
Wedding photographers or other people who are often rushing about may consider the lack of a hotshoe lock a deal breaker. When armed with two sets of bodies and lenses I can easily imagine the transmitter getting knocked off or at least sliding off the contact point when clunking together, into a table, etc. For me and others though the Skyports should and have stayed on just fine. Slower paced studio, macro, portrait, and other general work should be much more forgiving of the lack of, what I thought was a standard feature.
Another, albeit more minor, annoyance I have with the Skyports is the button on the receiver sometimes takes several presses to turn off or on. Take it for what you will but I find it annoying that I can’t rely on simply clicking the button and walking back to my shooting position or tossing it in the case. Instead I have to press the button and look for the green light to pop on or turn off.
Another similar interfacing problem is that the “main channels” are difficult to change except for middle of the three switches (my index finger{nail} is just long enough). The number of channels is often misquoted (see: B&H) because the 8 “main channels” are selected by 3 switches, positioned in up to 8 different configurations. The problem is that most people will need some sort of fine tip tool (pen, pocket knife, toothpick, etc) to switch main channels because all but the middle switch must be switched by a tool unless you have freaky tiny fingers. Depending on what is constantly available to you this may or may not be a huge deal. If you always have keys with you then using the tip of them works well enough (though I suppose some would not). I personally always have my pocket knife (the really popular tiny one) with me and end up using the tip of the nail file to switch “main channels”.
The other weird behavior that the Skyports exhibit (at least mine do) is that if I switch the “main channel” while both the transmitter and receiver are on then I need to turn the receiver off then on again to reset the channel that it’s reading. I find this a less serious issue because when working alone you will not need to change “main channels” and if you do need to switch for a group shoot your “main channel” will remain static throughout the event. None the less, it’s something that should be acknowledged. (NOTE: I have not seen this mentioned in any other review. Either I have a dud receiver/transmitter or it really is something that I have picked up on that no one else has so I would greatly appreciate feedback from other Skyport owners).
Another minus that you won’t find on any spec sheet is that when or if you ever attend a Strobist meet-up or some such equivalent, you will not be able to “hop on” other’s lighting equipment with Skyports. Since most everyone still uses Pocket Wizards you will need to temporarily abduct someone else’s spare Pocket Wizard. While it would be nice to simply hop onto someone’s lighting setup I’m not someone who purchases an item just because the majority of people have it (*cough*Olympus user*cough*). Also, since the Strobist community is very pro bang for buck I wouldn’t be surprised if groups started heavily encouraging members to switch to Skyports for their lower price (even lower with group buys) and much improved channel capacity.
Whether or not it is a positive or negative attribute is up for debate but Skyport receivers use an internal cell phone type battery. This means that if you forget to charge your receivers you will be S.O.L. But as long as you can remember to charge them after heavy use or every month or so I do not think this will be a problem. I have seen a few ratings on the battery in different forms but the most common is that the battery is rated to 30 hours of continuous use. I’m uncertain how they define “continuous” but I’d say it’s safe to assume you won’t run out of juice during even very long shoots.
Pocket Wizards on the other hand use the plentiful AA batteries. Unfortunately they require two AA’s which means that the minimum size of the trigger goes up quite rapidly. The Skyports, on the other hand, can use the very small Li-ion to save space but sacrifice simple and plentiful replaceability. Since the battery life is plenty long enough for me I gladly trade size for easily interchangeable batteries.
Sync speed is an issue that is often confused in many reviews that I have read. As many of you know, non-FP (focal plane) sync speed is limited by how fast the shutter in your camera can move. Through some poor translations and/or ignorance of what sync speed is many people have knocked the Skyports for their slow sync speed, claiming that they can’t get past 1/250th without having partially darkened frames. Let’s be very clear, this has nothing to do with the Skyports or, for that matter, any other non-TTL triggers.
What the Skyport specs do claim is that they can keep up with a sync speed of up to 1/1000th if and only if your camera can sync that fast. Cameras with electronic shutters such as the Nikon D50 and 70s will be able to take advantage of this sync speed overhead with their 1/500th sync speeds. The rest of us are stuck with the standard speeds of around 1/250th.
