Skyports & 580ex

Am I right in thinking that I can't just buy the universal transceiver kit and go?
I've read that I need to also purchase a seperate cable but looking at a kit online, it seemed to include a suitable cable?
I don't want to spend more than I need but I also don't want to get the Skyports delivered and not be able to use them.

Help!

You'll need either a male 3.5 mm (miniphone) mono plug to male PC plug cable (if you have the 580EX II) or a male 3.5 mm mono plug to hotshoe adapter cable (for either version of the 580EX flash) to connect the Skyport Universal to your flash.

http://flashzebra.com/​wizardcables/index.sht​ml

When I bought the kit with a transmitter and receiver, it came with the 3.5mm -PC cord. When I added a second receiver I had to buy another sync cable. Since it is a very simple cable, I found some on eBay and they've worked well. I picked up a couple spares to keep as backup, too.

Regards,
Jim

whitesell wrote in post #10012355
When I bought the kit with a transmitter and receiver, it came with the 3.5mm -PC cord. When I added a second receiver I had to buy another sync cable. Since it is a very simple cable, I found some on eBay and they've worked well. I picked up a couple spares to keep as backup, too.

Regards,
Jim

Are you sure about the the 3.5mm to PC cord? If that's the case, they must have added it recently because my set came with a 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable and a 2.5mm to PC cable but not a 3.5mm to PC cable.

PacAce wrote in post #10012394
Are you sure about the the 3.5mm to PC cord? If that's the case, they must have added it recently because my set came with a 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable and a 2.5mm to PC cable but not a 3.5mm to PC cable.

You are correct -- I just remembered I went to Radio Shack and got 3.5mm - 2.5mm adapter to use the 2.5mm sync cords. That's also what I purchased off ebay.

Thanks all, this has been a confusing day of conflicting advice!

Hedley wrote in post #10013695
Thanks all, this has been a confusing day of conflicting advice!

But hopefully, the confusion has been cleared up.

I prefer these since I don't trust PC ports.

It's all become a pain since my cheapy ebay triggers got broken. Their design worked so well for me sat on top of a brolly bracket and the flash unit sliding on top of that. I really need something similar to those, as now I need to but extra cables, and a means of attaching the flash to the stand itself.
How come there's nothing decent out there that does that.... or am I missing it?

Hedley wrote in post #10017582
It's all become a pain since my cheapy ebay triggers got broken. Their design worked so well for me sat on top of a brolly bracket and the flash unit sliding on top of that. I really need something similar to those, as now I need to but extra cables, and a means of attaching the flash to the stand itself.
How come there's nothing decent out there that does that.... or am I missing it?

Don't you have umbrella brackets? If not, you should get a couple. Not only can you mount flashes directly on them but they make it easier to position the flash in just about any orientation you need it to be in. And, as the name implies, it can also hold an umbrella or some other type of light modifier.

And in case you're not familiar with an umbrella bracket, this is what one looks like:

http://flashzebra.com/​brackets/0041.shtml

http://flashzebra.com/​products/0200/index.sh​tml

Aha! That would help a lot. It's just that little adaptor on the brass pin that I need. I knew there would a solution somewhere. My umbrella stand and bracket looks the same as those, but I was starting to think I'd have to use the old broken ebay trigger just to mount the flash on the stand.

You can get one of these:

http://flashzebra.com …s-shoes/flash-shoes.shtml

Or, if you want to kill two birds with one stone, get this hotshoe adapter so that you won't need to get a separate cable to connect the flash to your Skyport. The Skyport kit comes with a 3.5mm to 3.5mm mono cable which can be used with this hotshoe.

http://flashzebra.com/​products/0128/index.sh​tml

PacAce wrote in post #10018025
You can get one of these:

http://flashzebra.com …s-shoes/flash-shoes.shtml

That's the fella I need thanks

Your original thread title says 580ex. Is that the correct model or do you have the 580ex II which has the sync port on the side?

If you have the 580ex II model, you can get a screw lock cable from flashzebra and plug it into the Skyport receiver and you are good to go.

If your model doesn't have the sync port, you can get a hot shoe adapter like the one flashzebra sells. Mount it on your umbrella stand (or anything that has a 1/4 x 20 inch bolt thread), slip in the flash, plug the cable into your Skyport receiver and GO!

Example #1 - Here is an example of a 540EZ mounted on a super clamp with hot shoe adapter and Skyport receiver plugged into the cable.

Example #2 - This exampleshows a 580ex II mounted on hot shoe adapter mounted on an umbrella adapter. Cable is plugged into a Cybersync receiver.

Example #3 - This pic shows the same type of setup with a Sigma EF -500DG Super, umbrella adapter, hot shoe adapter, spring clamp with 1/4 x 20 bolt for mounting the umbrella adapter.

These examples have worked well for me, all of which were used in high school gyms while shooting basketball games. I buy and use flashzebra products and they work well. Lon also provides fast support help, ships fast and is a genuine good guy.

Hope you find this info helpful.
Mike

It's the 580exII, so it has the sync port. I think it's all a bit clearer, just surprised how comlicated it's going to be compared to my cheap old set-up from before.
Also, I need to get this up and running before the end of this week, so I'll be busy today hunting for parts (in the UK)
Thanks guys for all your help, POTN to the rescue again!