Godox ad200 (non hotshoe) with Fuji XT-2

PeteDelaney

Hi guys,

Has anyone reliably setup the Cactus V6ii to fire the Godox ad200 flashes with a Fuji XT-2? Can it be done by using the Cactus with the Godox X1 trigger (assuming Canon version of X1?)? Otherwise I'll be stuck with waiting for a TT350F to be shipped from China...

Thanks in advance,

Pete. :-)

PeteDelaney

I understand the Godox X1 trigger for Canon has been stacked on top of the Cactus v6ii and tested successfully with the AD360 so I'm making an assumption that the AD200 should work the same?

Antonio

Indeed it should but we have tested such a setup.

FYI the AD600 works even without Godox's own X1 trigger. 

PeteDelaney

I'll let you know how I get on... I have 3 rebranded ad200s on order and the Cactus V6ii and a rebranded X1 trigger. Should all be with me today or tomorrow (this week sometime at the latest).

Pete. :-)

PeteDelaney

@Antonio when you say the ad600 works without the Godox X1 trigger I assume you're using 2 X Cactus V6ii - one as a receiver (connected to ad600 via sync cable) and one as a transmitter on the Fuji camera? 

The X1 triggers are  less expensive at under £45 in the UK, which makes the 'experimenting' a little less financially painful.

Antonio

Hi Pete, sure keep us posted on your findings.

Thank you!

PeteDelaney

@Antonio - You missed my question, reposted in case you can answer. Thank you.

When you say the ad600 works without the Godox X1 trigger I assume you're using 2 X Cactus V6ii - one as a receiver (connected to ad600 via sync cable) and one as a transmitter on the Fuji camera?

Antonio

@Antonio - You missed my question, reposted in case you can answer. Thank you.

When you say the ad600 works without the Godox X1 trigger I assume you're using 2 X Cactus V6ii - one as a receiver (connected to ad600 via sync cable) and one as a transmitter on the Fuji camera?

Ah yes, that's correct.

Technically speaking, all V6 II and V6 IIs requires at least two units to work, or a Cactus RF60 / RF60X wireless flash.

PeteDelaney

Thanks Antonio :-) ... I hope the 'stacked on camera' option works for me... as buying one Cactus unit makes perfect sense whilst waiting for strobe/flash manufacturers to support Fuji better.  But having to buy a Cactus V6ii for every strobe is financially, far from ideal.

kingkong

@Pete

Thanks Antonio :-) ... I hope the 'stacked on camera' option works for me... as buying one Cactus unit makes perfect sense whilst waiting for strobe/flash manufacturers to support Fuji better.  But having to buy a Cactus V6ii for every strobe is financially, far from ideal.

Godox will release X1T for Fuji soon.

PeteDelaney

@Pete

Thanks Antonio :-) ... I hope the 'stacked on camera' option works for me... as buying one Cactus unit makes perfect sense whilst waiting for strobe/flash manufacturers to support Fuji better.  But having to buy a Cactus V6ii for every strobe is financially, far from ideal.

Godox will release X1T for Fuji soon.

I have one on order :-) Sadly it won't arrive in time for a job I have.

PeteDelaney

For those interested - If you stack the X1 for Canon on the Cactus V6ii you can shoot in manual with the Fuji XT-2 and get HSS/TTL. Doesn't seem to work with HSS in aperture priority mode. But shooting manual, all is good.  I didn't remove the hot-shoe spring.  Also can change flash power remotely from the X1 and shoot manual flash without a snag.

Mmmm, not convinced now, I think I was wrong - inconsistent.

PeteDelaney

More trials and errors...

Took off the hotshoe spring and updated firmware from multi to purely Fuji.  With X1 on top of the V6ii I can't select manual. It auto reverts to TTL (works with HSS also) strange? In some cases TTL is invaluable but manual in a studio can be/is essential to me.

I guess the system wasn't meant to work with stacked triggers - has anyone found the ideal set up for this kind of stacked system (X1 is a canon variant)? 

Im sure the cactus is great with standard speedlights - but what I'm getting is inconsistency, I guess I'll have to wait for the dedicated X1-Fuji trigger.

Pete.

Antonio

l
...system wasn't meant to work with stacked triggers - has anyone found the ideal set up for this kind of stacked system (X1 is a canon variant)? 

Im sure the cactus is great with standard speedlights - but what I'm getting is inconsistency, I guess I'll have to wait for the dedicated X1-Fuji trigger.

Pete.

Indeed we never designed the V6 II for any type of stacking. You can get one more V6 II and connect it to your studio strobe for consistency.

For power control you would have to separate hold the X1 trigger. Not perfect but better than inconsistent triggering - using a setup not what the V6 II was designed to do.

PeteDelaney

l
...system wasn't meant to work with stacked triggers - has anyone found the ideal set up for this kind of stacked system (X1 is a canon variant)? 

Im sure the cactus is great with standard speedlights - but what I'm getting is inconsistency, I guess I'll have to wait for the dedicated X1-Fuji trigger.

Pete.

