V2's Pocket wizards, Skyports etc Which do you have and use?

Peter Zack · 05-06-2008, 11:41 AM

I need to make a decision in the next week as I have 3 weddings for next month and need to get some strobe remotes for the camera.

I've considered the V2's on Fleabay and the PW's also Flashwaves and Skyports. I considered the Flashwaves that are on the market place here but the local store wants $300 for a Rec/trans kit and then these are $155.00 per.

What do you use? If you have V2's how reliable are they and if not, how often do they misfire? Any other strange things or advice about them? I know I shouldn't go cheap but at $ 45.00 for 1 transmitter and 2 receivers, It's hard to compare the costs when any of the others are going to run $500 ++ for the 3 parts.

alinla · 05-06-2008, 12:55 PM

Aren't weddings hard enough to shoot without worrying that you'll have equipment failure? Especially with a product known to have failures.

Have you looked into renting PWs locally? Or even borrowing some from a friend. I believe the Skyports are half the cost of PWs if $ is what is determining your decision.

jshurak · 05-06-2008, 01:25 PM

I'm getting a decent success rate with the V2's usually in the 90 percentile. Often, the failures are a result of shooting faster that the sync speed. (1/125 with v2s) That's firing 1 or 2 receivers. If I want more, I use a slave.

But I'm in my house shooting around, not at a wedding, where results are the most important thing. Also slaves aren't very practical at weddings. Neither are hardware failures. Alinla's got a good point about renting them. PW's are the industry standard....they won't fail.

Not Registered · 05-06-2008, 01:44 PM

Hi have 1 cactus V2 transmitter and 2 receivers. One of the receivers came with problems and they replaced it without too much problems (though it took some time). I only use them in studio and so far I havent got misfiring problems. If I had to use it outdoors I wouldnt be that sure about using them. I think that they are great if you want to experiment with strobism just to see if you like it without expending too much money. THe built quality is quite bad and I can see them being an "expensive" alternative if you pretend to use them for a long-term basis.

breischl · 05-06-2008, 04:44 PM

FWIW, I'll echo exactly what the previous three posters said. I don't think I've had a single misfire with my Cactus remotes, but then I don't stress them much. Also, the 1/125s max sync is annoying at times.

But I sure wouldn't shoot a wedding with them.

Peter Zack · 05-06-2008, 04:48 PM

Well I guess I'm going to do what I already thought I should. Have to scrape up $500 and get the right ones first.

OniFactor · 05-06-2008, 04:50 PM

i would personally go for the skyports, myself, unless i had a while to wait, and see if radiopoppers come out with pttl support..

ranamar · 05-06-2008, 08:28 PM

Well for what its worth, I was in the same boat as you 3 weeks ago.
I went for the flashwaves, and I have not had a single misfire (except for one, where I pulled out the PC cord). THe flashwaves are great, becasue I can mount a flashgun on the receiver, instead of having to use a pc cord for it. It also synched perfectly at 1/180, which is the most a K1/20D can do.

I am going to use them to shoot a play tomorrow, and I will post again with the results. But from the results, they are well worth the price. I would actually take these over PW's after playing with both because of the hotshoe mount on the receiver.

Groundloop · 05-06-2008, 10:24 PM

Originally posted by Peter Zack

Well I guess I'm going to do what I already thought I should. Have to scrape up $500 and get the right ones first.

Peter, I used to work in the Pro Centre at a big camera shop here in Toronto (the name starts with 'V'), and I asked a former coworker what he thought of the Skyports. He thinks they're great. Half the size of PWs, a little more than half the price, and just as reliable within their operating range. Just remember to turn them off when you're done with them, since they don't have a sleep mode. One aspect of the design I'm not mad about is, while there's a rechargeable battery in the receiver (smart), they use a CR2430 in the transmitter (dumb). It's a relatively cheap battery, so carrying spares won't be that much of a hardship, but you might not find one at a hardware or corner store on the way to the brides house on a Sunday morning.

FWIW, I'm planning on getting the Universal Skyport set, and put the money I save toward more glass.

and · 05-07-2008, 01:35 AM

Use PWs and they work great, every time. Too bad about the price, of course. Nice thing about the PWs is the integration with some other products, I have a light meter with built in PW trigger and that works beautifully. Also the remote camera triggering is a great feature and if you get the pre-relase trigger it will keep the camera ready unlike the pentax remote which will let the camera die after a few minutes.

jshurak · 05-07-2008, 04:09 AM

Originally posted by and

Use PWs and they work great, every time. Too bad about the price, of course. Nice thing about the PWs is the integration with some other products, I have a light meter with built in PW trigger and that works beautifully. Also the remote camera triggering is a great feature and if you get the pre-relase trigger it will keep the camera ready unlike the pentax remote which will let the camera die after a few minutes.

