Advice needed for Elinchroms

[J.R.]

Hi,

I'm looking for studio lighting and am currently considering the Elinchrom FX 400 system. The system comes with the skyport radio remote trigger.

I also have a 430EX II. Will I be able to trigger the 430EX with the Elinchrom system? If not, how do I go about it.

Help needed by a lighting newbie

Thanks in advance ... J.R.

 

[Quasimodo]

Hi.

I don´t think that it is possible to light the Canon flash from the Elinchroms. Maybe except if you go through external senders and receivers, which will cost you quite a bit.

I don´t know the two Elinchrom strobes you mention (i have four Elinchrom (2x 500 BRXi, and 2x 200 w)), but mine have an optical slave function (eye cell) which makes it possible for you to fire off the Elinchrom strobes with your Canon flash. At least you now can use the flash, but the position on top of the camera might not be ideal.. You might go for a used ST E2, which will then trigger the flash, which will then trigger the strobes?

 

[Viggo]

I used my 580 and now 600 with the Quadra all the time. I bought the receiver for my flash. I can power control the quadra, but of course not the 600.

That being said, does the 430 have a pc-sync connector? If not, then the optical slave is the option to use .

 

[m]

That being said, does the 430 have a pc-sync connector?

You should be able to add a PCsync with an adapter.
for example: http://www.lumopro.com/product.php?id=60

 

[Rudeofus]

The Elinchrom strobes you are looking at don't support any vendor specific protocols, and the Elinchrom Skyport Transceivers do essentially the same as modern ebay triggers like the Yongnuos: wirelessly forward the flash trigger signal. This leaves you with three options:

[list type=decimal]
[*]Use your 430EX in manual mode to optically trigger the Elinchrom. This requires that your 430EX stays on the camera hotshoe. You can not use E-TTL because it uses a preflash which would prematurely trigger your Elinchrom's optical slave trigger. This method does not require additional investments.
[*]Get Yongnuo triggers (e.g. one transmitter and two receivers) to fire both the Elinchrom and the 430EX. As with the previous method, your 430EX must be set to manual mode. The Yongnuo receivers can be directly attached to the hotshoe of your 430EX, and they come with the necessary cables to connect them to your Elinchrom. You can not use the Elinchrom Skyport set in this scenario, AFAIK it is not compatible with the Yongnuos.
[*]Get a separate Elinchrom Skyport receiver and the adapter suggested by m and use these to trigger your 430EX in manual mode. Note, that one Elinchrom Skyport receiver likely costs more than the whole Yongnuo set, but chances are that the Elinchrom Skyports are more reliable, better in build quality and have better range. YMMV.
[/list]

When I got my first Elinchrom, I already had the Yongnuos, so I chose method 2, and it worked reasonably well. I did, however, notice very quickly, that my Metz 48 was so much weaker than the Elinchrom, that it was nearly pointless to use it at all, so I bought two very cheap 100 Ws studio flashes soon after.

 

[J.R.]

Thanks a lot for the replies which has made things quite clear in my mind.

I have ordered the strobes and will give it a go with the manual mode for now even though it feels a bit above my head it's another steep learning curve I guess.

The FRX 400 is basically the 400w strobes made by Elinchrom in India. Getting these locally in india is costing me less than $500 which I feel is a good price

The dealer who is selling the Elinchroms told me that he would be getting a cheap 3rd party trigger/transceiver in the next 15 days which will be able to trigger the strobes as well as the flash ... Youngnuo perhaps! I'll let you know