[Katja]

Attachment 208857

If you have any questions regarding the RF60 and/or Cactus V6 please post them here.

It might be a silly question, and I'd like to know if I can use Cactus RF60 as an off-camera flash without the Cactus Transceiver V6 (required when other flash units or strobes have to be triggered). Thank you for your reply.

[Class A]

It might be a silly question, and I'd like to know if I can use Cactus RF60 as an off-camera flash without the Cactus Transceiver V6 (required when other flash units or strobes have to be triggered).

Am I assuming correctly that you will be triggering other speedlights or strobes in some manner and want the RF60 to fire at the same time?

If so, you can achieve that by using the optical slave mode of the RF60. The RF60 has an optical sensor that will detect other speedlights/strobes going off. You can configure optical slave mode to ignore (any number of) pre-flashes, if you need to. You'll have to make sure that the RF60's sensor can "see" the change in light intensity, so if you are not in a room with reflecting surfaces that will bounce the light almost everywhere, you'll have to make sure that the RF60 is pointed the right way (the sensor is behind the red, somewhat transparent cover at the front).

Personally, I've never used the optical slave mode for real scenarios (always used a radio trigger), but I'd expect it to work well.

Hope this helps.

[Katja]

Am I assuming correctly that you will be triggering other speedlights or strobes in some manner and want the RF60 to fire at the same time?

Yes, that's correct.

I've read many posts about Cactus RF60x and also V6II. I somehow feel that this might be the way to go .. and eventually replace studio strobes with another kit.

Thank you for your comments, and also all the other comments re Cactus kit.

[Class A]

I've read many posts about Cactus RF60x and also V6II. I somehow feel that this might be the way to go

From a usability aspect, in my view this combination is the best one available for Pentax. However, ...

... and eventually replace studio strobes with another kit.

... if you are interested in using your studio strobes and speedlights in combination or just owning a single triggering system only (i.e., use one and the same trigger for all your lights), the Godox system is probably a better choice. Sadly, Cactus' attempt to launch a more powerful lighting solution (RQ250) failed with a Kickstarter project that missed its funding goal. So with the Cactus system you only have the RF60X and third-party speedlights (per V6II receivers). You can also easily trigger studio strobes, etc. but you will neither have remote power-level control nor an HSS option for these.

Godox offers speedlights, compact but powerful off-cameras lights (AD200), and battery-powered as well as cabled strobes as part of one radio system. I find the Cactus V6II easier and quicker to operate than the Godox XPro-P, but the latter also has some advantages and you should be thinking about whether you want to maintain two separate trigger systems (which could certainly be made to cooperate with each other, though).

Thank you for your comments, and also all the other comments re Cactus kit.

You are very welcome.

[RobSpain]

1. RF60 on hotshoe, P-TTL on stand;
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Your P-TTL flash then has to use optical triggering.
No remote power control, unless a V6 is added (see below).
No HSS support as the RF60 is not recognised as a P-TTL HSS flash.


2. P-TTL on hotshoe, RF60 on stand;
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The RF60 would have to be used in optical triggering mode.
You could make the RF60 contribute to HSS exposures by putting the Metz 52 AF-1 into P-TTL HSS mode and the RF60 into HSS mode.
Still no remote power control (but see below).


3. both RF60 and P-TTL on stands, using built-in flash as master or controller.
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Both Metz 52 AF-1 and RF60 would have to use optical triggering.
Similar to option 1; no HSS available since the built-in pop-up flash does not support "wireless" HSS.


Things change, if you add a Cactus V6 as a receiver with the Metz 52 AF-1 mounted on it.

You can now have the RF60 on-camera and remote control the power of the Metz 52 AF-1 (via reliable and far reaching radio signals, as opposed to optical "wireless" communication). You can use the RF60 in master mode either by letting it contribute to the exposure with its own power level or by just firing the Metz 52 AF-1 (simply set the master level power on the RF60 to zero with a single (long) button press).

If you add yet another Cactus V6, you can use the latter on-camera as a controller for both off-camera Metz 52 AF-1 and RF60. You can then control the power of both either in a relative manner (choose a fraction, such as 1/4, for each respectively) or in an absolute manner. In the latter case you can e.g. specify "11EV" for the Metz 52 AF-1 and "10EV" for the RF60 and then the Metz 52 AF-1 will emit exactly one stop more light than the RF60.

Nice, isn't it?

I think the second part of your answer in point 3 is exactly my dilemma: K-70, Cactus and Metz flash combinations for real estate photography - PentaxForums.com
Thanks!

[bobbotron]

... if you are interested in using your studio strobes and speedlights in combination or just owning a single triggering system only (i.e., use one and the same trigger for all your lights), the Godox system is probably a better choice. Sadly, Cactus' attempt to launch a more powerful lighting solution (RQ250) failed with a Kickstarter project that missed its funding goal. So with the Cactus system you only have the RF60X and third-party speedlights (per V6II receivers). You can also easily trigger studio strobes, etc. but you will neither have remote power-level control nor an HSS option for these.

Ah man, I didn't realize this had happened. I have a bunch of cactus gear and can't see the need to go anywhere else, love it. I would have loved a stronger cactus light... do you think they'll attempt again?

[Class A]

... do you think they'll attempt again?

In their final note on the RQ250, Cactus said the project is suspended (not cancelled) and that it would be time to look at "other projects at hand".

Best to ask Cactus directly.

BTW, both Hensel Certo and Dante Aurora 400 use built-in Cactus receivers. However, I haven't heard about the Dante in a long while and the Hensel strobe is woefully underfeatured, so I don't think these represent useful alternatives at present.