[Murfy]

Very strange issue today I was hoping someone could help me troubleshoot. I was using cactus triggers and cactus flash on a stand. I used the k3 with 18-135 lens and took some photos. Took more photos with the 55-300mm no problem. I took some shots with 100mm pentax lens and flash would only go off every few shots. Went back to the other lens, no problem with flash. Put 100m back on and again flash would only go off once in while. Any clue why one lens would do this? I can’t figure this out and it seems odd.

[pschlute]

I took some shots with 100mm pentax lens

Which lens ? Which cactus products.?

Also what modes on camera and cactus units.

[Murfy]

Which lens ? Which cactus products.?

Also what modes on camera and cactus units.

Cactus v6 with cactus rx90 flash
just kept on flash mode
Lens was Pentax D FA 100mm F2.8 Macro

[pschlute]

just kept on flash mode

Sorry , dont know what "flash" mode is.

[Aaron28]

I took some shots with 100mm pentax lens and flash would only go off every few shots. Went back to the other lens, no problem with flash. Put 100m back on and again flash would only go off once in while. Any clue why one lens would do this? I can’t figure this out and it seems odd.

that is odd....maybe clean the contacts on the lens.....assuming it was set in the 'A' position

just about every time using my cactus stuff whether v6 or v6ii I encounter some type of issue even using pentax only gear.....

[pschlute]

When changes lenses during a shoot make sure you do the following. Turn off camera and triggers and flashes. Change the lenses. Then turn on :

1. Camera

2. Flashes

3. Triggers

in that order

[Murfy]

Sorry , dont know what "flash" mode is.

The “x” on the dial that sets it to 180 shutter speed. M, b, x -for flash sync speed, u3, u2,u1
Flash sync speed setting on dial. Sorry did not feel like typing whole phrase

---------- Post added 11-28-19 at 09:44 PM ----------

When changes lenses during a shoot make sure you do the following. Turn off camera and triggers and flashes. Change the lenses. Then turn on :

1. Camera

2. Flashes

3. Triggers

in that order

Thanks. It may have been something when switching to that lens. So odd it worked with other lens. I did not have time to mess around because my sister wanted to “recreate” a picture of her with her daughter in her wedding gown because wedding photographer never took one a few months ago. All right before Thanksgiving dinner.

---------- Post added 11-28-19 at 09:52 PM ----------

that is odd....maybe clean the contacts on the lens.....assuming it was set in the 'A' position

just about every time using my cactus stuff whether v6 or v6ii I encounter some type of issue even using pentax only gear.....

I think I need to switch brands. I have a lot of unexplained missed firing with cactus but this was so weird it was only on one lens. I think it’s time to upgrade.

[pschlute]

I think I need to switch brands. I have a lot of unexplained missed firing with cactus but this was so weird it was only on one lens. I think it’s time to upgrade

I use K-1 with Cactus V6II triggers ...up to 5 flash units. Don't have any issues. Just remember the order to switch things on.

The “x” on the dial that sets it to 180 shutter speed

So you use the flashes in Manual mode or P-TTL ?

[Aaron28]

I think I need to switch brands. I have a lot of unexplained missed firing with cactus but this was so weird it was only on one lens.

I don't use them often enough to be proficient in use.....it always seems to be 'something' different but when it works it works great......since I am still going through the learning curve not quite ready to bail and begin learning another system purdy sure they would have issues as well.....as simple as they should be to work all that simple stuff adds up making it easy to miss something along the way

[kaseki]

A flash problem resulting from changing a lens could be due to magic, but more likely is a CAMERA problem, as the Cactus system depends on the camera to provide information and receives no information directly from the lens.

P-TTL conjecture: My guess is that the flash wasn't triggered by the camera, and that was because to perform P-TTL, the camera needs to know the approximate target range to scale the pre-pulse. If the lens focus readout connection between lens and camera was only functioning intermittently, or the autofocus wasn't operating consistently, flash intermittency could result.

Manual flash conjecture: The camera refused to initiate the flash because some set of conditions it expected weren't met.

[BarryE]

As Peter says the switch on order is important. Also, like him I'm regularly using multiple Cactus units and very occasionally they get confused. It is very occasionally too. I'm also tethering with LR, which also sometimes freezes - I wonder if this tethering element in my set-up is the cause of more glitches than the Cactus units. Anyway, I just reset everything, which takes a minute or two then I'm good to go. Cactus flashes are excellent value, I think.

[Class A]

Put 100m back on and again flash would only go off once in while.

Are you changing anything else at the same time, e.g., the position of the flash (I'm assuming it is an RF60, there is no "Cactus rx90")?

If the V6 gets too close to the RF60 (say less than 15cm, or so) than you may get a radio signal overload situation.
I recommend to put the "WORK RANGE" setting in the V6 to "SHORT".

In very rare circumstances, the relative orientation of the RF60 can cause some "radio blindness", i.e., the radio antennas align in a way that makes it impossible for the RF60 to receive a signal. However, if you only changed lenses and one lens reliably worked with the flash, you are not encountering this extremely rare situation (which is easy to fix by rotating the RF60 a bit and compensate the light output by counteracting the adjustment with a corresponding head rotation).

