Change of settings while in the field

ozsuguitan

Hi!

I've been using my V6 IIs and II mixed with RF60 units for a while now and I've gotten used to the unique habits of these units. Overall i'm happy. 

I've gotten into a habit of turning my main transmitter off and on for so long that when a peer of mine asked me why i was pausing every 20 minutes or so to reset my transmitters, I didn't think it was a problem until it was pointed out I was doing this. I shouldn't have to do this!

I'm currently using a6000 and A7rii cameras with the same set of 3 V6 IIs and V6 II plus two RF60. 

What happens is that the transmitter will stop working and need to be reset, or the camera will need to be power cycled in order to resume communicating with the stand alone flashes. I'm using the newest firmware to today 18 April 2017.

I know that I've lost shots because of flashes not going off. This happens in outdoor environments and indoor ones. 

Sometimes I'll take a shot and have the intuition to chimp it and realize that the transmitter has gone from my settings to 1/128 all groups or 1/1 all groups. That's the situation that drives me crazy because I'll have to redo my settings which can take a minute and in the middle of a shoot you know that can feel like an eternity.

Does anyone else have these problems? It can't just be me.

-Oz

Antonio

Hey Oz,

Thanks for reporting the weird behavior, I have forwarded to our R&D team so they can try and replicate it.

Was there an average time period that the TX unit decides to behave weirdly?

And is the camera's power saving mode on or off?

Thanks!

ozsuguitan

Hi there!

Sorry that I don't answer as quickly as I used to, I'm in the field using these as my primary flash triggers. I've been pleased so far, but little wonks have been holding me back from recommending them with 100% (I'm in the 85% to 90% range) confidence.

My flow:

- set the flashes on Rx set IIs

- test fire for connection

- test photo with the subject with flash

- set of 5 shots, bracketed aperture

- change subject, rinse, repeat

This is in an indoor environment 99% of the time, in official buildings so no wifi.

By the third or fourth set, I will lose a flash, generally the keylight. and to solve, I just power cycle the camera and the transmitters. The flashes don't seem to need the power cycle.

The cameras are NOT in power saving mode. I'm doing back to back portraits sometimes 25 - 40 subjects at a time and can't wait for the camera(s) to spin up.

I've developed a problem with one of my RF60 which I will post in the appropriate section.

Class A

Antonio, this sounds like the V6II may go into SLEEP mode, even though it is being used and/or the SLEEP functionality has been set to OFF.

I've read a number of reports now that could be explained with a bug in the SLEEP functionality.

paulster

I experienced something like this at the weekend and haven't been able to replicate it since.  I found that the flash would stop firing, but I could get it back to life by pressing the test button on the Tx trigger.

It was usually after spending a moment reviewing images, recomposing, etc., so I wonder if it was going into sleep mode.

Antonio

Antonio, this sounds like the V6II may go into SLEEP mode, even though it is being used and/or the SLEEP functionality has been set to OFF.

I've read a number of reports now that could be explained with a bug in the SLEEP functionality.

It's possible.  I have already forwarded it to R&D guys to check.

Thank you and will report back early next week.