[Spag]

Hello,
I received today my Elinchrom EL-Skyport Universal kit, thinking I'd be able to use it with my K20D + AF-540FGZ, but it seems I need another cable, like this one.
But this cable is a PC sync, and AFAIK the 540 has a5P socket which, I guess, should allow more functionalities.
Am I looking at the right cable? Will it allow me to use my Skyport to its full capability?

I did some research on the net but couldn't find a sastisfying answer.

Oh and I live in Germany, so if anyone knows a shop in EU who has the right cable, that'd be great!

Thanks for your help and sorry if my question is dumb... I'm a n00b with lighting..

[stewart_photo]

Don't really need to purchase anything all that special, Spag. Any flash shoe adapter accepting a 3.5mm sync plug will work just fine with both your flash and Skyport. You can often find these inexpensive shoe adapters at local camera stores. The Skyport comes with the cable needed to attach between itself and that flash shoe adapter.

Do remember this setup, unlike the dedicated wired connections of the AF-540FGZ, is strictly manual (no auto exposure). This means both the camera and flash unit must be set to the manual modes. You can control the intensity of the light output on the back of the AF-540FGZ (or by simply moving the flash closer or further from the subject). Exposure metering (manual camera settings) will have to be done with either a flash meter or by repeated test images until the correct exposure is found.

stewart

[Spag]

Thanks Stewart!
Is it actually possible to do auto-exposure with the Elinchroms and a Pentax flash? Not sure you would want to do that very often anyway, but if everything has to be done manually, I could also have bought cheap ebay trigger...

[stewart_photo]

Is it actually possible to do auto-exposure with the Elinchroms and a Pentax flash? (snip)

No, the Elinchrom EL-Skyport Universal does not transmit any auto-exposure information between the camera and flash. All that is transmitted is a signal to trigger the flash. Nothing else whatsoever. Therefore, any flash unit triggered by the Elinchrom EL-Skyport Universal will have to be treated as a manual flash, with both camera and flash set to accommodate that.

I use the Elinchrom EL-Skyport Universal to trigger the strobes in my studio, for which the EL-Skyport is very well suited. I've also used the Elinchrom EL-Skyport Universal to trigger a Pentax AF-540FGZ in situations beyond the range of the wireless feature built into recent Pentax cameras (K10D, K20D, etc) and nearby flash devices might trigger a slave adapter.

stewart

[Spag]

Thanks for your replay Stewart. I'll get one hotshoe adapter and I'll start experimenting with my EL-Skyport!