Nice work, Nigel.
Perhaps some day I'll be able to make use of it (still manual control only, over here
).
I noticed a few inaccuracies (in the parts I can comment on):
Page 30: Re. Godox flashes, for many Godox products one can put into HSS mode manually, it is not true that "
Godox system radio triggers are also required". It makes a lot of sense to use them for remote power control, but HSS triggering works with multiple V6II units without the help of Godox triggers. Note also that Godox is a bit inconsistent in how they treat the HSS manual override so for some Godox flashes, stacking certain Godox triggers on a V6II (to achieve HSS) will work, for other Godox flashes (e.g., the AD200 seems picky), fewer Godox triggers will work on a V6II. I think this area is a bit of a minefield with some particular combinations working, but many others not. Hence I wouldn't suggest that there is a general solution by using the V6II as an HSS-converter. I think the sentence "
Cactus V6II required in addition to Godox system triggers" should be removed or there needs to be an elaboration because you'll find that forum members had trouble to get this combination to work with the AD200. From memory, only older FT-16 triggers seemed to do the trick.
Page 30: Li-Ion flashes do not necessarily "
offer more powerful output". The V850 you mention, for instance, is not anymore powerful than four-AA flashes in that power range. It even has the same overheating limitations as it has a battery with more capacity and current flow, but not a higher performance flash tube.
Page 32: You write that the V6II "
is dependent on compatible P-TTL system flashes, i.e., the flash must have P-TTL.". That is not true. The flash just has to be supported by the V6II but can support Canon E-TTL, Nikon i-TTL, etc. There is definitely no P-TTL requirement for supported flashes.
Hence it is not true either that "
if [flashes/strobes] are dedicated to another camera system" that it is necessary that they support manually engaging HSS. This manual HSS engagement requirement only applies to flashes that do support HSS but are not among the flashes supported by the V6II. This includes all strobes that do not provide a hot-shoe connector (which is almost all of them) and are not compatible with the flash systems the V6II supports (Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fuji, Panasonic, Olympus, Sigma, Pentax). So a strobe with a hot-shoe connector that supports one of these flash systems may get HSS support as the V6II also has generic system profiles, not only the ones for specific flash models. However, good luck with finding one of those.
BTW, I think it would be useful to mention the multi-brand, and as a matter of fact, cross-brand, aspect of the Cactus V6(II). With many photographers shooting more than one system these days, this could be useful information to your readers.
Godox has also been busy with respect to cross-brand support. They now started to offer a range of transmitters for brands beyond Canon and Nikon. However, there is no Pentax version in sight yet.
Also, their receivers only support Canon and Nikon so far, so the multi-brand / cross-brand support is a bit limited at the moment, unless one mainly uses their flashes/strobes and has a camera system that is supported.
Last edited by Class A; 07-23-2017 at 08:46 AM.