Elinchrom Skyport..

TMR Design wrote in post #4271457
When I had the AB radio transmitter it was loose and just tilting the camera back would allow it to shift. I hate when I'm about to take a picture and the strobes don't fire because the device isn't seated in the hot shoe properly.

Everyone's priorities are different.

Yeah...if it slides off that easily, forget it. Even my eBay cheapo triggers have a locking wheel...though not with a pin. It's not ideal but better than nothing.

It does not come off even close to easily. It was a ball locking style mechanism on the bottom that puts pressure on the hotshoe when you slide it on. If it does come loose over time, its because the metal hotshoe frame slot opens up more on your camera, which has nothing to do with the quality of the Elinchrom system.

Mine fits snugly and im very confident it will not slip off.You could probably violently shake your camera and it would stay put. So far, these things are AWESOME.

NAisBEST wrote in post #4272253
It does not come off even close to easily. It was a ball locking style mechanism on the bottom that puts pressure on the hotshoe when you slide it on. If it does come loose over time, its because the metal hotshoe frame slot opens up more on your camera, which has nothing to do with the quality of the Elinchrom system.

Mine fits snugly and im very confident it will not slip off.

Good to know. Thanks!

Got mine
Been using it the entire day in the studio yesterday on a leaf back... Only one misfire, probabely caused by the camera.
Today it'll get used on a Canon, sunday in a location shoot... So far, so good.

TMR Design wrote in post #4271457
When I had the AB radio transmitter it was loose and just tilting the camera back would allow it to shift. I hate when I'm about to take a picture and the strobes don't fire because the device isn't seated in the hot shoe properly.

Everyone's priorities are different.

No, it's not that loose.
Mine has only come off when I knocked it off, or last night I stupidly wanted to take a picture without flash, so rather than turning it off I slid it off the shoe 1/2 way. Swung the camera around & the transmitter fell on the floor & the battery draw & battery skidded across the floor

Luckily It is so small, light & robust that I just slotted the battery back in & it worked perfectly. Phew!

Not a mark on it.

Do all the receivers come with the lanyard I have seen in some photos? The advertisements don't even list the lanyard.

I'm considering ordering a couple transmitters and five or six receivers and would like to have this last tidbit of information. Yes, I know that the transmitters should be ordered as kits with a receiver in the kit to save money.

SkipD wrote in post #4282649
Do all the receivers come with the lanyard I have seen in some photos? The advertisements don't even list the lanyard.

I'm considering ordering a couple transmitters and five or six receivers and would like to have this last tidbit of information. Yes, I know that the transmitters should be ordered as kits with a receiver in the kit to save money.

All 3 of my receivers have lanyards about 6" long.

photosytes wrote in post #4282681
All 3 of my receivers have lanyards about 6" long.

Thanks.

just so I understand, even thought I don't understand much; these are still not ETTL, right? I've got 2 550ex units and just got a 40d so I'm playing with PC sync. Can't use ETTL with PC, but can you with the transmit/receive units?

No E-TTL. Just a dumb trigger like PocketWizards.

One cool feature of the Skyports is that you can setup the recievers in up to four groups, and fire each group individually for metering.

Thanks Curtis. so it's a lot of hype about freedom from cords, right?

hawk911 wrote in post #4283216
so it's a lot of hype about freedom from cords, right?

For me, using radio slaves is not really just about losing a single cord connection between the camera and one flash unit (studio flash units in my case) but two other major factors.

One reason for radio slaves is the ability to fire all my flash units that may not even "see" the master flash. One example would be flash units buried around a house to light up an interior shot. Another would be outdoor use of flash units. Often, optical slaves don't work outdoors.

Another reason for using radio slaves for me is to keep my flash units from triggering when folks are around my setup with their point-n-shoot flashes going off. There are two reasons for this. One is so that my flash units don't get triggered just prior to my taking a shot with them. Another is actually being kind to the point-n-shoot crowd and not overexposing their shots with my flash setup.

Now I just have to convince the better half to let me part with a bit over $600 for a full set of transmitters and slaves.

hawk911 wrote in post #4283216
so it's a lot of hype about freedom from cords, right?

With the Skyport system, it's a lot of hype about a system that supposedly works as well as PocketWizards at half the price.

Freedom from cords can range from a minor convenience factor to a "no other way to do it" situation. Imagine taking a night time cityscape shot from 100 feet from the L tracks, using flash to light up a billboard 500 feet away and stop motion on a train as it goes by. The possibilities are endless.

SkipD wrote in post #4282649
I'm considering ordering a couple transmitters and five or six receivers.

SkipD wrote in post #4283373
Now I just have to convince the better half to let me part with a bit over $600 for a full set of transmitters and slaves.

Well, you could start with one set and build the kit gradually. Just like Johnny Cash... One piece at a time.

Curtis N wrote in post #4283408
Well, you could start with one set and build the kit gradually. Just like Johnny Cash... One piece at a time.

and it's going to cost more than a dime, and hopefully look a bit better than his Lincoln.

Skip; I'm finally getting to the point where I'm putting the stand to use. Thanks again.