Misfires all the time: 60-80%!!!!
This forum is my last hope before throwing out my entire Cactus flash setup and trying something else. I have 6 Cactus flashes and 2 V6II transmitters and around 4 or 5 V6 transmitters. Out of the 6 RF60 flashes, only two will reliably fire, the other 4 have up to an 80% misfire rate.I am a real estate photographer so I film houses of all shapes and sizes, this problem is starting to cost me some serious time.
I use all Eneloop freshly charged batteries before every shoot, I have tried changing channels for all of the flashes, I upgraded the firmware in the RF60s to support the V6II, I don't know what else I need to do. The transmitter is mounted to a Canon 5D Mark IV and I had the same problem with my Mark III. I have also tried going back to the older transmitter and it did not help.
A new problem that I have only had with the V6II is that sometimes the wrong Flash will trigger; i.e. only A channel is turned on but Flash C will fire anyway.
I also have observed the flashes not triggering until I change the powerlevel a few times in the transmitter then the flash starts receiving again.
I have even tried putting my cell phone in airplane mode thinking it may be causing interference....nothing helps the problem, it's like the longer I have these flashes, the worst they get.
I have to believe I'm doing something wrong, there's no way these flashes would still be used if everyone had my problems. I never had a single issue with my Pocket Wizards and LumoPro flashes.
I use all Eneloop freshly charged batteries before every shoot, I have tried changing channels for all of the flashes, I upgraded the firmware in the RF60s to support the V6II, I don't know what else I need to do. The transmitter is mounted to a Canon 5D Mark IV and I had the same problem with my Mark III. I have also tried going back to the older transmitter and it did not help.
A new problem that I have only had with the V6II is that sometimes the wrong Flash will trigger; i.e. only A channel is turned on but Flash C will fire anyway.
I also have observed the flashes not triggering until I change the powerlevel a few times in the transmitter then the flash starts receiving again.
I have even tried putting my cell phone in airplane mode thinking it may be causing interference....nothing helps the problem, it's like the longer I have these flashes, the worst they get.
I have to believe I'm doing something wrong, there's no way these flashes would still be used if everyone had my problems. I never had a single issue with my Pocket Wizards and LumoPro flashes.
Comments
In the meantime please send us the serial numbers of your RF60.
Thank you.
Brand Manager
Have you tried rolling back the firmware on the RF60 to V1.42 and using the V6 again? If that helps then it would be a big clue that something isn't right with the V6II + RF60 communication.
However, some of your issues (wrong groups firing, power level update required, etc.) sound a bit like you might be using multiple transmitters at the same time (for a shared set of flashes). The V6 does not support such a usage well (you have to always change the power level when you switch to a new transmitter, otherwise the settings of the old one will still be in place) and the V6II requires the use of the "multi master" mode to deal with this situation.
x-post from http://www.cactus-image.com/community/discussion/comment/2878/#Comment_2878
We will release new firmware for the RF60 very soon to address the misfiring problem.
Thank you for your understanding during this time.
Brand Manager
B50700905
B50700377
B50700385 - High misfire rate
B50700906
B51200246
B50700059 - High misfire rate
The two listed above with the high misfire rate had the problem before the latest firmware. It's so bad I labelled them so that I would only use them as a last resort and only nearby so that I could more easily fiddle with the settings to try to get them to work.
These flashes are absolutely awesome when they work, if new firmware fixes these issues that would be great.
We just released the v203 firmware which should fix the mid to long range instability and misfiring problem.
Please see if it works on your RF60 units.
Thank you!
Brand Manager
Try V204 for the RF60. I think it finally addressed the RF60 misfires.
I'm having similar issues with a Canon 5D Mk II and my Cactus Wireless Flash transceivers V6 II -Serial no: E 61102644 & E 61102098; RF 60X G70300998
RF 60X G7030098.The V6II's don't fire or intermittently fire the RF60's.
The mode on the RF60 keeps going back to OFF in the menu, and you can't change the the power or zoom settings.
Please advise if you can help? Thanks
Julian