Advanced Image Production
Trigger problem med Elinchrom Skyport ECO
Förra veckan hade jag ett seriöst problem med en blixt-sändare under en foto-session. Enheten som krånglade var en EL-Skyport Eco Transmitter (19349) som är en standard 2.4 GHz digital trådlös blixt-trigger. Enheten lyckades inte fira av studioblixten, jag bytte kamera, testade ett annat blixthuvud, kontrollerade sändar- och mottagar-inställningen på båda, men inget fungerade. Skyport enheten uppförde sig precis som om den fungerade, det gick att stänga av den, sätta på den, byta kanal och använda test-knappen. Till och med batteriet kunde plockas ut och sättas tillbaka utan att det blev bättre. Slutligen bytte jag det nästan nya batteriet till ett helt nytt men inte det hjälpte heller, hela fotouppdraget var i fara. Denna gången hade jag tur eftersom jag av en tillfällighet hade en annan trigger från en annan tillverkare som med hjälp av en extern synk kabel kunde trigga en av blixtarna, vilket löste problemet eftersom slav-triggning med eye cell kunde användas på resten.
Liten trådlös blixtsändare från Elinchrom
Efter sessionen försökte jag reda ut vad som var fel med den till synes fungerande enheten som fortfarande inte kunde trigga något. Jag provade en ny enhet och den fungerade så klart utan problem. Jag sökte på nätet efter goda råd men hittade inget. Som en sista utväg laddade jag ned Skyport-manualen och letade efter någon felsökningslista.
Problemet visade sig vara enkelt att lösa bara man lästa manualen noggrant, det finns ett ”gömt” speed mode som aktiveras genom att trycka in Test-knappen i 5 sekunder. Denna ändring av läget lagras i enheten och överlever borttagning av batteriet ända tills enheten är återställd till fabriksinställningarna genom att hålla inne Test-knapen i 10 sekunder. Detta är ett bra exempel på en finess som har ett väldigt dåligt användargränssnitt, som om den aktiveras av misstag kan får katastrofala följder för fotografen. Till råga på allt är det dåligt förklarat i manualen och denna typ av design-fel får inte förekomma i professionell foto utrustning.
Jag tror även denna ”finess” finns med i andra sändare från Elinchrom, till exempel Skyport Transmitter RX Speed.
ungefär 10 år sedan
You just saved my life! I had the same problem. I always have a spare unit but my spare stopped working last week. Today, during a shooting, my reserve unit was not working anymore. Google research brought me to your page and now both units work again!
Thanx a lot!
ungefär 9 år sedan
Saved me an age trying to work this out; Thought it had gone faulty, particularly as a new battery and a few expletives never worked; Thanks for posting this solution. Rgds Keith
ungefär 10 år sedan
Hi Tom, I’m really happy that you found the solution in time. Soon it will be Photokina in Köln and I will have a chance to talk with the manufacturer about this stupid feature.
Best regards
Stefan
ungefär 10 år sedan
Thank you so much for this writeup, we came across this problem tonight. At first we thought it was batteries so purchased new ones to no avail, quick google found this.
Saved our evening!
ungefär 10 år sedan
Thanks a million, you just described my exact same problem (including saving my session by using an altenative set of triggers I usually use for my strobists).
Thanks to your suggestion (found though google) I restored my unit and it is working flawlessly again!
Best regards
Monica
ungefär 10 år sedan
So I had the same problem today…thanks for posting your solution at the www, thanks Johan
ungefär 10 år sedan
Thank you so much for your post, had the same problem and now it’s solved 🙂 happy! Kind regards Jessica.
ungefär 10 år sedan
Nice post. Worked for me. Thanks, you saved me a lot of time and trouble.
ungefär 10 år sedan
Wow, me too ! Whew 10 second hold on the test button. I am going to engrave it on the skyport I think
ungefär 10 år sedan
I was close to throwing the entire kit out the window had to reschedule my last booking down to this fault luckily, I test my kit prior every job other wise this would have cost me. Thanks you have saved quite a few peoples lives by the lucks of it 🙂
ungefär 10 år sedan
THANK YOU SO MUCH!
