[rgibbons]

"If you can reproduce the problem at all, maybe try to move the switch a tad slower and see whether that makes a difference"

I tried to reproduce this, the trouble seemed to be a coincidence, and not real issue. I had assumed the three position switch was like the Pentax Camera (3 states: off, focus, fire), The switch on the Cactus actually goes through 4 states (off, focus, off, fire). If I push the switch fast to trigger the flash it fires the flash consistently; but if I push slowly to cycle through the orange and green lights, I can go from orange to off, or orange to green, or orange to off to green, depending on how hard or fast I push the switch. Now knowing this, I can push hard, and always get the flash to fire, even after swapping which unit is transmit or receive.

Russ G.

[Class A]

The switch on the Cactus actually goes through 4 states (off, focus, off, fire).

Hmh, I cannot provoke the "off" in between.

You might be seeing the automatic switch to a permanent "on" (green) state after a long (two-second) press. This is meant for use with remote controlling a camera in bulb mode in order to save you from keeping the button pressed all the time.

In any event, although it may take a short time of getting used to, the great thing about the half-press functionality of the test button is that one can not only use it for a focus only initiation when remote controlling a camera but that one also check whether receivers are working (turned on with the correct channel) by just making their LED light up orange, instead of wasting flash power and making everyone go blind in the process.

[Class A]

I think i'm mad at Class A because i just ordered 2 Cactus V5's duos and hadn't planned on it.

Hopefully you'll learn to love the V5 duos so much that your anger will turn into eternal gratitude which you can only begin to express by donating your best lens to me.

i decided that customer service like that deserved some publicity

Well done and this confirms my excellent customer service experience with them.

[rgibbons]

Class A wrote: I cannot provoke the "off" in between

1 of 4 units has an tiny delay between orange and green, 2 have a very noticeable delay, and the 4th has a huge delay (If one unit of pressure turns on the orange light, 2 units turn it off, and green doesn't turn on till about 5 units of pressure are applied). If you your switches don't show this "feature", you won't have to remember to push hard. Enjoy your Cactus 5's; they are quite nice, and a real bargain.

P.S. Ebay has several 3.5 male to 2.5mm male connectors cables for the Pentax shutter Trigger ($1.50 to $2.95 including shipping).

Russ

[Quicksand]

So i wrote them an email asking them to cancel my first order and got this professional reply from them:

I am SO HEAVILY conditioned to sarcasm and snark on the Internet, that when I read your quote above, then subsequently read the actual professional reply, I suffered from a few moments of vertigo and disorientation.

[philbaum]

My Cactus v5's arrived today, 2 duos for a total of 4 units.

1. Shipping was amazing, i paid about $20 for 5 day Fede x economy.
Ordered it at
6:30 PM Feb 14, PST
Feb 16 it left Hong Kong
Feb 17 it arrived at my house about 10:30AM
World Record i would say

2. Easy to read, easy to understand, especially with Class A's writeup about channels

3. Basically, i haven't had any misfires yet, after playing wtih them for an hour, amazing.

4. I switched 3 to RX and put them on blue channels 2 thru 4. Put the 4th on TX on my cameras hotshoe, switched my TX unit to each channel in succession and they all reported amber when i hit channels 2 thru 4. then switched the TX unit to 1 and hit the camera shutter. All 3 fired as seen by image reviewed.

5. Only misfire i had was due to my Metz 48, which went into sleep mode after 10 minutes of inactivity. I reprogrammed the two metz to turn off the sleep mode. the third flash is a very old Pentax. after writing this post for more than 10 minutes, I checked all the channels, and they all reported amber, and snapped the shutter and all 3 flashes fired off after putting the TX back to channel 1 (which is the ALL channel for 2 through 5)

Another thing i like is that the knurled nut at the foot locks the units to the mounting basis, a little difficult to operate the knurled nut due to access on the mounting base, but it can be done.

I really can't find anything to criticize at this point. They were all very well packaged from shock when they came in.

