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04-16-2015, 02:41 PM   #1
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Cactus v60 & rf60 v.s. PTTL-HSS - HELP! Please.

OK, I got the Cactus RF60 flash and the v60 Transceiver.
I also have a K3 with AF540-FGZ flash.

For the life of me I could not get the HSS-sympathy mode to work for any delays (80-100ms).
(tx/rx was on backorder so I tried for most of the week with just the flashes alone)

So today I got the tx/rx, and no luck there either.
I tried with and without the AF540 on the v60's hotshoe.

When the Af540 is in the hot shoe and the camera's shutter speed is above 160/s, the shutter speed goes nuts.
Lets say I set shutter speed to 1/4000 (v60 and AF540 in hotshoe but off). When I turn on the flash in HSS mode the shutter speed goes 1`/4000 to 1/100 to 1/160 to 1/80 to 1/1000, to 1/200, etc... Just nuts!

Both the v60 and the AF540 seem tight in their respective hot shoes.


I cannot figure out if I need the AF540 in the v60 tx/rx or not. Nothing works.


Has anyone got these to work, and can they give a *simple* working setup? Once working I can expand and do other things.
But I just need *something* to work.

Any help would be wonderful.
Thanks!

04-16-2015, 09:50 PM   #2
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QuoteOriginally posted by amoringello Quote
When the Af540 is in the hot shoe and the camera's shutter speed is above 160/s, the shutter speed goes nuts.
Lets say I set shutter speed to 1/4000 (v60 and AF540 in hotshoe but off). When I turn on the flash in HSS mode the shutter speed goes 1`/4000 to 1/100 to 1/160 to 1/80 to 1/1000, to 1/200, etc... Just nuts!

Both the v60 and the AF540 seem tight in their respective hot shoes.
I don't have this setup, but for the camera to allow flash at faster shutter speeds, it needs to see a HSS compatible flash. First test would be to check if HSS works without the Cactus equipment (540 on camera; flash in HSS mode). In the second test, add the transmitter in the path; not knowing the transmitter, I would try it with transmitter on and off.

Also note that the 'official' power-up sequence is to first switch on the flash and next the camera; with the cactus in the path, the sequence might have to be flash on, transmitter on, camera on.
04-17-2015, 02:43 AM   #3
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No luck with the power up sequence. But I also notice that the back LCD screen is on aper I half press the shutter-button and release.
All black, but on.

Well, I ordered two sets, and the second backordered tx/rx should arrive today.
I guess I'll see if behavior is different. Maybe I have a bad one. (I am a black-hole of bad luck when it comes to electronics, so that is very likely)
04-17-2015, 01:58 PM   #4
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Still no luck.
Second unit behave exactly the same. So I must be doing something wrong but cannot for the life of me figure out how to get HSS-like behavior to work in either HSS-symptahy mode with or without the V60 tx/rx.

At least from there threads I found that the LCD behavior is a bug with the firmware upgrade.

I have not seen the wacky shutter speed thingy today. But it is really hit or miss whether the PTTL passthrough will work.
I make sure both units are in snugly and tighthened down. I make sure the AF540 is in all the way and tight. Sometimes it flashes, sometimes it doesn't.
Regardless, the RF60 NEVER fires except as a response to optical slave sensor. When that is off or when I cover the hotshoe flash, the RF60's do not fire... EVER.

04-20-2015, 03:20 PM   #5
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I've been playing with this combo over the weekend. I had my 540 on camera in HSS mode pointed to an off camera RF60. The RF60 is triggered as an optical slave and was configured with a 111ms delay with a shutter speed of 1/1250sec before it would "sync". Different shutter speeds require slight adjustments to the delay. I also tested using a V6 as TX in OS mode S1 to trigger the RF60 HSS via radio. It worked, but not as reliably as the first method. I'm still testing at this point trying to determine how realistic all this really is. I like the Cactus products and own two RF60s, five V6s, and at least four V5s.
04-21-2015, 07:01 AM   #6
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QuoteOriginally posted by amoringello Quote
OK, I got the Cactus RF60 flash and the v60 Transceiver.
I also have a K3 with AF540-FGZ flash.

