Off camera flashgun compatibility

[jonnybloo]

Can I pick your collective brains for a second (again!!)? My brother in law is after a speedlite/flashgun and can’t make a decision so I said I would ask on here as I normally get good thorough explanations , so far he’s looking at either yungnuo 568 (?) or the canon 430. He wants to be able to use it off camera. He also sometimes borrows my D-Lites just to throw a spanner in the works so anything that links up to these would be a bonus.

He basically wants to know what else he needs to use it off camera? I have done a bit of looking for him and it looks like a compatibility minefield!

I assume (maybe wrongly) he has 2 options: Radio triggers or a 3rd party TTL cable as a cheaper option?

The questions are:
1.Are any cheap radio triggers compatible with Canon or the Yungnuo and also the Skyport receivers in the DLites?

2.Likewise, can a TTL cable for the flashgun also have the skyport transmitter sat on top to trigger the DLites or is that expecting too much? Can a combo of cable and triggers work with the built in skyports? (The off camera flash gun doesn’t have to be TTL it can be manual)

3.Its more costly but I assume as a fall back an extra skyport receiver can be purchased and used on the flashgun, utilising the elinchroms and the current transmitter? However they aren’t cheap and does anyone know if they are compatible with the Yungnuos, I think they are with the canon?

It’s not the be all and end all to have it compatible with the elinchroms/skyports but would be nice and gives him more options, for me too as it means I can pinch his flashgun when I like as well!!

Thanks

Jonny

 

[specialman]

1) I doubt 'Dumb' triggers like the RF-603 and Phottix Strato will work together on the same frequency.

2) The Strato trigger unit has a TTL pass-through hotshot on it so you can use a flashgun onto of the trigger. In effect, if that was connected to a TTL lead from your camera, the pass-through hotshot should also fire the Skyport trigger.

3) IIt's easy to use a sky port with a flashgun - PC sync cable into the PC sync port. If it doesn't have a port on the flash then you can get an adaptor that will fit to make it work. That's the easier way to have full compatibility and have both the D-lites and the flashgun fully wireless

http://burfly.wordpress.com/2009/06/

 

[jonnybloo]

specialman, thankyou for the advice. Sounds like to get that skyport compatibility the best option is to pay for the universal elinchrom adapter.

Depends hpow much he wants it then i guess, cost wise, the Yongnuo 568 plus Skyport adapter is about the same as the Canon 430ex

I guess he is just taking more of a leap of faith with how good the Yongnuos are. Especially the 568 as theres not a lot of info on it.

Long shot but does anyone have one? or an opinion on them?

 

[jonnybloo]

Hi, just to update this, after a bit of digging by both of us we have found the following: Nissin di622 Mk II or the Nissin 866. The Ynongnuo 568 sounds good but is a bit untried and tested for my liking.

The 622 is half the price (Circa £90), it has the various optical slave modes so it sounds like it could be used alongside the strobes in this mode without further expense (but only in manual).

The 866 looks great, rammed full of features and can be a master should he add to his setup later. Most seem to opt for this because it has HSS.

Can anyone explain firstly what are the advantages of HSS? I presume its fill flash, when you want to use large aperture outdoors in good light? I use the pop up now on low power to fill flash around the eyes etc when outdoors, i presume i can still do this with the 622? but it will only ever flash at the x sync speed?

Am i on the right lines or way off?

Secondly does anyone use 622/elinchrom combos, are the optical slave modes reliable?

Im just thinking he may as well get the 622, as it will work with strobes, but i dont want to recommend that if he then cant use large aperture and play with DOF outdoors?

Thanks

Jonny