I think those are really cool features.

Peter, also note, that with the skyports and V2's if your transmitter goes, you'll need a new one. With 3 PW's, one could sub as a new transmitter.

Looking at then elinchrom website, I'm not exactly sure if the sky ports would work with the pentax system right off the bat. It looks like you'd need a hot shoe pc sync adapter.....although the same applies to the pocket wizards

Mike Cash · 05-07-2008, 04:59 AM

I'm eagerly awaiting the promised summer release of the RadioPopper Jr.

You may wish to look into those.

ranamar · 05-07-2008, 03:40 PM

Originally posted by jshurak

I think those are really cool features.

Peter, also note, that with the skyports and V2's if your transmitter goes, you'll need a new one. With 3 PW's, one could sub as a new transmitter.

Looking at then elinchrom website, I'm not exactly sure if the sky ports would work with the pentax system right off the bat. It looks like you'd need a hot shoe pc sync adapter.....although the same applies to the pocket wizards

And thats the beauty of the flashwaves system.. it comes with all of the connectors in the box, and you dont need anything else to mount flashes on it,

I am gonna shoot a play today at around 7, so I can report back then I guess.

Groundloop · 05-07-2008, 09:39 PM

Snip...

Originally posted by jshurak

Looking at then elinchrom website, I'm not exactly sure if the sky ports would work with the pentax system right off the bat. It looks like you'd need a hot shoe pc sync adapter.....although the same applies to the pocket wizards

Elinchrom Skyport transmitters, and Pocket Wizard Transceivers, both have hot shoe contacts. Any connection problems come at the flash end if you're not using studio flash. But that's a "shoe mount flash without a PC socket on it" issue, not a radio slave issue.

ranamar · 05-07-2008, 09:48 PM

Well, the triggers worked as expected.. w/out a hitch.

Group portraits of restless people after a play is very hard, with mixed lighting..

05-06-2008, 11:41 AM	#1
Peter Zack Pentaxian Moderator Emeritus Join Date: May 2007 Location: Edmonton Alberta, Canada Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 10,643	V2's Pocket wizards, Skyports etc Which do you have and use? I need to make a decision in the next week as I have 3 weddings for next month and need to get some strobe remotes for the camera. I've considered the V2's on Fleabay and the PW's also Flashwaves and Skyports. I considered the Flashwaves that are on the market place here but the local store wants $300 for a Rec/trans kit and then these are $155.00 per. What do you use? If you have V2's how reliable are they and if not, how often do they misfire? Any other strange things or advice about them? I know I shouldn't go cheap but at $ 45.00 for 1 transmitter and 2 receivers, It's hard to compare the costs when any of the others are going to run $500 ++ for the 3 parts.

05-07-2008, 01:35 AM	#10
and Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Photos: Gallery Posts: 2,476	Use PWs and they work great, every time. Too bad about the price, of course. Nice thing about the PWs is the integration with some other products, I have a light meter with built in PW trigger and that works beautifully. Also the remote camera triggering is a great feature and if you get the pre-relase trigger it will keep the camera ready unlike the pentax remote which will let the camera die after a few minutes. Last edited by and; 05-07-2008 at 01:50 AM.

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05-06-2008, 12:55 PM	#2
alinla Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 193	Aren't weddings hard enough to shoot without worrying that you'll have equipment failure? Especially with a product known to have failures. Have you looked into renting PWs locally? Or even borrowing some from a friend. I believe the Skyports are half the cost of PWs if $ is what is determining your decision.

05-06-2008, 01:25 PM	#3
jshurak Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: philadelphia Posts: 626	I'm getting a decent success rate with the V2's usually in the 90 percentile. Often, the failures are a result of shooting faster that the sync speed. (1/125 with v2s) That's firing 1 or 2 receivers. If I want more, I use a slave. But I'm in my house shooting around, not at a wedding, where results are the most important thing. Also slaves aren't very practical at weddings. Neither are hardware failures. Alinla's got a good point about renting them. PW's are the industry standard....they won't fail.

05-06-2008, 01:44 PM	#4
Not Registered Guest	Hi have 1 cactus V2 transmitter and 2 receivers. One of the receivers came with problems and they replaced it without too much problems (though it took some time). I only use them in studio and so far I havent got misfiring problems. If I had to use it outdoors I wouldnt be that sure about using them. I think that they are great if you want to experiment with strobism just to see if you like it without expending too much money. THe built quality is quite bad and I can see them being an "expensive" alternative if you pretend to use them for a long-term basis.

