eBay Triggers to 580EXII ~ PC lead...?

Anyone know which connection I need to not have to use the poverty wizards attached to the flash shoe of a 580EXII?

So I can rubber-band the 'wizard' to the flash head - thus making the 580EXII sit lower on the light-stand - useful for when using an umbrella.

If you mean the Cactus 4-Channel Receiver V2, it has a PC-Synch port, as does the 580EXII, so a PC to PC short cable will be required if the hotshoe is not used. No cable is supplied, AFAIK.

But that would be about the worst place you could find to mount the receiver - it will get massive interference from the flash. The usual technique is to move it to at least 18"/50cm from the flash.

The 16 channel one does not have a shoe mount, so that it does -not- get mounted within EMF range of the flash.

Great, that's what I needed to know.

So, I need a male-to-male PC sync cable, at least 18" long to mount the receiver away from the flash?

With skyports I stick the transmitter to the flash head. With cheapies interference can be a pain in the butt. And if you're planning on using them at weddings don't bother, they're not reliable enough, that's why I upgraded. Mine worked fine at home, but failed at weddings, for some strange reason.

More to be used at Portraits, and product stuff, Tim. At weddings we tend to stick to Canon Wireless system, as we don't really light up a room or anything, just a few off-camera flash portraits.

Same answer Matt - get yourself some Skyports, PWs, or AlienBee units, they all a cheap investment compared with the annoyance and embarrassment of equipment failing at a critical moment.

tim wrote in post #6271016
Same answer Matt - get yourself some Skyports, PWs, or AlienBee units, they all a cheap investment compared with the annoyance and embarrassment of equipment failing at a critical moment.

Not in my experience. They've been fine. I had a duff one, which I sent back to them and they sent a new one... they fire up to about 10 metres away, which is more than enough for me - and must fire within 99-100% accuracy. I don't know why so many people moan about them, change the duff ones, change the batteries reguarly and they're grand.

Mine have new batteries and they barely worked. I added external antennas and they worked a lot better, but failed at weddings. They're in a drawer somewhere.

mine are working great!
just got them yesterday and i walked 15 metres down a hall while my room door was closer.. (both flashes in my room) pressed the trigger button and my room lit up

my triggers ddont have the pc port though, so if i wanted to use them off shoe i'd need to use this??

not entirely sure what will work or not.. shooting with sb-26 and 580ex

My GI triggers worked great in my house, up to about 50 meters with 98% reliability. Strangely though in hotels and wedding reception venues the range dropped to about 10 meters max, and if you were closer than 1M they didn't work. At another place the range was about the same, but using two transmitters and two receivers they only fired 80% of the time.

Other people have reported better results, but quality control and consistency sucks donkey ba***.

davo_robbo wrote in post #6275358
My triggers don't have the pc port though, so if I wanted to use them off shoe I'd need to use this??.. shooting with sb-26 and 580ex

That connection is intended to go from camera to hotshoe, for cameras without a hotshoe, like compacts.

Which triggers do you have?
What connectors are the receivers supplied with?
What connectors are available on the SB26?

A hotshoe adapter which can accept the connector from the radio trigger receiver will be needed for the 580EX.

its a shoe mounted trigger..
so the hotshot would run from the top of the trigger and then to the sync port on the sb-26 and 580ex

The EX580 flash does not have a PC port. The 580EX II, however, does.

The original poster did not want to use the receiver mounted on the lightstand. If that is also your intention, then the connector you linked to should be usable for the SB26. To have the 580EX separated means having a hotshoe adapter to take the signal from the trigger's hotshoe, branch out to a cable, then connect to another hotshoe adapter with an appropriate connector to get the signal into the Canon flash.

Alternatively, I would look at modifying the EX580 by adding in a miniphone socket, and using mono miniphone cables to link between the two devices.

Added: If you have the Cactus 4-channel V2 triggers, their receivers do have a PC socket.

CliveyBoy wrote in post #6277346
The original poster did not want to use the receiver mounted on the lightstand. If that is also your intention, then the connector you linked to should be usable for the SB26. To have the 580EX separated means having a hotshoe adapter to take the signal from the trigger's hotshoe, branch out to a cable, then connect to another hotshoe adapter with an appropriate connector to get the signal into the Canon flash.

Alternatively, I would look at modifying the EX580 by adding in a miniphone socket, and using mono miniphone cables to link between the two devices.

Added: If you have the Cactus 4-channel V2 triggers, their receivers do have a PC socket.

Exactly.