Indeed we never designed the V6 II for any type of stacking. You can get one more V6 II and connect it to your studio strobe for consistency.

For power control you would have to separate hold the X1 trigger. Not perfect but better than inconsistent triggering - using a setup not what the V6 II was designed to do.

Thanks Antonio... Yep another Cactus is ideal for one light - but when firing lots of strobes the single remote option is best... I've got kids to feed ;-)

PeteDelaney

OK - More findings...

This is what I think is going on - and a disclaimer here, it's so easy to make a mistake or misunderstand what is actually happening when you are working with two stacked triggers. I offer this as basis to work on.

If you are using the Cactus V6ii with the Canon X1 stacked on a Fuji XT-2 then my suggesting is for the time being to stick with using the Multi System Firmware and not the dedicated Fuji Firmware that you'll find in the Cactus Firmware updater. 

Why?

Because you can work the Godox AD200 flashes setting manual flash power from the X1, which is probably where you want to be for consistency - Works fine upto normal sync speed of 1/250th (I believe).

Also you can get HSS, but it seems to kick in above the 'learn HSS speed' of 1/1000sec. By now I was somewhat 'swamped' trying to remember what on earth was going on that I better not put much more detail on it in case I give you incorrect info - TTL isn't what I was striving for.

If you want HSS/TTL and don't wish to adjust your flash power settings in manual at all then perhaps try the dedicated Fuji firmware. When I was using that I couldn't select manual - not from the camera, nor from the cactus or the X1, it would just automatically go straight back to TTL.

At least I can use the AD200s from the Cactus and stacked X1 in manual (setting flash power remotely from the X1) up to 1/250th.  After that 'I suspect' I could jump to speeds above 1/1000th and use HSS. There is a 'no-man's land' between 1/250th and 1/1000th sec for HSS to start. I'm not particularly worried about TTL at the moment and can afford to wait for my X1-F trigger to arrive in around 4-6 weeks.

I didn't experiment long, just wanted to get the ball rolling to try some stuff later today and did not want have to stand staring at my 'Heath-Robinson' set up scratching my head whilst my 'volunteer model' was running out of patience with me... :-) I'm good to go in manual, which is a start. ;-)

Oh, and this was with the spring in-place on the Fuji hotshoe too (no need to remove it in my opinion).

chrismannphoto

I have also tested the AD200 with the Cactus V6 II and it can be made to work, at least in part.

I am using the latest (Fuji-specific) V6 II firmware.

In my tests, stacking the Godox XT1-C on top of the Cactus didn't really work - the flash fires, but as Pete mentioned the Godox trigger won't come out of TTL mode, and because it's a Canon dedicated trigger there is no actual TTL metering going on. So the flash fires but you can't adjust the power. You can get a correct exposure only by altering the camera settings to match the flash power, which is not of any practical use.

However, there is another way to control an AD200 from a Cactus. If you connect a V6II to the 3.5mm socket on the AD200 with a cable, and switch the AD200 to manual mode (via a long-press on the mode button), then you can get proper flash sync including HSS, fired from another V6 II (set to Fuji plus manual flash) in the camera hotshoe.

To adjust the AD200 output with this setup you either need to go old-school and turn the rotary dial on the back of the AD200, or plugin in a Godox FT-16 receiver into the USB port on the side of the AD200 (there is just enough room to plug this in alongside a 3.5mm cable).

Then you can use the FT-16 transmitter (handheld) to adjust the AD200's power output remotely, while the Cactus V6 II fires the flash and provides the HSS capability. Don't forget to switch the AD200 into HSS mode as well!

The FT-16 on its own works well with Fuji cameras to control the AD200, but only up to 1/250th sec; over that it doesn't sync as it's just a basic manual trigger.

PS: I didn't bother removing the hotshoe spring either.

One more tip: the shape of Cactus triggers and the hotshoe locking lever makes it a bit awkward to access the shutter speed / ISO dial - so with my X-Pro 2 cameras I find it helps to set the shutter speed dial to the "T" position and then use the front control wheel to alter shutter speed.

chrismannphoto

Native support for Godox flashes within the V6 system would be nice to have of course... :-)

PeteDelaney

@chrismannphoto - Thanks Chris, very useful input and findings from you :-) 

We are so close to seeing an X1-F controller now that hopefully many, many Fuji users will be very happy, very soon.  The V6ii is great at doing what it's supposed to do with compatible speedlights.  It was never designed to work as a 'stacked system' with Godox strobes. I'm keeping my V6ii as I've no doubt it will be very useful in the future but must admit my X1-F can't come soon enough.  Right tools for the job. 

Pete :-)

chrismannphoto

Yes I have ordered a Godox X-1F (which is coming by slow boat from China I think!!) and a TT350F flashgun which I believe can also control the AD200 by radio. The TT350F guns are now being advertised for Prime delivery on Amazon UK so I hope the one I preordered will be here this week or next.

I'll still be using my Cactus V6 and RF60 setup for OCF at weddings, where I don't need HSS, but it will be handy to have HSS with the AD200 and Fuji cameras for doing group photos and couple portraits outdoors on sunny days.