05-06-2008, 04:44 PM	#5
breischl Forum Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Denver Photos: Gallery Posts: 92	FWIW, I'll echo exactly what the previous three posters said. I don't think I've had a single misfire with my Cactus remotes, but then I don't stress them much. Also, the 1/125s max sync is annoying at times. But I sure wouldn't shoot a wedding with them.

05-06-2008, 04:48 PM	#6
Peter Zack Pentaxian Moderator Emeritus Join Date: May 2007 Location: Edmonton Alberta, Canada Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 10,643 Original Poster	Well I guess I'm going to do what I already thought I should. Have to scrape up $500 and get the right ones first.

05-06-2008, 04:50 PM	#7
OniFactor Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Binghamton, NY, USA Posts: 643	i would personally go for the skyports, myself, unless i had a while to wait, and see if radiopoppers come out with pttl support..

05-06-2008, 08:28 PM	#8
ranamar Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Vancouver, BC Posts: 88	Well for what its worth, I was in the same boat as you 3 weeks ago. I went for the flashwaves, and I have not had a single misfire (except for one, where I pulled out the PC cord). THe flashwaves are great, becasue I can mount a flashgun on the receiver, instead of having to use a pc cord for it. It also synched perfectly at 1/180, which is the most a K1/20D can do. I am going to use them to shoot a play tomorrow, and I will post again with the results. But from the results, they are well worth the price. I would actually take these over PW's after playing with both because of the hotshoe mount on the receiver.

05-06-2008, 10:24 PM	#9
Groundloop Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Toronto, Canada Photos: Gallery Posts: 236	Originally posted by Peter Zack Well I guess I'm going to do what I already thought I should. Have to scrape up $500 and get the right ones first. Peter, I used to work in the Pro Centre at a big camera shop here in Toronto (the name starts with 'V'), and I asked a former coworker what he thought of the Skyports. He thinks they're great. Half the size of PWs, a little more than half the price, and just as reliable within their operating range. Just remember to turn them off when you're done with them, since they don't have a sleep mode. One aspect of the design I'm not mad about is, while there's a rechargeable battery in the receiver (smart), they use a CR2430 in the transmitter (dumb). It's a relatively cheap battery, so carrying spares won't be that much of a hardship, but you might not find one at a hardware or corner store on the way to the brides house on a Sunday morning. FWIW, I'm planning on getting the Universal Skyport set, and put the money I save toward more glass.

05-07-2008, 04:09 AM	#11
jshurak Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: philadelphia Posts: 626	Originally posted by and Use PWs and they work great, every time. Too bad about the price, of course. Nice thing about the PWs is the integration with some other products, I have a light meter with built in PW trigger and that works beautifully. Also the remote camera triggering is a great feature and if you get the pre-relase trigger it will keep the camera ready unlike the pentax remote which will let the camera die after a few minutes. I think those are really cool features. Peter, also note, that with the skyports and V2's if your transmitter goes, you'll need a new one. With 3 PW's, one could sub as a new transmitter. Looking at then elinchrom website, I'm not exactly sure if the sky ports would work with the pentax system right off the bat. It looks like you'd need a hot shoe pc sync adapter.....although the same applies to the pocket wizards

05-07-2008, 04:59 AM	#12
Mike Cash Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Japan Photos: Gallery Posts: 6,950	I'm eagerly awaiting the promised summer release of the RadioPopper Jr. You may wish to look into those.

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05-07-2008, 03:40 PM	#13
ranamar Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Vancouver, BC Posts: 88	Originally posted by jshurak I think those are really cool features. Peter, also note, that with the skyports and V2's if your transmitter goes, you'll need a new one. With 3 PW's, one could sub as a new transmitter. Looking at then elinchrom website, I'm not exactly sure if the sky ports would work with the pentax system right off the bat. It looks like you'd need a hot shoe pc sync adapter.....although the same applies to the pocket wizards And thats the beauty of the flashwaves system.. it comes with all of the connectors in the box, and you dont need anything else to mount flashes on it, I am gonna shoot a play today at around 7, so I can report back then I guess.

05-07-2008, 09:39 PM	#14
Groundloop Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Toronto, Canada Photos: Gallery Posts: 236	Snip... Originally posted by jshurak Looking at then elinchrom website, I'm not exactly sure if the sky ports would work with the pentax system right off the bat. It looks like you'd need a hot shoe pc sync adapter.....although the same applies to the pocket wizards Elinchrom Skyport transmitters, and Pocket Wizard Transceivers, both have hot shoe contacts. Any connection problems come at the flash end if you're not using studio flash. But that's a "shoe mount flash without a PC socket on it" issue, not a radio slave issue.

05-07-2008, 09:48 PM	#15
ranamar Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Vancouver, BC Posts: 88	Well, the triggers worked as expected.. w/out a hitch. Group portraits of restless people after a play is very hard, with mixed lighting..