Perhaps also try using "M" mode with a shutter speed of "1/180s" or lower.
The "X" mode should work as well, but I never had any misfiring with the "M" mode and cannot speak to the "X" mode as I don't use it.

I have a lot of unexplained missed firing with cactus but this was so weird it was only on one lens. I think it’s time to upgrade.

The V6 uses a super simple camera-trigger interface: the centre contact of the hot-shoe.
Hence, there is practically nothing that the V6 can screw up on its own.
Any problem of the sort you encountered is almost certainly caused by the camera not creating a flash trigger signal, for whatever reason (provided there is no issue with the radio signal, see above).

If you were using a V6II, which can make use of the P-TTL protocol, the situation would be more complicated.
You'd have to make sure that the lens is recognised as supporting P-TTL flash photography. An aperture ring moved away from the "A" position could cause issues, etc.
The X-TTL firmware variant of the V6II is also a bit more temperamental than the multi-brand variant, at least from my limited experience. I tested some early X-TTL firmware versions, didn't like them and returned to the multi-brand version (I don't use the P-TTL features anyhow).

However, again, a V6 is agnostic to all of the complications added by P-TTL that using a V6II adds to the "game".

If you are having trouble using a V6, you are very, very likely to encounter issues with other triggers as well. On the contrary, more capable triggers may throw more sticks into your path because they rely on more variables, such as the lens being properly recognised by the camera and the trigger making good contact with the hot-shoe contacts with more than just one big fat centre pin.

[Murfy]

I use K-1 with Cactus V6II triggers ...up to 5 flash units. Don't have any issues. Just remember the order to switch things on.



So you use the flashes in Manual mode or P-TTL ?

Yes. Manual mode

---------- Post added 11-29-19 at 09:54 AM ----------

Are you changing anything else at the same time, e.g., the position of the flash (I'm assuming it is an RF60, there is no "Cactus rx90")?

If the V6 gets too close to the RF60 (say less than 15cm, or so) than you may get a radio signal overload situation.
I recommend to put the "WORK RANGE" setting in the V6 to "SHORT".

In very rare circumstances, the relative orientation of the RF60 can cause some "radio blindness", i.e., the radio antennas align in a way that makes it impossible for the RF60 to receive a signal. However, if you only changed lenses and one lens reliably worked with the flash, you are not encountering this extremely rare situation (which is easy to fix by rotating the RF60 a bit and compensate the light output by counteracting the adjustment with a corresponding head rotation).

Perhaps also try using "M" mode with a shutter speed of "1/180s" or lower.
The "X" mode should work as well, but I never had any misfiring with the "M" mode and cannot speak to the "X" mode as I don't use it.


The V6 uses a super simple camera-trigger interface: the centre contact of the hot-shoe.
Hence, there is practically nothing that the V6 can screw up on its own.
Any problem of the sort you encountered is almost certainly caused by the camera not creating a flash trigger signal, for whatever reason (provided there is no issue with the radio signal, see above).

If you were using a V6II, which can make use of the P-TTL protocol, the situation would be more complicated.
You'd have to make sure that the lens is recognised as supporting P-TTL flash photography. An aperture ring moved away from the "A" position could cause issues, etc.
The X-TTL firmware variant of the V6II is also a bit more temperamental than the multi-brand variant, at least from my limited experience. I tested some early X-TTL firmware versions, didn't like them and returned to the multi-brand version (I don't use the P-TTL features anyhow).

However, again, a V6 is agnostic to all of the complications added by P-TTL that using a V6II adds to the "game".

If you are having trouble using a V6, you are very, very likely to encounter issues with other triggers as well. On the contrary, more capable triggers may throw more sticks into your path because they rely on more variables, such as the lens being properly recognised by the camera and the trigger making good contact with the hot-shoe contacts with more than just one big fat centre pin.

V6 triggers. Yes rf60, that was a missed typo. So if I have problems with firing it’s more likely camera issue? Sometimes when it doesn’t fire, I turn everything off remove the trigger and retighten, but that doesn’t always work. I wonder if there is something with the hot shoe. I have 2 transceivers, one cactus flash and the other flash is a nikon sb 800. I used the cactus flash mostly now but I would have random issues when I used the nikon. I don’t do paid work and this was mostly lighting for stuff at home, so fiddling around checking things is not a problem but yesterday I had my niece in her wedding dress and she just wanted to be done, so I did not have time to mess around. I shot 4 with the 100, flash went off once out of 4 shots. Went back to other lens and flash worked. Tried with 100 again, flash went off on first but not rest, so I took it off and went back to other lens. That lens was fine. We were in a hallway and flash was on a lightstand in corner bouncing light up into ceiling. I did test shots with my daughter first, so thankfully 1/2 the non flashed were of her.

Now that you mention it could be a camera issue (if I am understand correctly) that makes sense. I have had the k-3 since it first came out and used it very heavily. I have had it repaired due to one fall years ago and maybe there was some damage that was not noticeable. Anyway I am going to try to see if the issue with that lens can be recreated today and see if I can troubleshoot a bit.