Jump to content

Cactus V6 Delay Mode - Anyone gotten it to work?


Recommended Posts

I bought a Cactus V6 in the hopes of being able to use the delay mode to get a working rear curtain sync with my Fuji X-T1s and X-Pro 2. I'm trying to avoid having to do an optical slave sync.

 

Anyway, with the following set up: X-Pro2, Cactus V6, delay mode set to 990 ms, shutter set to 1 sec, Godox V850 on a Cactus v5 in receiver mode, the flash consistently fires at the beginning of the exposure. The programmed delay seems to be being ignored completely.

 

Has anyone gotten the delay mode to work with a Cactus v6 on a Fuji camera with any set up?

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

I've not tried to mix V5 and V6, but I've used the Cactus system extensively and I've picked up on a few niggles to keep in mind.

 

First thing is to check you've not set a delay or other different sync option on both triggers. Only have one sync/delay option set on one trigger, and leave the other neutral; triggers don't like it when one is trying to do a delay and the other is trying to do HSS or whatever. I believe the whole system has to be set to TTL mode, too, so flash power is controlled from the transmitting trigger; if the flash itself is set to manual control, it will be ignoring everything the Cactus triggers tell it except to trigger in a basic fashion.

 

Also bear in mind that the delay should be timed to include any shutter lag, AF time, and other delays caused during normal use of the camera. It could be that the trigger is delaying the flash properly, but the shutter isn't being released until later than you think, so the flash seems to come toward the start of the exposure anyway.

Now to test if you have a problem, first thing I'd do is swap the triggers around, so the V6 is on the flash and the V5 is on the camera. Having not mixed V5 and V6 triggers before, I don't know if the order matters, but it's worth giving a try.
The other thing is to put the triggers into optical mode, so they're trigger using the IR beam instead of over radio. Whether this works or not will rule out whether you have radio interference, an incompatibility between the radio signals of the two different generations of trigger, etc. Everything should always work just fine with the optical signal. Make sure the triggers are pointed directly at each other when you test this. Don't put them too close together because Cactus are made to not trigger when they're too close. (Stops accidental battery drain when they're knocking about in a camera bag.) Test them about 36" apart. If it works, that means there's a problem with your radio signal wherever you're trying to use it, but the rest of the system is all compatible and working as it should. If IR doesn't work, that means you've not set the delay mode correctly, or there's a fundamental hardware fault or incompatibility with the camera/flash/flash triggers.

The last thing I can think of to test is a different flash unit. The V850 isn't officially supported, I think. Other Godox flashes are, but I can't recall that one being mentioned. I could be wrong. In any case, testing the system with another flash wouldn't be a bad idea, if you can. Lots of flashes which are not officially supported do still work, so I can't think why the V850 wouldn't, but it's something to consdier and test if you can.

I can say that I've never had any problems with V5 pairs triggering each other in any mode (though the V5 can't control delay itself, of course) and I've not had any problems with pairs of V6s, either. For what (little) it's worth, while writing this I tested my V6s doing a 500ms delay with an old Canon 430EX flash and the X-T10, and it's working each time. Like I said, I've not tried mixing V6s and V5s, though. There is a new version of the V6 coming soon, which will support HSS, and you might want to consider replacing the older V5 with one of the new V6s.

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

aceflibble - thanks!

 

I had not thought to swap the triggers around, and have the Cactus V5 as the on camera transmitter, and the V6 on camera.

 

If you do that, the V6 will delay triggering the Godox V850 for the set amount of time.

 

It appears that V6 does not delay sending the trigger signal, but rather sends it at shutter press with delay information attached, and the dumb old V5 only hears "Fire!"

 

While this is frustrating - I was hoping to use the single V6 on camera to send a delay signal to a group of flashes controlled by V5s to simulate rear curtain sync (shakes fist at Fuji for screwing this up), I can at least make it work now with a combination of radio and optical slaves. Which will tide me over until the cactus v6 IIs arrive.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Similar Content

  • Posts

    • Looking more like the next Fuji camera we see will be an X-T50 but it is still a rumor and no specs have been published.
    • Hey guys, The shutter on/off button switch may be loose on mine. After turning camera on and pressing the shutter/holding close to the area, the camera will turn off and say 'sensor cleaning'. This doesn't happen if I'm shooting via touch screen at all. Everything else is functional. Anyone else experience this before? Would love a much cheaper fix since Fuji Canada just quoted me $700 CAD to fix it, and considering everything else is functional except that part I'm not even sure why MPMB Main Board parts is being replaced😕 I got no explanation from them either.
    • As far as I know the firmware is not country specific. Are you sure that the filename has not been changed ( I am told this can happen with mac os). That's the only thing I can think of.
    • My x-t5 does not exhibit the focusing switch behaviour as you report it, so that is very strange and indicative of a fault. It does not matter whether the flash is attached or not. Once you set the camera for your studio flash, say 1/250th at f5.6, the camera, which is showing you what you will get at that exposure without the flash, will show a black screen unless the ambient light is brighter than what you would typically get indoors. That is why, as Jerry says, you have to set preview exp/wb to off. I have set a button for this.
    • I connected to FRAME.IO a while back and it works fine, but the camera wouldn't connect to the internet all of a sudden today and would get stuck on the reset screen, including initializing and even switching USB Connection mode. Is anyone else experiencing the same thing?
×
×
  • Create New...