I actually went to buy a new one and after 2 months it had the same ‘problem’ as my old one….
Then I bought a third one!! It went ‘wrong’ again (yes, 3 in a row) and I just couldn’t believe I was the most unlucky guy on earth…. so start searching the internet… This is probably the 20+ pages I have looked at, and FINALLY FOUND A SOLUTION. ALL my 3 skyports are working now!!
Perhaps it is time to buy another 2 DSLR so that I can utilize all my 3 skyports … (but dont tell my wife).
THANKS for the great post!
ungefär 10 år sedan
THANK YOU!!!! What a stupid feature. I went without lights for a shoot today and could’ve had them all along GRRRRR.
ungefär 10 år sedan
OH MY GOSH! You just saved my life! Thank you!
ungefär 10 år sedan
Just to add another person’s huge thanks!
ungefär 9 år sedan
Great information about reset function. I have already ordered the new battery… and then research on the web… many thanks for your site.
ungefär 9 år sedan
Thanks for this great post. Today it saved me 🙂
ungefär 9 år sedan
I actually threw a unit into the refuse last week !!! ( Blush )
Aaaarghhh !
Bought a new unit but after about 2 hours shooting , the same
problem arose.
Thank goodness I found the answer on this site,
Cheers,
Martin
ungefär 9 år sedan
Thank you Thank you Thank you… you totally just saved my photo shoot, last week on an out door location I had the same thing happen. I thought the issue was my external battery pack was low on juice but then today when I tried out my strobes the same as what you described happened I did download the manual but did not see this thankfully I googled the issue and your post came up and I fixed it via your instructions …. I totally agree with your conclusion that this type of hidden reset needs to be better described in the manual I was in a total panic till what you wrote worked … again thanks
ungefär 9 år sedan
Oh well done Sir, you just fixed my problem that seemed to have happened out the blue on a product shoot yesterday, i was going to have to take my transmitter into my local dealer in the morning and miss on delivering work, Well Done indeed
ungefär 9 år sedan
Big thanks. It’s the only piece of advice I’ve found on the web that’s tackled this problem (I read about the ‘speed’ function on Elinchrom manual, but couldn’t find how to switch it)
ungefär 9 år sedan
Yet another ‘Thank You’. Sorted my problem and saved a shoot!
Be careful tightening the thread onto the hotshoe, they are quite a cheap plastic and I’ve had one sheer off in the past. It is possible that a connection problem can be caused by this and not noticed, but of course the ‘test’ button would still work. Thanks again…..
ungefär 9 år sedan
Hi Steve, thanks for bringing the thread tightening problem up, the plastic is really cheap and if you turn the locking too hard you might end up with a broken device.
ungefär 9 år sedan
Thanks heaps! your a life saver!
ungefär 9 år sedan
Thanks a lot. It was as simple as pressing the test button for 10secs.
Thamks a lot.
ungefär 9 år sedan
Wow…I was livid after running into this problem, could not figure it out. But thankfully I found this post before buying another unit. Thank you so much for sharing.
ungefär 9 år sedan
Thank you. I was wondering why only one of my Speed transmitters was able to fire my 430 EX II.
ungefär 9 år sedan
Thank u very very very much… 🙂 🙂 🙂
ungefär 9 år sedan
Thank you! You save my life!!
ungefär 9 år sedan
Thank a ton. I almost carried my flash units to the service centre before reading this.. You saved my shoot.
ungefär 9 år sedan
Thanks so much for the tip !!!! It saved me a lot of tome. Thanks for sharing the experience.
ungefär 9 år sedan
Thank you so much! I had exactly the same problem. Thank you for solving it so quickly! :))
ungefär 9 år sedan
Thank you, thank you, thank you. Like lots of other people here, you have saved me. Both of my triggers have failed at the last two weddings during the reception. I even had something shipped to me overnight thinking I needed a replacement of something. I have a job tomorrow and you have saved me.
ungefär 9 år sedan
Phew! The D-lights weren’t triggering with the skyport, but were triggering fine if I set them off with the camera’s flash, or if I pressed the flash test button on one light and thus triggered the other. Thanks for this – a long press on the Skyport’s Test button resolved the issue.
