Manual vs. TTL

emmgee

I have a Fujifilm X-T2, V6 II, and RF60X.  I'm new to the flash world and new to Cactus.  I primarily intended to use the flash off-camera.  I purchased the V6 II and RS-60X so that I have "one throat to choke" in getting the two devices to work well together.  All devices have the latest firmware.

For now the main focus of using the flash system is for event photography.  I have a company event where I will be photographing the award ceremony (i.e, I can set up the flash on a stand and the subjects and I will be standing in predictable places) and I expect to take pictures of attendees in sort of a roving fashion.  I was asked to shoot the award recipients after they accept the award so this is what I most want to have turn out nicely.

I've been watching YouTube videos that describe the pros and cons of manual vs. TTL especially as regards off-camera usage.  It seems to me that I should learn both methods.  The V6 II describes TTL reasonably well but I don't see anything specific to manual mode other than chapter 13.

I see that if you press the Menu button for two seconds that you can toggle between TTL mode and whatever the opposite is.  I don't see that the opposite of TTL has a name.  Is that for manual flash use?

In chapter 13 it discusses remote manual power control and zoom control.  But when I read the chapter the first point is "Connect the flash units to the V6 II."  Since I want to use the flash off camera, this doesn't seem like the right place to start unless it is referring to using two V6 II units, one for TX and one for RX (in which case point #1 does make sense).

Because I am using the RF60X, of course I don't need a pair of V6 II units.  If someone can point to the place in the user guide of either device that explains how to use the Cactus system to be an off-camera manual flash I would appreciate it.  There are many references in the RF60X user guide to "manual HSS" but I don't think that's what I'm looking for.

To be safe, this is what I understand "manual" mode to be:  the flash is set to a particular power level and it shoots at that power level irrespective of the ambient lighting on the subject.  For off-camera use, the V6 II would be used to control the power level of the flash.  TTL would be where the camera's TTL system uses an initial flash to establish the correct power level for the desired exposure and the V6 II passes the TTL information through to the flash.

I'm happy to read both manuals and/or watch YouTube videos.  As of now I simply can't get what I need from the manual.

lansa301

Photography is ruled by this few statements:

Everything is a trade off. Any change that you made in one variable will bring consequences and is going to affect the other variables. There is not such thing like a "free lunch".

If you learn the balance trick you will be fine.

Practice a lot and be patience.

Better that watch someone else, go yourself inside and practice. Later you can go outside and keep practice.

Keep It Simple, introduce one change at a time to clearly understand what is going on.

Now, to answer your questions:

Using one V6II transceiver and one Cactus RF-60X flash you do not need another V6II yet. The RF-60X have the transceiver incorporated.

Some people make very hard the explanation when to use TTL or Manual to set your flash power. But the truth is simple:

Use TTL if the distance between your subject/object and your light source (the off-camera flash) is changing constantly.

Use Manual if the distance between your subject/object and your light source (the off-camera flash) is the same.

Notice that I have not mentioned the distance between your subject/object and your camera. That is because your light source is not attached to your camera.

Your goal is to get repeatedly and constantly good results.

In both cases, TTL and Manual, you can adjust the values to increase or decrease the flash power. 

This is a matter of taste, one could prefer it more salty, other more sweet, other spicy, other mixed...

You are on the right path. Master your one flash. Later you can introduce more light sources and learn how to balance the ambient light with your flash. Finally you will be available to use multiple flashes and the ambient light to create your own vision of the scene.

Antonio

Hi @emmgee

Welcome to the forum and the world of flash photography.

To switch between manual (M) mode and TTL, on the V6 II cycle through the Group button.

Pressing it once it changes from TTL mode to M, pressing it again changes from M to off.

Once you try it over time you will get the hang of it, like @lansa301 said above.

For your awards ceremony, if the ambient light is more or less the same, you can leave the power output pretty much the same.