For the life of me I could not get the HSS-sympathy mode to work for any delays (80-100ms).
(tx/rx was on backorder so I tried for most of the week with just the flashes alone)

So today I got the tx/rx, and no luck there either.
I tried with and without the AF540 on the v60's hotshoe.

When the Af540 is in the hot shoe and the camera's shutter speed is above 160/s, the shutter speed goes nuts.
Lets say I set shutter speed to 1/4000 (v60 and AF540 in hotshoe but off). When I turn on the flash in HSS mode the shutter speed goes 1`/4000 to 1/100 to 1/160 to 1/80 to 1/1000, to 1/200, etc... Just nuts!

Both the v60 and the AF540 seem tight in their respective hot shoes.


I cannot figure out if I need the AF540 in the v60 tx/rx or not. Nothing works.


Has anyone got these to work, and can they give a *simple* working setup? Once working I can expand and do other things.
But I just need *something* to work.

Any help would be wonderful.
Thanks!
Forget the V6's for now

1. Mount the p-tt TTL flash on the camera's hot shoe in hss mode
2. Switch the RF60 Master to HSS sympathey mode by presing the "HSS" button twice. The center row of the LCD display will show HSS. This will automatically turn on the optical slave trigger in S1, which the flash is triggered by first pre-flash).
3. Position the RF60 Master with its optical sensor facing the TTL flash head.
4. Take a test shot by pressing the camera's shutter release button.
you'll have to set a delay value in order to make the RF60's flash appear at the time of exposure (and not too early). You'll have to experiment a bit, but the manual gives some useful starting points.

According to class A (i've not tested)

Note that you should be able to use "S2 MAIN FLASH" as the optical triggering method with DELAY set to "OFF" up to a shutter speed of about 1/2000s. At least that works for me with a K100D.

If you want to use higher shutter speeds, you need to switch to "S1 FIRST FLASH" and then you need an appropriate delay value. The manual gives a range of values you should try. It takes a bit of experimenting to find the correct delay value for your camera and settings. I recommend setting the camera to manual mode and not change any of the settings (f-stop, shutter speed) while you are trying to find the right delay value on the V6. You should find the right ballpark using increments of 3ms (or so) and then can fine tune some more. If you use too large a step between candidate delay values, chances are you'll jump over the useful range and never see it work.
04-21-2015, 07:28 AM   #7
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Thanks awaldram.

I've been on the Cactus support forums, and ClassA has been an immense help there.
I got the HSS syncing to work via S2-MainFlash and no delay all the way up to 1/8000s. I was shocked it worked at all that fast. I'll have to bring to the studio to test on a good wall to see if the shutter is interfering. I suspect it must be to some extent. I'll only need 1/800 or so in most cases, so it is a great solution for close proximity work!

But since my main need will be in bright daylight with flashes at a distance, the optical sensor won't be reliable.
I'm hoping at this point to get the V6 S2 optical sensor to work and trigger the remote RF60's... just not having much luck there. Waiting for ClassA to check out my setup and see if he notices something wrong.

I'm glad I don't do this sort of work often. With Pentax continuing to crippled their bodies so they won't fire a standard flash above 1/180s and not having the third party support for PTTL makes using Pentax equipment a real bother at times.
Its the best equipment for the price, but dang... they don't make it easy.

---------- Post added 04-21-15 at 10:35 AM ----------

QuoteOriginally posted by wcm777 Quote
... I like the Cactus products and own two RF60s, five V6s, and at least four V5s.
Well that's good to hear. I am on the fence with keep these right now. They seem nice and even if they do not pan out for my intended purpose I might keep as extra manual flashes for special use in the studio. It would be interesting to attempt remotely firing the camera body via the v6.