Though, when you say ”The problem was solved while reading the manual carefully, there is a “hidden” speed mode that is enabled by pressing the power button in 5 seconds.” – by Power button you mean the ”Test” button right ?
ungefär 9 år sedan
Yes, I will make this even clearer by using the correct name for the button, even if it powers on the transmitter.
Thanks for the feedback!
ungefär 9 år sedan
I just had exactly the same problem and was about to throw it away and buy a new one when I decided to Google the problem and came across your recommendation. Thanks. You have saved me a lot of time and money.
ungefär 9 år sedan
Thank you so much for all the information, you’re an event saver! 😉
Kind Regards!
ungefär 9 år sedan
Thanks! Me and a good friend of mine had this problem, coincidentally both at the same time. I was poised to buy a new transmitter when I came across this post. Thanks a lot.
ungefär 9 år sedan
Thanks alot. I have purchased the trigger 4 times before for US$100 . the agent just looted me all the time now i pressed the test button for 10 seconds and it started working
ungefär 9 år sedan
Brilliant. Spent ages trying to get this to work, and it is as simple as you say. (Once you know!!)
ungefär 9 år sedan
Thanks a ton!!! You are a lifesaver.. My trigger stopped working in midst of a shoot and i was so dam bugged and frustated.. Was going to buy a new one and that is when i thought of checking on net.. And you came as a life Saver.. Thanks a ton!!!! I don’t think anyone could have helped me !!!:)
ungefär 9 år sedan
In my case, it is not the trigger that does not functioning. I have the trigger that came with the BxRI kit and it trigger the BXRi units perfectly. It is not the ”eco” version.
But I also bought ”ELINCHROM Sync. Radio Skyport U Speed” to be attached two of my nikon speedlights. In the first few sessions, the two speedlights were triggered just fine. But recently, one of the Skyport-U stops functioning, then a few months later, another skyport-U stopped as well. Both still emit the light blinking perfectly, and I used always the same channels.
The two skyport-U are not battery powered, but must be recharged by plugging to electricity plugs. But since I used them rarely, and the light blinking is still fine, I don’t think it’s because it’s out of power/low power… I really wonder what’s happening here…
If someone can help, I would be grateful.
I seldom use this skyport-U because I have Yong-Nuo emiter/receptor as well. This YN is older than my skyport but they still work up to now…
ungefär 9 år sedan
The product I meant above is the one on the left in this picture (the universal receiver), while the one on the right is the trigger that attach to my camera.
http://cdn.missnumerique.com/images/produits/big/elinchrom_kit_2.jpg
ungefär 9 år sedan
Hi Ara,
this universal receiver has a hidden sync mode to adjust the synchronization speed of the flash. It works similar as the ECO version, try hold the On/Off buttons 5 seconds to switch mode.
To display the current mode the unit flashes with the LED different:
LED flashes once every 4 second for NORMAL mode and twice every 4 second for SPEED mode.
Remember to turn the unit off when the work is completed, the stand-by mode consumes more power than a complete turn off.
Note that the Li-Ion battery will discharge due to leakage if the unit is not used/recharged for a long time.
Unit will charge faster if turned off during recharge.
ungefär 9 år sedan
So Happy to find a solution.
Both my friend and I having Elinchrom Ranger RX AS SPEED have purchased new triggers from B&H Photo and returned them when we had problems with them…
ungefär 9 år sedan
Great post that solved my problem! I had the same issue and luckily I found this post before going out to buy new batteries or another trigger.
ungefär 9 år sedan
Thanks for posting this. This worked for me.
ungefär 9 år sedan
You ROCK! Just about to start a shoot when this happened. Tried new batteries. Freaked out. Ran across this post. THANK YOU!
ungefär 9 år sedan
Thanks a lot mate!!
