[lsimpkins]

Then isnt it time someone tackled the problem rather than accepting it....

Go for it! And while you're at it, how about putting a bug in the ear of third party lens manufacturers. They don't seem to have gotten the message either.

[mcgregni]

A quick search on Amazon Uk for "TTL flash trigger radio Nikon" brought a number of items up, mainly variants on a Photix theme. The more capable ones were mostly priced around the £80-100 range, which is similar to the Cactus V6II ....I got mine recently for £85. I know there's more choice for the other camera makes, but those that combine iTTL / E-TTL functionality with studio strobe design and power are not cheap. The V6II plus RF60x is good value as a multi purposes system, suitable for studio and more mobile outdoor work. The receivers are built in to the flashes, plus owners of the older flash model get a free firmware upgrade to gain radio HSS.

The forthcoming XTTL upgrade is also free, adding to the value a lot. Having 2 flashes on a multi bracket firing into an umbrella or softbox should solve most power and recycling challenges. So as an owner of this system for Pentax, I'm not feeling too poorly served ...in fact I feel very well served. I know it's a narrow choice, but the recent upgrades have bumped Cactus to the top of the (small) pile for us I feel. I know the size of the trigger is an issue for some, but I feel it's worth it for the decent interface and clear dedicated group lights plus buttons. The multifunction nature of these will expand with the XTTL, allowing one push quick switching between manual and TTL modes, and with enough display space to clearly see what's going on.

[Class A]

The Acon R930 triggers Adam highlighted are relatively cheap, and work out-of-the-box (ie with no configuration) to do P-TTL HSS whenever I use them. Very simple.

How do they work with multiple speedlights?

Are they meant to only work well with one off-camera speedlight or do they support two or more off-camera speedlights well? Can they support different lighting ratios between different off-camera speedlights?

AFAIC, it is completely fine if they only do one thing (being a "wireless" P-TTL cable for one flash) well. I would just like to know what the range of functionality they support is.

BTW, have you tried the Nikon-compatible firmware?
Is there an actual conversion of P-TTL to i-TTL or are there limitations, such as only manual power level control being supported for Nikon speedlights (i.e., no P-TTL-style automated metering)?

[stub]

Yes Clackers I fully understand that.. But your missing my point entirely...Maybe I didnt explain it very well..

I wanted to get a model and take on some outdoor portraits.. I felt one speedlight would be powerful enough inside an octobox. Or even coupling two together. So I was looking into units of greater power... The Manufacturer with the greater offering at present like it or not, is Godox !! with their ad200 ad360 ad600 or even their RS600P. some TTL some HSS some not... But all can be controlled by the X1T trigger at a cost of roughly £37 here in the UK. except the RS600P which uses the FT16 trigger and receiver as its purely manual.. If your a Canon Nikon, Sony or now even Fuji user

Because were not the only option we have is to purchase the Cactus system as far as i'm aware.. £180

So my point was.. why is it do people think. That Godox among others Jinbei also, are ignoring Pentax users ?
I havnt done any research but surely the Pentax marketplace is as big as Fuji... Or is the P-TTL system just to difficult to emulate....I also find that hard to believe.....

I wasnt looking to cause an arguement as to what will work and what doesnt

[Culture]

Yeah I also wonder why Fuji get their own triggers. But from what I have understood P-TTL is different compared to i-TTL or E-TTL. Though Acon has managed to crack it somehow.

Would have have gone for a different brand if I knew this about pentax. Not sure. I might have gone to Nikon.

But I wouldnt have the money to buy a brand new D810. But now I am thinking of getting a K-1 and I can afford it.

So we have not just given up, we have accepted the situation and found workarounds.

You win some, you loose some.

Culture

[jake14mw]

I have the same frustrations as the OP. I fully changed my lighting from Yongnuo to Godox recently. Godox is the real up and comer in the third party flash market. For the third party manufacturers, of course support for Canon and Nikon is a no-brainer. They dominate the market. But the fact that Godox has added TTL support for Sony, Fuji, and even Olympus/Panasonic, without any plans to support Pentax is telling...

