Cybersync, Skyport, or Pocketwizard?

[d_g5]

My budget is $429.00.... I want to trigger 4 flashes... which system do you guys recommend? More importantly... WHY?

[Matt Laur]

And... all of the flashes must be individually radio triggered? Or, will any of them be optically slaved?

 

And... do you use a flash meter? If so, do you need to be able to fire the strobes while metering?

[erickpro]

You need to give us more information on what kind of photography you will be doing. Location photo or studio? Weather? Distance of

Strobes to be triggered? Need all four strobes to be triggered wirelessly? Need to measure light output with a light meter wirelessly?

 

 

I have been using the Elinchrom Skyport for a month. I usually trigger two strobes wirelessly and two or three more with optical slaves

and so far all great. The one thing I do not like about the Skyport is that the receiver uses a dedicated rechargeable battery that you

cannot replace easily so if you forget to turn the unit off for some days you may find out that the unit's battery is dead, on the other hand

if you have the Elinchrom RX Strobes, this receiver uses the power from the strobe itself so no need for battery. Luckily, even though I

have Elinchrom lights, I do not have the RX but this problem of the battery hasn't happened to me since I am very careful on turning

them off. The other thing is that the transmitter uses a coin type battery that can be hard to find, so carry spares in your bag.

 

The PocketWizard is the "standard" for most professionals because of the build quality and working distance, working speed and also

battery type (AA) among other things.

 

I am not familiar with Cybersync.

[d_g5]

I'll be doing outdoor flash... some afternoon, some midday where I will have to overpower the sun and a few

things at night, Dry weather. About 20ft away from the camera at max. And I will have a wedding reception where I

will have all four all prepositioned in a reception hall with only 7inch reflectors on em in different corners

aimed 100% vertically to fill the room with F6.3 light. The wedding reception will need all four triggered and

the outdoor will need at least 3 triggered at a time (main softbox, fill 7inch parabolics). I hope thats enough

info of my situation.

[hultstrom1]

To fit within $429 I can only see that the Cybersync is the one. 188 USD per pop for PW times five, will be too much and the Skyport will put you back about a hundred per unit or $500+ for four recievers and a transmitter. I have been using the cactus system and it will get you a set of four with one transmitter for under a hundred, you will miss one in ten pictures, at least because of missed sync, but it is cheap.

 

So, if the money is dead set at $429 and you want a quality system there is only the Cybersync, or maybe a used Skyport or PW system.

 

/M

[Two23]

I have been using Skyports for the past year and am now testing CyberSyncs. Both are highly reliable, both will do what you want. One advantage the CS will have is they take AA batteries. One advantage the SP will have is you can set the flash to two groups and from your camera you can choose to shoot one group only or both groups together. I've used both triggers on my SB flahs and White Lightning monolights and they work great. The CS comes with all the cables you need, the SP comes with the cable you need for monolights but not a 4AA type flash. It's an extra purchase.

 

 

Kent in SD

[d_g5]

where could i get the adaptor plug if i go with the skyport?

[Two23]

FlashZebra sells very good sync cords and has great service.

 

 

Kent in SD