You saved me hours of researching 😀
Have a good one!
ungefär 9 år sedan
Thanks a million. Very helpful.
ungefär 9 år sedan
omg. what would I do without google. THANK YOU!! was about to order a new one… sheesh.
ungefär 9 år sedan
Excellent!!!!! I’d just got this problem and solved it this way. THANK YOU A LOT OF LOTS!!!
ungefär 8 år sedan
Thank you very much! This was very helpful!!
ungefär 8 år sedan
Gracias!! you save my life, very helpfull
ungefär 8 år sedan
It helped me a ton, dude!
Thanks.
ungefär 8 år sedan
Very Important Information Usefull for me
Thanx
ungefär 8 år sedan
thank you!!! Hopefully the reset works! I left my studio and just brought home the skyport – Should the Channels both be set in the down position? I have never looked at them before this issue with the sky port not firing the lights.
Cheers, LA
ungefär 8 år sedan
Hi Anne, channel-settings does not matter for reset, but has to be correct for flashing.
Best regards
Stefan
ungefär 8 år sedan
Thank you!!!!!
ungefär 8 år sedan
LED flashes once every 4 second for NORMAL mode and twice every 4 second for SPEED mode.
Knowing this can solve problems when you are not triggering you flash.
Press and hold the ”Test” button for 10 Seconds to reset the trigger to factory defaults. switch to Speed mode by holding TEST button for 5 seconds.
Mode does not change even if battery is removed…
This has cause lots of photographers problems because the trigger is so simple to use, and who reads the instructions….
ungefär 8 år sedan
Tack. Detta var panikartat när blixtarna inte fungerade idag. Efter lite googling kom jag fram till din lösning.
ungefär 8 år sedan
Thank you so much…God bless:)
ungefär 7 år sedan
sir, i have 2 elinchrom eco,both are not working,can you plz explain detail how to reset it,if you can i will be highly oblised,thank you so much sir
ungefär 7 år sedan
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
ungefär 7 år sedan
Thanks heaps man, I thought the damn battery was empty. Then I thought the device was broken. Then I found this.
ungefär 7 år sedan
Great post – thank you so much.
ungefär 7 år sedan
Thanks a MILLION…thought I was going crazy!!!
ungefär 7 år sedan
thanks!!! really helpful!!! amazing……
ungefär 7 år sedan
Thank you so much! I help me a lot!
ungefär 7 år sedan
thanks a lot…very useful information…really helped me
ungefär 7 år sedan
Thanks so much….
ungefär 6 år sedan
Really thanks! you saved me!
ungefär 6 år sedan
Thank you so much for this helpful advice. You went round the houses trying to solve your problem with the transmittor, but you have undoubtedly saved many a photographer massive amounts of stress and probable cost by posting this solution.
And SOOOO simple!!
Thank you very much! All working fine again now!
ungefär 6 år sedan
Thank you for the information……my trigger is working properly.
ungefär 5 år sedan
Thank you sooooo much!!! 🙂
ungefär 5 år sedan
Thank you so much for posting this solution. It fixed the problem for me too and Im a beginner so I had no idea what was going on. I thought I’d need to bin them
ungefär 5 år sedan
I’m very grateful for this post (and that it’s still up)! I teach high school photography and both of our triggers stopped working just before a bunch of our studio projects were to begin, so this was a real lifesaver for us.
ungefär 4 år sedan
Thanks mate! Nearly ended up buying a new Elinchrom Skyport Transmitter Plus for £70 as I thought my old EL-Skyport Speed was dead. I was in the middle of a job when it quit, luckily I had a backup sync lead with me. Thanks again for pointing out I was in some ridiculous unknown mode, just goes to show we should all read the manual!
ungefär 2 år sedan
Thank you so much for this. My second one packed up and to replace it now will cost a bit. I came across your post 8 years (2020) later and it worked a treat. I now have two working El-skyport. You are amazing! 🙂
ungefär 1 år sedan
thank you