[raymondjackso25]

The Cactus triggers work perfectly fine and they don't feel oversized once you've used them. They are about the same size as the godox triggers that some many people use now days to achieve HSS portraits. If you want to get the HSS portrait look the technology is already there.

[clackers]

Yes Clackers I fully understand that.. But your missing my point entirely...Maybe I didnt explain it very well..

I wanted to get a model and take on some outdoor portraits.. I felt one speedlight would be powerful enough inside an octobox. Or even coupling two together. So I was looking into units of greater power... The Manufacturer with the greater offering at present like it or not, is Godox !! with their ad200 ad360 ad600 or even their RS600P. some TTL some HSS some not... But all can be controlled by the X1T trigger at a cost of roughly £37 here in the UK. except the RS600P which uses the FT16 trigger and receiver as its purely manual.. If your a Canon Nikon, Sony or now even Fuji user

Because were not the only option we have is to purchase the Cactus system as far as i'm aware.. £180

So my point was.. why is it do people think. That Godox among others Jinbei also, are ignoring Pentax users ?
I havnt done any research but surely the Pentax marketplace is as big as Fuji... Or is the P-TTL system just to difficult to emulate....I also find that hard to believe.....

I wasnt looking to cause an arguement as to what will work and what doesnt

?

Pentax' marketshare is tiny, Stub. Best buy Canon or Nikon if you want to 'run with the herd'.

As Adam has pointed out, it's virtually a Japan only brand, its next biggest market would be Europe, and it's recently dismantled/reorganized much of its North American operations.

Using my Pentaxes, I take shots using continuous lighting, natural lighting, speedlight, strobe, in all kinds of combinations, outside, inside, and in commercial studios. Manual, P-TTL, HSS, whatever. I've done people, wildlife (HSS with a Fresnel lens on the flash), a clothing catalogue. There's essentially no project I couldn't do with my gear.

I'm often paying more for that gear, and there are less third-party options.

But I wouldn't swap it ... I feel sorry for a Nikon D750 owner with only 24Mp, or the crappy noise performance of a Canon 5D, or both with their lack of IBIS, since almost none of their primes are stabilized.

Your usage scenarios may be different.

[Class A]

Because were not the only option we have is to purchase the Cactus system as far as i'm aware.. £180

If you are comparing against a single X1T at £37, should you then not use the price of a single V6II unit at £89.00 (first price I found in the UK)? This is BTW, the equivalent of US$ 115, while you could get a V6II from Adorama at $95 (vs $46 for an X1T). I guess you'd have to add shipping in your case, though.

There is still a considerable price difference between an X1T and the V6II, but then the V6II is truly cross-brand, has more functionality and better usability.

Also, Godox appears to have terrible customer service. A lot of people had a Godox device fail and never received replies to their enquiries. I do not have any sympathy for the "buy three and if only two survive, I'll just chuck the third and will still be better off"-mentality that many people seem to have. I think that some of the Godox lighting solutions are great (although they are by no means always better than the competition in all aspects) and of course it would be nice if Pentax received direct support, but personally, I'm not sure I would go all out on Godox myself. Usability is important to me and Godox still makes very questionable choices with their trigger designs, AFAIC.

[stub]

I can compare a single trigger as the Godox units have built in receivers for "Other" brands... I agree there customer service is shocking,, but that hasnt stopped people buying. Personally I'm a Bowens monolight user indoors.. A British manufacturer for decades, that recently ceased trading...Claiming partly that they couldn't compete with the likes of Godox..

[Dan Rentea]

There is still a considerable price difference between an X1T and the V6II, but then the V6II is truly cross-brand, has more functionality and better usability.

Godox is cross-brand also, they just didn't included yet Pentax in their list of cameras. If you have a Godox AD200, AD360 II, AD600 (the rummors say that TT685 will get the firmware update also) it doesn't matter if these flashes are dedicated to Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fuji; all you need is a X1T compatible to your camera and you will benefit the TTL and HSS capabilities from the flashes I mentioned. I have Godox flashes and I go out with friends who are using Canon, Nikon or Sony and my flashes work like a charm in TTL or HSS with any camera they have.

