Originally posted by Navmaxlp Question, would the orginal RF60 work in HSS as well using a V6II? I have an older one and am curious if I would need to get a V6II and a RF60X or not. Also, would i be able to use an RF60X on the camera using HSS and PTTL? That would be great.
I believe the RF60 should allow HSS with V6 II. You may need to update the firmware to version 200 or higher. I believe this also makes it incompatible with the V6 I, although supposedly there is a firmware coming out soon that makes the V6 I more compatible with the V6 II. The main additions to the RF60X is improved charge time, an AF assist light and better prevention of overheating.
---------- Post added 07-29-18 at 09:39 PM ----------
Originally posted by Paul the Sunman I have read a lot of posts about the Cactus wireless system. They quickly become very technical, and I'm not sure why the system is to be preferred over using several P-TTL flashes (I have an AF360FGZ II and a Metz 52 AF-1 and my son has a Sigma PTTL ring flash for macro work).
There's a sale on Cactus gear at Digital Camera Warehouse in Australia at the moment. I am looking at the V6 II and the RF60x. Can somebody with experience list what I would be able to do with these that I can't do with P-TTL?
I am also a bit confused about how TTL (or is it XTTL) combines with this system.
The main draw of the V6 II is the RF wireless transmission of the P-TTL signal. In short, the P-TTL signal is transmitted through the hotshoe and basically tells the flash unit some information about the exposure, the flash does a pre-fire and the camera/flash will evaluate the result to determine the actual flash power to properly light the scene; it is essentially auto exposure for flashes. The V6 II is able to take that data from the hotshoe and transmit it wireless to a remote flash unit. There are other wireless RF triggers, but they do not transmit P-TTL signal, so the flashes need to have their power level set manually. The other wireless P-TTL system native to Pentax flashes relies on optical triggering from the pop-up flash or an on-body flash acting as a controller/master. In some lighting situations, the contribution of the on-body flash is undesirable, but with this setup relying on optical triggering, it is difficult to prevent. In theory, you could put an IR-pass filter over the flash, but that can be unweildly at times.
In short, the V6 II allows you to have a flash remotely placed and have its power set automatically.
The RF60X with their Pentax firmware is basically a Pentax P-TTL flash with a Cactus V6 II built in, with the opportunity to also change it to some other brand should you choose to switch systems or sell the RF60X. You could also just buy more V6 II for your current flashes. It is also a HSS so you can use it above the sync speed.
You can also remotely adjust the power level of the remote flashes. Instead of having to go to each unit to adjust the +/- EV or power ratios, you can do that from the on-camera transmitter.
Finally, the V6 II can work with multiple systems, hence the X-TTL nomenclature. In theory, you can borrow someone's Canon E-TTL flash or Nikon iTTL flash and have it work like a P-TTL flash. There is a note about incompatability regarding the P-TTL system, but I am not sure if that means Pentax bodies can't use other brand TTL flashes, or other brand bodies cannot use P-TTL flashes.