About to buy some cyber syncs

cj99sicj99si Registered Users Posts: 880 Major grins
edited May 11, 2009 in Accessories
Ive done a fair amount of reading about this, and it came down to these the El skyports or the new PW's. right now I have a 550 and a 430EX(I need the zebra hot shoe adaptor). Should I be talked out of getting the cyber syncs? Going to be shooting some sports and portraits/weddings.

Comments

  • Tim KamppinenTim Kamppinen Registered Users Posts: 816 Major grins
    edited May 11, 2009
    cj99si wrote:
    Ive done a fair amount of reading about this, and it came down to these the El skyports or the new PW's. right now I have a 550 and a 430EX(I need the zebra hot shoe adaptor). Should I be talked out of getting the cyber syncs? Going to be shooting some sports and portraits/weddings.

    Well, it depends on how you want to use them. The cybersyncs will fire your flashes, but nothing else. From everything I've read, they're very reliable and if that's all you need you'll probably be very happy. You'll still have to set your power manually from the flash unit though. The new pocketwizards give you eTTL, high speed sync, etc. If those features are very important to you then you might want to spend the extra money.
    http://www.timkphotography.com
    http://blog.timkphotography.com
  • cj99sicj99si Registered Users Posts: 880 Major grins
    edited May 11, 2009
    Tim Kamppinen wrote:
    Well, it depends on how you want to use them. The cybersyncs will fire your flashes, but nothing else. From everything I've read, they're very reliable and if that's all you need you'll probably be very happy. You'll still have to set your power manually from the flash unit though. The new pocketwizards give you eTTL, high speed sync, etc. If those features are very important to you then you might want to spend the extra money.


    Are the new PW's the only ones with ettl? It seems they are not even working...? Maybe I just need to learn the hard way and stick with the cybe syncs. I'll do some more reading and order tomorrow.
  • Tim KamppinenTim Kamppinen Registered Users Posts: 816 Major grins
    edited May 11, 2009
    cj99si wrote:
    Are the new PW's the only ones with ettl? It seems they are not even working...? Maybe I just need to learn the hard way and stick with the cybe syncs. I'll do some more reading and order tomorrow.

    Yes. The older version, the PW Plus II, does the same thing the cybersyncs do, fire a manual flash. The reason they cost so much more is because they are the industry standard for reliability and they do have a much greater range than the cybersyncs. I think they're supposed to work perfectly out to 1600 ft or something crazy like that. Of course, if you're like me, you will probably never have a reason to put a flash 1/3 of a mile from your camera. The cybersyncs are supposed to be reliable to a few hundred feet or so anyway, which is still plenty. You can look up the exact specs. If it were me I'd just get the cybersyncs if I wasn't going to get the new pocketwizards. As far as reliability on the new models, I'm a Nikon guy so I haven't been following that very closely, but there are plenty of threads about it so you can read up and see what's going on before making your decision.

    The good thing about sticking with manual triggers is that you don't need to buy expensive Canon flashes to go with them. Any manual flash will work just as well. The older nikon SB24-SB28 series is an excellent option for this. I have two SB28's and they are great for manual flash work.
    http://www.timkphotography.com
    http://blog.timkphotography.com
Sign In or Register to comment.