[mcgregni]

I've done the Cactus testing, using the "3rd version" XTTL firmwares.....

RF60x on camera in Master Mode , V6II Rx mode with Pentax AF-540FGZII (profile set to the specific Pentax flash model) ....channel 1, group A: At first I thought all was good, as I had power and zoom control from the RF60x, and the numbers were updating correctly on the V6II (power) and the flash display(zoom)..... But, unfortunately the flash would not fire. The RF60x did fire and I had control over it using the Master Group, but despite having communications and accurate numbers updating on the A slave group, I could not get the flash to fire. Seems a pity, presumably a simple fix?

I checked with the V6 as receiver, and this time got remote power control and reliable firing. So for now I can only advise that the RF60x Master plus V6II Rx combo does not work .... But with the V6 as Rx it does (minus zoom control).

But there have been later firmwares released, so I will update soon and try again. It's not a configuration I am likely to use, not because I don't like an on camera flash (maybe for backwards bounced fill....), but really because I don't like on camera manual flash, preferring P-TTL for this usually dynamic and active style of work.

[RobSpain]

I've done the Cactus testing, using the "3rd version" XTTL firmwares.....

RF60x on camera in Master Mode , V6II Rx mode with Pentax AF-540FGZII (profile set to the specific Pentax flash model) ....channel 1, group A: At first I thought all was good, as I had power and zoom control from the RF60x, and the numbers were updating correctly on the V6II (power) and the flash display(zoom)..... But, unfortunately the flash would not fire. The RF60x did fire and I had control over it using the Master Group, but despite having communications and accurate numbers updating on the A slave group, I could not get the flash to fire. Seems a pity, presumably a simple fix?

I checked with the V6 as receiver, and this time got remote power control and reliable firing. So for now I can only advise that the RF60x Master plus V6II Rx combo does not work .... But with the V6 as Rx it does (minus zoom control).

But there have been later firmwares released, so I will update soon and try again. It's not a configuration I am likely to use, not because I don't like an on camera flash (maybe for backwards bounced fill....), but really because I don't like on camera manual flash, preferring P-TTL for this usually dynamic and active style of work.

Thanks again for that, Nigel. I want to be able to shoot both on and off camera, so I don't like that fact that the RF60X only works in manual mode when on the camera. That's why I already have one Metz and was thinking of getting another. I like their guns, and I don't need more sophistacted flash or studio options. I'm beginning to revert back to my Metz 52 AF-1 (or similar) option, and pair both Metz with either V6 or V6II units. Need to do a bit more reading/consideration before making a final decision. And thank you once again!

[Class A]

The RF60x did fire and I had control over it using the Master Group, but despite having communications and accurate numbers updating on the A slave group, I could not get the flash to fire.

That sounds right.

I haven't done any testing myself recently, but remember this issue/limitation from beta testing.

You'll probably find that the test button of the RF60X will make a flash on a V6II receiver fire, but the camera will never achieve this.

Seems a pity, presumably a simple fix?

According to Cactus, there will never be a fix to this limitation (given the RF60X's single-pin hot-shoe connector).

Cactus' response to my feedback was that simple (non-HSS-aware) devices like the RF60X and V6 aren't able to trigger a V6II receiver since they don't receive any pre-sync information from the camera. This excludes them from providing information to the V6II receiver so that the latter has enough time to "prep" the flash. Apparently, the flashes the V6II is compatible with, do not (all?) support a mode which allows remote power control but doesn't depend on a TTL-mode of operation which includes emission of a pre-flash (with the latter requiring too much time to get the main flash in time).

I argued that the test button of the RF60X and V6 should not work either then, in order to avoid incorrect expectations about triggering but we had to agree to disagree on the matter.

The only workaround would be to configure the flash system of the V6II receiver to "OTHERS", but then you'll lose remote power/zoom control as well.

[RobSpain]

I've done the Cactus testing, using the "3rd version" XTTL firmwares.....

RF60x on camera in Master Mode , V6II Rx mode with Pentax AF-540FGZII (profile set to the specific Pentax flash model) ....channel 1, group A: At first I thought all was good, as I had power and zoom control from the RF60x, and the numbers were updating correctly on the V6II (power) and the flash display(zoom)..... But, unfortunately the flash would not fire. The RF60x did fire and I had control over it using the Master Group, but despite having communications and accurate numbers updating on the A slave group, I could not get the flash to fire. Seems a pity, presumably a simple fix?

I checked with the V6 as receiver, and this time got remote power control and reliable firing. So for now I can only advise that the RF60x Master plus V6II Rx combo does not work .... But with the V6 as Rx it does (minus zoom control).

But there have been later firmwares released, so I will update soon and try again. It's not a configuration I am likely to use, not because I don't like an on camera flash (maybe for backwards bounced fill....), but really because I don't like on camera manual flash, preferring P-TTL for this usually dynamic and active style of work.

Hello again, Nigel. I decided to make a staged approach with respect to what I'm going to buy. So I've just bought the Metz 52 AF-1 (to act on-camera in Master mode) in the hope that it will trigger the Metz 44 AF-2 off-camera (in slave mode). However... Using the 52 in Master mode and the 44 in Slave mode, I cannot get the 44 to work, even in test flash mode. The 52 won't trigger the 44 even when it's right in front of it (so perfect line of sight!). I have tried changing the channels through 1-4 on the 52, but to avail. The 44 in Slave mode is acting correctly insofar as the AF light is blinking to confirm that it's in slave mode and should receive the flash signal from the 52 (according to the manual). What am I doing wrong? Thanks again.

UPDATE: Since writing the above, I've managed to get the 44 (on-camera) to triger the 52 (off-camera) set to Servo Mode. And thanks to the 'learning' option on the 52, it has learnt to fire the optical flash signal from the 44 on the main flash, ignoring the pre-flash. That's very neat! But this still doesn't get away from the fact that this combination should be the other way round! The 44 isn't supposed to be a Master although yes, the 52 can work in both TX and RX. But still can't get the 52 to trigger the 44 optically.


Having got this to partially work, I do however see the limitations of optical firing, and will most certainly also have to invest in a couple of V6 II's.

FINAL UPDATE: Perhaps. I contacted Metz in Barcelona and they were very kind and helpful, but couldn’t understand my issue above regarding the 44 not firing in optical RX mode. They offered to send a free courier to collect the flash gun and have it checked out. I thanked them for this but insisted on trying the set up one more time. This I have done. And it now WORKS! No idea why it didn’t before, but nevertheless, a courier trip saved!


So here are my final conclusions: Using the Metz 52 AF-1 on-camera in MASTER mode, and the Metz 44 AF-2 in SLAVE mode, the former triggers the latter in optical mode. Disadvantage:The 44 is always on FULL power and cannot be changed. Reversing the above is better insofar as the 44 (on-camera) will trigger the 52 (in SERVO mode) and the power can be manually adjusted on the flash gun.



And another thing, when using the 44 in the first example above in RX mode, the optical flash signal from the 52 triggered it behind a brick wall and out of direct line of sight!


So now I’ve managed to get the above all working, the only improvement, in order to use the 52 on-camera in Master mode and control the flash power and zoom levels on the 44, would be to buy and use 2 x Cactus V6 II. And I’ve read on other posts here on the forum that the latest firmware updates from Cactus provide complete control of this combo, P-TTL pass-though, remote power and zoom.

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Last edited by RobSpain; 02-25-2019 at 12:13 PM.