EOS R6 Mark II and studio flash transmitter

[Savignole]

I had a bad experience during a studio photo session. Our photo club is equipped with Elinchrom flashes and the transmitter Elinchrom EL-Skyport Eco.

I had my R6 II, the other photophaphers of the group were equipped with Nikon or Canon EOS cameras, one had a hybrid RP. Everyone could use the transmitter to trigger the flashes... except me. I couldn't get it to work on my camera. I specify that I was in mechanical mode, so the trouble didn't come from there.

An idea anyone? I was told about an adapter (AD-E1), do you think it is THE solution? Thanks for your help.

[MikeSowsun]

Try turning off Silent Shooting.

With Canon DSLR cameras, flash firing is disabled when using LiveView with “Silent Shooting”, which is the default mode.  I expect Canon Mirrorless work the same way. 

Using a Canon ETTL flash automatically turns off SilentShooting. The Elincrom transmitter appears to be non-ETTL. 

Page 126 of the user manual cautions that flash photography is not possible with Silent Shooting. 

Page 303 shows how to turn off Silent Shooting.

[Savignole]

Hey Mike, thanks for your reply. Silent shutter was turned off, so it's not the origin of the problem...

[Savignole]

I don't know if that can help, but in the manuel of the transmitter, it's written:

"Hot-shoe Connector
The new Hot-shoe connector with middle contact synchronisation is designed to fit digital and analogue
cameras with maximum sync output of 3 V (the middle contact is the positive pole)."

[shadowsports]

@savignole,

Mike offers excellent advice.  The R62 has an updated multi-function shoe.  Its possible the AD-E1 can help adapt non-Canon brand flashes to your body, but I cannot promise it will work.  In these cases, we recommend contacting the 3rd party for support with their products.  Its not that we don't want to help, but we have no way of knowing what products the manufacturer intended for their products to be used with, or what is or is not compatible when it comes to 3rd party gear.

[Savignole]

Hey Rick, thanks for your advice. The adapter is ordered, so I’ll make some tests as soon as I receive it. If it doesn’t work, I’ll make a return to the seller and ask to the third party.

[FloridaDrafter]

FWIW, the Elinchrom site does not list the R6 mark II as compatible with the Pro or Plus models on their compatibility chart (fw ver. 3.2). No mention of the Eco, but I suspect it's the same.

Please do report back to this thread whether the adapter works or not.

Newton

[p4pictures · Accepted solution]

I have just seen the same issue with an EOS R6 Mark II (actually two separate EOS R6 Mark II bodies) and the Elinchrom Skyport Eco trigger for a set of Elinchrom D-Lite 2 flash/strobe heads.

The same two EOS R6 Mark II work fine with other strobes and also Canon Speedlites. Close examination of the Elinchrom Skyport made me realise that the contacts along the side of the Skyport that connect with the metal of the hotshoe are located towards the rear of the transmitter, definitely behind the position of the central pin. When I looked at the R6 Mark II multi-function accessory shoe I found that it was tapered at the rear. The tapering makes the connection between the skyport and the edge of the multi-funciton accessory shoe not happen. It's the combination of tapering of the camera hotshoe and the location of the side connections on the Skyport that make the combination all but unusable.

Using the Canon AD-E1 adapter solves the issue completely as it has straight sides not tapered. 

[Savignole]

Thank you for sharing your experience. I hesitated to order that AD-E1 adapter, now I know I have to!