Just hoping I can get HSS to work at a distance to justify the expense of these guys.
If I cannot get that to work I might need to bring some ND filters and my studio strobes on battery for the job.
My assistant's back and the customer would probably hate me for that, though.

04-25-2015, 03:27 PM   #8
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I found some time to work on wireless HSS and was successful in triggering via radio. A little bit of a hack, but it works pretty well. This image has an exposure of 100 ISO ƒ/2.8 at 1/2000 sec and was shot against a mid-day, full sun background.

Equipment used:
-- AF540-FGZ was mounted on a K-3 with HHS mode On and aimed straight up (I also turned the FEC to -3.0 to help the recycle time)
-- Cactus V6 inTX mode. Optical Slave S1, set with a delay of 107ms. I'm finding that changes to the shutter speed requires an adjustment to the delay as well.
-- A pair of Cactus RF60 speedlights in [S] mode and HSS turned on. Enabling HSS automatically sets the optical slave to S1, so you have to enter the menu and turn the optical slave to OFF.

The pair of RF60s were mounted on a Phottix Multi Boom and placed on a lightstand ~45º off-axis about 8' from the "model" No modifiers were used and the speedlights were pointed directly with power at 1/8. I hand-held the V6 so it's optical sensor was toward the AF540 and the magic happens. Now I need to figure out a way to velcro the V6 to the AF540.


04-26-2015, 02:08 PM   #9
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I did some more testing today. This setup seems simple and reliable enough to try out on a real person.

To save myself from having to hold the V6 in sight of the on-camera flash, I put Velcro straps on the flash stand that came with the Cactus and attached it to the AF-540, then locked the V6 into the shoe. The wide-angle panel (but NOT the white panel) provides enough light for the V6 optical slave to pickup and trigger the remote RF-60s via radio.
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05-04-2015, 07:26 AM   #10
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QuoteOriginally posted by amoringello Quote
I'm hoping at this point to get the V6 S2 optical sensor to work and trigger the remote RF60's... just not having much luck there. Waiting for ClassA to check out my setup and see if he notices something wrong.
Hope you got it working now.

Sorry that I didn't notice this thread at PF earlier. Have been a bit busy lately.
05-04-2015, 07:49 AM   #11
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No problem. You've been extremely helpful.
Instructions were technically correct but did not work for me without some extra work to figure out some strangeness and limitations that others apparently do not have. :-)

The important aspect was that, for me, the slave light sensor on the V6 only works with directly-aimed light from a few inches or less.
If I aim the camera-mounted AF540 flash at full power at the V6 from about two feet away, it will not work.
But if I place the V6 a few inches away from the flash head it does work.

The example by wcm777 above with diffuser does not work for me either.
Instead, I taped a bounce card on top of the V6 and bent it such that it catches light from the flash head.
It seems that would be less light, but that is what finally worked for me.


Settings:
- AF540fgz mounted in hotshoe and set to HSS mode.
- V6 transmitter set to S2 (main flash) slave mode. Delay OFF. (mounted similar to wcm777's photos above)
- RF60 set to HSS with Slave mode OFF.

I'll have to include an image as well, in case it helps others with the same issue.

Anyway, so far I have had near 100% success even at shutter speeds of 1/8000.

Last edited by amoringello; 05-04-2015 at 07:55 AM.
05-04-2015, 07:56 AM   #12
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QuoteOriginally posted by amoringello Quote
Anyway, I have had near 100% success even at shutter speeds of 1/8000.
Good to hear!

P.S.: The V6's light sensor is indeed not very sensitive.
Its primary function is to profile flashes (for unsupported flashes), not to be an optical slave.
I always use the V6 very close to the flash myself.

In case this becomes a hassle, there is also the option of using a further V6 to trigger the camera and flashes at the "same" time (using a delay for the flashes). This, however, requires a shutter release cable and fine-tuning of the delay value. The nice "just trigger on the main flash" approach that works up to respectable shutter speeds with optical triggering, is then of course no longer available.
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