I did the above tests about 18 feet away. Then held 1 flash about 9" from my camera and the TX, and it also fired off just fine. Held it 2 inches from the TX and it fired.

Another nice thing, one can press the test button on the TX and walk around looking at the 3 RX. They will all go to amber if ready and if the TX button is pushed. Its quite viewable from a few feet away.

Everthing works, easy to figure out, instructions good, no RF misfires in 90 minutes of playing with them - boring, boring, boring

[TOUGEFC]

Just got my DUO today!
Very happy tested them by placing the flash RX in in different rooms of the house, no mis-fires very easy to use.

My first set of triggers and im very happy

[Class A]

2. Easy to read, easy to understand, especially with Class A's writeup about channels

Thanks.

[chalion]

Very informative write up. Just the sort of information to help me decide to buy a couple sets. I'm very happy that they will accept paypal too.

Had to wait to make my order, but now have 2 sets on order, with 1 sync cable. Neighbor already asked to try them out for me, lol.

[jwhittle]

hey guys, ive been looking into a wireless flash trigger for some time and there are more than a couple to choose from. cactus always gets pretty good reviews across the board, but what i can never seem to find a straight answer to is how it connects to the camera. i understand the transmitter goes onto the hotshoe, and receiver goes on flash... but lets say i simple want to press the shutter and have the flash across the room go off? i have a pentax kx and i wonder if its as easy as setting the flash mode to wireless, selecting the appropriate channel, then firing (as long as the shutter speed is within the correct range)? do i need to raise the cameras onboard flash? does the cameras flash need to fire to trigger the off-camera flash, or is that what i am circumventing by having the wireless radio triggers? a solid answer would be awesome and would cause me to go purchase a cactus v5 right now lol. thanks in advance for any insight..

[Class A]

cactus always gets pretty good reviews across the board, but what i can never seem to find a straight answer to is how it connects to the camera.

You can either put the transmitter on the hotshoe or you can connect it to the PC-Sync connector, if your camera has one.

but lets say i simple want to press the shutter and have the flash across the room go off?

You just put the transmitter on the camera, put the flash on a receiver, set both to the same channel (there are more possibilities with the multi-channel mode) and fire the camera. The flash will go off as long as you don't exceed the maximum sync speed of your camera which is 1/180 sec. for Pentax DSLRs. If you exceed that speed, the camera won't trigger the transmitter.

do i need to raise the cameras onboard flash?

No. With a radio trigger system, the communication purely occurs via radio waves. No visible pre-flashes or trigger flashes are involved.

If you are using Pentax-dedicated flashes and a wireless but optical flash control/activation system, you get access to some more features, but many strobists prefer manual control of their flashes anyhow so in practice you don't lose much. What you gain is far better reach and much more reliable operation in difficult conditions (no direct line of sight between flashes, harsh sunlight, etc.).

[Tommot1965]

class A

so no high speed sync with these trigger ?

[Class A]

so no high speed sync with these trigger ?

I'm not aware of any radio trigger system that supports HSS for Pentax cameras.

Some radio transmitters support "pass-through TTL contacts", which enable an on-camera flash to use dedicated features, such as HSS, but no system I'm aware of supports this for the remotely fired flashes with respect to the Pentax system.

Pocket Wizards support this for Canikon flashes, but not for Pentax.

[D4rknezz]

Tommot,


I have purchased the QQ250 studio strobes from gadget infinity last year, i would advise against them. They are not very powerful strobes, and my speedlights can easily overpower them by 3 to 4 stops. My units are a little funny too, they make screeching noises when dialed less than full power. ( I emailed them and was told this was within normal perimeter).

Since the accessories sold in stores over here supports the mainstream strobe brands such as bowens, profoto, elinchrome, etc, I was faced with the dilemma of buying light diffusers and softboxes from gadget infinity for a QQ strobe that i already didnt want anymore. I ended up using it naked.

That said, I am pleased with cactus V4s, and have purchased other stuffs from gadgetinfinity and they have been a great seller otherwise.

[jwhittle]

thank you and i love you. no homo.