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06-03-2018, 04:53 AM - 1 Like   #16
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(Responding firstly to Bruce's last post) ....


Hot shoe contacts are certainly something to be checked .....with my V6II I always press the metal base firmly forwards with my thumb and keep pressing hard until it will not move. I also firmly turn the locking lever and then press it even harder past the first resistance point to ensure solid locking. Be wary and aware of the strength needed, it’s not excessive, just firm.
A radio P-TTL system with multiple flashes is really something to get working reliably under test conditions without any pressure, so not something to be trying to get to grips with when you are needing to shoot some real pictures, and definitely not if you are looking to be professional about it. I’m glad you got some good shots without the flashes in any case.

We really need now some more details about your exact set up .....flashes, triggers, firmware versions, and the key settings on the V6II. Don’t forget to check as ClassA said to be in “Normal HSS” mode on the V6II ....and please clarify things regarding the Metz.


Last edited by mcgregni; 06-03-2018 at 04:59 AM.
06-03-2018, 05:02 AM   #17
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QuoteOriginally posted by BruceBanner Quote
Well after a few more hours this morning trouble shooting I just gave up, I could not replicate consistent flash shots, even in Manual mode, something is amiss.
Sorry to hear.

QuoteOriginally posted by BruceBanner Quote
At times I felt that perhaps the fault lied in the K-1 contact points, a little gentle wiggling of the vello cable attached on the K-1 and I noticed the 540II flash sometimes 'pick up' the info it was not receiving too well (such as the lens mm mounted etc), so I'm really starting to think perhaps my K-1 contacts are filthy and need a good clean or possibly even a bit 'broken'.
If there are intermittent contact issues then you'll have a very frustrating time with the V6II.

I had a unit during beta testing that made very unreliable contact on my cameras. The resulting experience was soul destroying. No replicability whatsoever, misfires, incorrect exposures, etc. Just horrible. If you know how to make the cable connect to the K-1 reliably and the V6II connects reliably to the other end of the cable, perhaps that would be a way to establish a reliable connection, at least for testing purposes.

QuoteOriginally posted by BruceBanner Quote
Silly me all this time forgot I had a KP that I could also test all this out with.
It would be good if you could check whether you can replicate the issues you have experienced on the KP.
I don't know whether Cactus tested the V6II with a KP but in principle it should work.

QuoteOriginally posted by BruceBanner Quote
Thanks everyone for trying to help me!
No worries.

Sorry if my contributions sometimes veer off a bit into technical matters. I blame mcgregni who simply shouldn't trigger me!

BTW, note that mcgregni made a very good point about your Metz flash being unable to participate in scenarios where the shutter speed exceeds 1/200s and it is optically triggered.

The "banding" you observed might be just the Metz contributing to the exposure erratically? I suggest that for further banding tests, you only use the RF60X. Once you have found a reliable mode of operation, you can add in the Metz. You may have to take certain measures to make the Metz work well, but that is definitely not something you should attempt from the get go.
06-03-2018, 03:43 PM   #18
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QuoteOriginally posted by Class A Quote
Sorry to hear.


If there are intermittent contact issues then you'll have a very frustrating time with the V6II.

I had a unit during beta testing that made very unreliable contact on my cameras. The resulting experience was soul destroying. No replicability whatsoever, misfires, incorrect exposures, etc. Just horrible. If you know how to make the cable connect to the K-1 reliably and the V6II connects reliably to the other end of the cable, perhaps that would be a way to establish a reliable connection, at least for testing purposes.


It would be good if you could check whether you can replicate the issues you have experienced on the KP.
I don't know whether Cactus tested the V6II with a KP but in principle it should work.


No worries.

Sorry if my contributions sometimes veer off a bit into technical matters. I blame mcgregni who simply shouldn't trigger me!

BTW, note that mcgregni made a very good point about your Metz flash being unable to participate in scenarios where the shutter speed exceeds 1/200s and it is optically triggered.

The "banding" you observed might be just the Metz contributing to the exposure erratically? I suggest that for further banding tests, you only use the RF60X. Once you have found a reliable mode of operation, you can add in the Metz. You may have to take certain measures to make the Metz work well, but that is definitely not something you should attempt from the get go.

Gotta dash to work quickly, just wanted to quickly say the metz never fired at all, wasn't even set up in those scenarios taken above.

Talk to you all later, look forward to reading it all properly!
07-29-2018, 02:09 PM   #19
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I thought I'd share a finding with you.

Yesterday I was sitting in my chair changing some settings on one of my custom mode dials, fine tuning some settings for how I wanted that configuration to work. I was in Av mode, and I was indoors, and I had my Samyang 85/1.4 attached, I noticed that the minimum shutter speed it was allowing was 1/200. I thought... hmm... that's a bit high, let me check the 'Auto-Iso Settings' (this is an option in the K-1 to set where the minimum Shutter speed encountered in Av Mode would be, Slow, Normal or Fast). I was set to Slow, which should have dropped to 1/50, not 1/200...
So now I was thinking "what's going on", so I went to a better lit environment to continue my tinkering of my settings, I ventured out onto my verandah and noticed that if I took my camera towards to bright light it toggled straight up to 1/8000! If I panned my camera back towards the poorer lighting inside it would drop to 1/200. So in Av mode I wasn't getting anything else other than those two shutter speeds! This was not right I thought, what's going on!?! I then noticed my Cactus V6ii was switched ON (in Tx mode, TTL)!! Once I turned the V6ii unit off I was back to normal Av shutter speed reactions, namely it wouldn't drop below 1/50th (Slow Auto-ISO limit), and it would rotate through all the various shutter speeds available up to 1/8000 depending upon of course the aperture set and available light given.

So surely this is a major clue to the oddity that is occurring, it seems that even if the flash unit is not on (which it wasn't) but the V6ii is, if the camera is in Av mode it's just not getting to behave normally as it should! It gets only two shutter speeds available, 1/200 or 1/8000!

FWIW I'm still talking with Cactus about this issue, keen to get to the bottom of it.

08-06-2018, 02:11 PM   #20
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Just updating this thread (keep in sync with the Cactus forum thread). I have recently discovered this;

If I put my Samyang 85/1.5 lens on my K-1 (or KP, results are the same), when in Av mode it works as you'd expect, but as soon as you toggle the V6ii on (and be in TTL), then the shutter speed will only exist at either 1/200 or 1/8000, nowhere inbetween (like you'd normally expect).

If I put a modern Pentax AF lens onto the K-1 (such as the HD DA 35/2.8 Macro), then under the same V6ii settings I do indeed actually get the full shutter speed range as you'd normally expect and not be restricted to only 1/200 or 1/8000 (depending upon available light).

I am sure the 'banding' was still occurring on AF lenses as well as my MF lenses, but I will test again today with flash firing. It's just I never really noticed that the 1/200/1/8000 thing was happening before, and that with a AF lens it's at least not doing that (which is surely a good thing and a step in the right direction!).

Perhaps I need to use my Cactus V6ii in a different manner when attached to a MF lens, ie not TTL but some other mode?
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