I also noticed that the sync speed varies with battery life on the receiver. When I first opened up my Skyports and began shooting I was used to being able to click away at 1/250th with Pocket Wizards (Olympus only rates sync speed to 1/180th). After the initial disappointment of being limited to 1/200th I stuck the receivers on the charger for the night and lo and behold they were back up to 1/250th with no black bar issues and have been holding there ever since.
I will not be doing a long distance range test in my review. It has been done in other reviews quite enough plus its cold, rainy, and hilly here in Seattle so I don’t feel like going out, finding a flat and long enough area to test a feature that has be proven before. All I have to say is that they live up to their very long trigger range of 164 feet indoors and 400 feet outdoors. Very respectable numbers for any use that I can think of. Pocket Wizards have a longer range, peaking at 1600 feet but unless I mount a telescope and/or have a flash with a GN of around 800 or so I don’t think that kind of range is really going to be put into play. But hey, if you need the extra 1,200 feet for your shoots then, by all means, go get some Pocket Wizards. For my needs though, I haven’t had a single misfire yet and have tested them through several walls and a whole floor level.
Durability is something I cannot cover too thoroughly because 1: I’m nice to my equipment. And 2: I haven’t had my Skyports long enough to give firsthand accounts of how they hold up to drops, kicks, and bumps. What I can tell you is that they feel a better made than Pocket Wizards. They have a nice heft to them, are very rigid, and while the antenna has received some flak for being flimsy (aka: flexible, if you use more positive wording) I believe it’s a smart design choice.
For one thing, I have never had to put the antennas in their upright position which makes them much less likely to be hurt when compared to the Pocket Wizard antennae which are stationary and can act as a lever on the hotshoe if hit by a rogue object. Their flexibility and ability to rotate also allows them to absorb knocks much more effectively than the more rigid and immobile Pocket Wizard antenna. If you’ve been following safety improvements in cars and buildings you are already familiar with the idea of rigidity being a poor plan in some aspects of a design.
The question has also been raised that since the Skyports share the same 2.4GHz frequency as wireless modems, could there be interference? To answer this I took the Skyports into the room with my wireless router and started the oh-so-fun task of clicking through all 32 channels and firing 2 test shots for each channel (yea it’s not a lot of test shots but I’ve got only so much patience, gimme a break). During the whole time the transmitter stayed about 4 feet away from the router and the receiver was placed directly in between the router’s two antennae. My conclusion after the tedious task was completed was that 1) I’m doing this voluntarily?! And 2) The triggers worked flawlessly; the flash fired no more or no less than it should have. The advertised 40-bit encryption clearly did its job (sarcasm: in this highly scientific test).
Lastly one of the biggest advantages that the Skyports have against the Pocket Wizards is their size. Unfortunately I do not have a Pocket Wizard in person to compare it to but hopefully I can convey their size with these pictures that serve as a frame of reference. I have, however, stacked up the Skyport to a Pocket Wizard Plus II in person and could see that the Skyports are about 4 times smaller than the Pocket Wizards excluding the antenna.
Since the Pocket Wizards are clunky they have several stand securing options ranging from ball bungees to the 15 dollar Pocket Wizard caddies. Instead of dealing with these pricey and/or losable 
attachment options I can simply Velcro the Skyports to my umbrella swivel. As far as I know this cannot be done with Pocket Wizards because they interfere with the angling of the swivel, but since the Skyports are so small they do not get in the way when I try to angle the swivel. The Velcro option is very cheap, fast, and simple; allowing me to break down my gear and put it up quickly while also being assured that the triggers will stay in place(note: I always loop the strap around the swivel’s handle as a backup).
Not only that, but up to 3 receivers and 1 transmitter easily fit in their paperback novel sized semi-hard case. Unfortunately no case is provided in the transmitter + receiver set but one case is provided for each additional receiver. Some people have complained that receivers can accidentally turn on but I have not experienced this problem when using the provided case. (note: this can also be remedied by securing a small neoprene washer around the On/Off button).
My final conclusion is that I’m quite glad that I did not buy Pocket Wizards. While the Skyports have their issues, so do Pocket Wizards. In the end it comes down to what you need out of your wireless triggers. For me the Skyports met every one of my needs, fulfilled a few niceties, fell down in a few non-critical areas, and saved me about 285 bucks by buying on eBay and B&H. I hope you enjoyed or at least endured the read. If anyone has any questions, comments, or would like to view my flickr stream you can follow the link below.
Or email me at jstewart.photo@gmail.com