Don't hesitate to post more questions should you have. Cheers!

emmgee

To Iansa301:  Thank you for your note.  I really liked reading it and now I'll go off and think about it and try to incorporate your suggestions.  Wise words.

To Antonio:  I followed your suggestion and I do see the small indicator that goes from TTL > M > Blank.  Because I hadn't noticed a reference to this in the manual, I went back to look for it.  I see no reference to it!  Why is that?

The diagram of the LCD in TX mode (page 11) doesn't show anything in this position.  The discussion of TTL pass-through (section 8) doesn't mention it either.  It does say that you enable/disable TTL pass-through mode by pressing on the Menu button for two seconds.  Doing this turns on/off "TTL" in the lower left.  But there is no indication of the "TTL" indicator next to the battery icon on page 18.  There is no reference in the "Group Control" table on page 21.  No reference in the "TTL Pass-through" table on page 22.

So as far as I can tell, your guidance is not reflected in the manual.

It is possible to have "M" displayed next to the battery icon and "TTL" displayed in the lower left.  Do these conflict with each other?

emmgee

Sorry, one more question:  When setting to "M" or "TTL" via the group button, are any changes required on the RS60X?

lansa301

My pleasure.

You are not going to find any reference on the printed manual handbook because the X-Firmware was introduced later.

You can find the quick reference guide (PDF) to download and other information on this mini-site:

https://www.cactus-image.com/special/X-TTL/

Do not hesitate to ask any other question.

Antonio

Thanks @lansa301 for pointing to the Quick Start Guide.

Everything is controlled from the V6 II Transmitter unit. So you don't have to do anything on the RF60X.

Cheers!

emmgee

To Iansa301:  FWIW, the link above doesn't have any quick reference guide that I could find.  When you click on "DOWNLOADS" it takes you to the standard page on the Cactus web site. I've downloaded all of the manuals from that web site and studied them pretty thoroughly.

emmgee

Antonio,

You may have missed my question above:  "It is possible to have "M" displayed next to the battery icon and "TTL" displayed in the lower left.  Do these conflict with each other?"

It seems there are two ways to turn on TTL.  One is via the Group button and one is via the Menu button.  I would like to know which approach completely turns on TTL and which approach completely turns it off ("Manual")

BTW, I tried all possible combinations of pressing the Group button and Menu button.  After each combination I looked at the flash section of the Fujifilm X-T2 menu.  TTL is on for every one of the combinations.

When I briefly was using 1.010, the X-T2 menu show "M".  After loading FUJ.1.002 it always shows that it is in TTL mode.  I don't see a way to turn off TTL in the X-T2 menu.

emmgee

As I await your further guidance, I did an experiment.  There are four combinations of using the Menu button to turn TTL on and off and using the Group button to set to TTL or M:

1. Menu TTL On, Group A TTL

2. Menu TTL On, Group A M

3. Menu TTL Off, Group A TTL

4. Menu TTL Off, Group A M

After each setting, I looked at the RF60X.  Settings 1 and 3 displayed "TTL" and the dial on the V6 II changes the relative power values.  Settings 2 and 4 did not display "TTL" and the dial on the V6 II changes the power level values.

I took a series of pictures with each and verified that the camera interprets 1 and 3 the same (TTL) and interprets 2 and 4 the same (Manual).

I have one RF60X and am using it off camera.  I assigned it to Group A, hence the reference to Group A above.  

My feedback:  It seems a lot harder/confusing to set up the system for Manual than it should be, especially given that there is no documentation.  I think it would be a kindness to your customers to update the user guides that are posted online to make this much more clear.

lansa301

Sorry, the link was broken.

Try this, scrolling all the way down are the downloads:

https://www.cactus-image.com/special/X-TTL/

Antonio

Are you referring to the MENU button on the V6 II?

But that's ONLY for swapping between M and TTL modes for the on-camera flash.

For off-camera flash, you simply press the Group Button, in your case, the "A" group button. 

Cheers!