That being said, I don't use TTL or HSS for portraits so for me these 2 features are not so important. I rather prefer to use an ND filter instead of using HSS. So for me Godox flashes would be my first choice if I have to choose. Cactus is nice, but Godox has a lot better system with lots of flashes to choose from.

[clackers]

Personally I'm a Bowens monolight user indoors.. A British manufacturer for decades, that recently ceased trading...Claiming partly that they couldn't compete with the likes of Godox..

Yeah, they were almost an industry standard ... it's such a shame.

[Culture]

I can compare a single trigger as the Godox units have built in receivers for "Other" brands... I agree there customer service is shocking,, but that hasnt stopped people buying. Personally I'm a Bowens monolight user indoors.. A British manufacturer for decades, that recently ceased trading...Claiming partly that they couldn't compete with the likes of Godox..

But those stuff were crazy expensive. Only "professional" afforded them. Not me. No Sir!

But if you could buy bowens why are you complaining about the price of Cactus?

---------- Post added 18-08-17 at 15:07 ----------

That being said, I don't use TTL or HSS for portraits so for me these 2 features are not so important. I rather prefer to use an ND filter instead of using HSS.

Why did you decide to use ND filters. From what I have understood just about all ND filters give a color cast. They are expensive if they dont.

Also you still need alot of power to overcome the stops from the ND filter.

I checked your site. Nice pics.

Culture

[mcgregni]

The thing is though that the exposure reduction with ND filters is equal and balanced between the ambient and flash exposures. The loss with HSS is slanted against the flash output. However once you have an efficient and reliable HSS system, as I do now with a V6II , RF60 / RF60x flashes then the ease of use and instant switching back and forth into HS mode and out again is an outweighing plus in my view.

[Dan Rentea]

Why did you decide to use ND filters. From what I have understood just about all ND filters give a color cast. They are expensive if they dont.

I often use a Hoya PRO ND8 filter (is reducing the available light by 3 stops). I prefer to use the filter because with HSS there are some things I don't like:
- heating lamp; the flash enter in protection if you shoot in hss and you have to wait for the lamp to cool
- power lost (the output of the light is lost in the pulsing process, just before the shutter opens)
- you need to buy flashes and triggers that can work in HSS, using an ND filter can work even if you have a cheap flash without hss

Yes, some color cast can be noticed if you shoot directly into the sun with an ND filter.

Also you still need alot of power to overcome the stops from the ND filter.

I checked your site. Nice pics.

Culture

Not really. Let's say that I have to shoot a portrait outdoor with a bright background and for a corect exposure of the background I have to use the following settings: f1.8, ISO 100 and a shutter speed of 1/1000s. We know that:
1. shutter speed affects ambient light
2. aperture affects the power of the flash
3. ISO controls global light

If we want to use a speedlight to light the model but we:
- don't want to use HSS because using HSS means that we will lose some power of the flash and we will also have heating problems
- don't want to change the aperture because it will affect the flash power and also the DOF

then we have to play with the shutter speed because ISO it's already at 100. Adding an ND8 filter means that I can use a shutter speed of 1/125s (from 1/1000s to 1/125s there are 3 stops of light) and in the meantime I can benefit from:
- the full strength of the flash
- the DOF that I wanted in the first place (f1.8)

P.S. Thank you for visiting my website.

---------- Post added 08-18-17 at 01:26 PM ----------

However once you have an efficient and reliable HSS system, as I do now with a V6II , RF60 / RF60x flashes then the ease of use and instant switching back and forth into HS mode and out again is an outweighing plus in my view.

Take a look at the image below. There were 8 photographers shooting in the same time the model. We were using my AD360 flashes and they were triggered by X1T triggers dedicated to Canon, Nikon and Sony, depending on what camera had each photographer. We were able to shoot without problems all of us, the main light being at 1/4 power and the one from behind at 1/32. You would have needed 8 Cactus flashes and a lot of batteries in order to shoot an entire day and have similar power as I had with 2 AD360 flashes. That is why I said that Cactus is nice and reliable (I had Cactus before Godox) but Godox system offers a lot more flexibility and choices. And I've heard that HSS can be achieved with Godox flashes and Cactus triggers.