Lumix GX8 & Nikon flashes

VanIslander

Sadly & frustratingly, I cannot get my Lumix GX8 or GX7 to work with my Nikon flashes & your hardware.. I have tried various combinations but mostly to no avail.

Here's the setup. Nikon SB 600, SB 800, 2 V6s & 2 V611 units. There IS communication in that both the camera system (as Olympus) is recognised on V611 in TX mode, & the other V611 & both V5s recognise the flashes. I can alter the power levels from my camera with a V611 & get a confirmation signal from the RX units so I know the connection seem good. I have also downloaded the latest firmware for both sets of Cactus triggers. But no flash results when I press the shutters.

Both cameras have clean teminal shoes (other flashes work fine as well as the Nikon ones firing when directly placed on the cameras).  Very occasionally, I do get a flash result. But that is not a repeat result. 5 minutes later, nothing!

Can you help? Or should I just throw them all away & buy a different product? 

Antonio

Hello @Vanlslander,

I am sorry to hear about the initial hiccups with the setup.

From your description, sounds like there is a connection issue between the camera and the transmitter (V6 II TX).

Try this:

For certain camera models, Olympus, Panasonic and Fujifilm, removing the spring plate will greatly improve connectivity.  

Thank you and please keep us posted.

VanIslander

Thanks for the suggestion, however before I start taking my camera apart, I should advise of some progress. I've found that using the 2 v6 11 units in RX mode & sticking a V6 on the camera in TX mode - bingo - I get flashes from the Nikons. Can even use a SB-80DX sometimes.

But I want to be able to use a V6 11 on my Lumix in TX mode, reliably. Surely if the connection in the hot shoe was poor, wouldn't the same result (no flash at all) occur with a the v6?

Antonio

If connection is "poor", i.e. some of the hot shoe contact pins are not lined up but the centre pin is 98% lined up, and this will give you basic flash triggering. 

And removing the metal spring plate is far from taking your camera apart.

Also, I must have missed your mixture of V6 and V6 II units.

Only the V6 II can act as transmitter. V6 II is the smart one.

The original V6 cannot trigger a V6 II.

Only the V6 II can trigger a V6.

Just in case you do not know this.

Thanks!

VanIslander

Thank you, Antonio, for your advice so far. I took your advice & pried the little plate out of the hotshoe, & lo...! no difference...still no response from the flashguns. so spent the next hour trying to replace the tiny, fragile looking plate...were your ears red from my mutterings?

Eventually it went in properly & I tried some experiments, to find that instead of allowing the V611 default of Olympus on my Lumix GX8, I had to set the camera system as "other". And then it worked. I was able to set power levels on each flash & got a corresponding acknowledgement in the leds on the RX units.

i couldn't find any reference to this camera system setting in the written material - is that correct? Have others mentioned this?

Anyway, some success, & perhaps my experience might help others. It wasn't a bad connection in the hotshoe, after all. 

Antonio

When you manually set the <CAMERA SYSTEM> to OTHERS, it simply turns the V6 II into a basic trigger using only the centre hot shoe pin - it won't support High-speed sync, in case you need it.

When your GX8 is auto-detected by the V6 II you will see a "O" inside the camera icon.

O is for Olympus, which shares the same flash system with Panasonic Lumix.

As for your Nikon flashes, as listed on the Quick Start Guide, always power on the devices top down:

1)  Switch the flash on

2)  Set flash to TTL mode

3)  Turn on HSS / FP mode

4)  Switch on the V6 II to RX mode

FYI the V6 II only works with digital TTL flashes. Old flash models that runs purely in Analog TTL will NOT work on the V6 II.

Class A

FYI the V6 II only works with digital TTL flashes. Old flash models that runs purely in Analog TTL will NOT work on the V6 II.

Well, they will work. One just does not get remote power level control (nor remote zoom control, nor HSS). Basic triggering works, though.

Antonio

In that case, yes. 

Basic flash triggering will not have a problem.

To those who wants basic flash triggering and do not really care about remote power control, please consider the Cactus V5:

https://store.cactus-image.com/cactus-v5-wireless-flash-transceiver-duo/

Cheers!

VanIslander

Well, Antonio, despite your good efforts to help, the basic problem still remains. I've followed your sequence of instructions, to find:

Camera is recognised as O

Flash is correctly recognised as either SB600 or SB 800

The spring thing is out & now back in

The power levels can be set both on the TX & reflected correctly on the RX unit..and then....

NOTHING! 

The flash does not respond. 

I've also tried this on the GX7 I have - same (lack of) result.

Am I doing something else wrong? Or is your product just not ready for M43?

And yet, when I change the camera on the TX, to {other) I get a flash. The 2 Cactus units are communicating - when I change the power levels on the TX I get the same level displayed on the RX, so I can't see how it can be a pin problem, & again, if your product is claimed to be compatible with M43, why does this problem not go away?

I would like to be able to use Cactus products, but, such difficulty!

Antonio

From our experience, most of the time it's a setup error. 

Second, the problem could also be caused firmware version may not be the latest version.

Third, it is related to setup where there is a connection issue:  namely between camera and transmitter / flash and receiver.

I did a quick walk-through video showing how I setup our GX8 with a Nikon SB-600.  Could you check if it is any different than yours?

Be sure to run a Factory Reset on all your V6 II units before attempting to setting up your camera and flashes again for testing.  This can make sure you are getting a fresh start for the V6 II. 

Thank you and let us know if you notice any differences in gear setup, gear placement, etc.

Cheers!

VanIslander

Well, Antonio, I'm pleased to report some progress. Thanks for the video, by the way - it enabled me to confirm that my setup is OK & exactly the same as in your video.. So, the V611 will trigger the other V611 wiith eitther an SB600 or SB800 on board. But with a V6 mounted beneath the SB600 at the same time, set to B,  nothing on B, but A works fine. So far, the V611 will work with & without the spring plate in on the V611. 

I have 2 V611 & 2 V6 units. I need now to get them all to work together...shouldn't the V611 be able to fire a flash on a V6? 

Antonio

Yes, but the V6 MK1 must have firmware version 2.xx in order to be triggered by a V6 MK2.  Normal HSS is not supported when you use V6, only Power Sync.

VanIslander

I'm still frustrated with using Cactus products with M43 cameras. I have 2 V5, 2 V6s & 2 V611s. I also have Lumix GX7, GX8 & an old GF2. As well as a Nikon D7000.

The Cactus products work well on the Nikon. The V6 Mk1s have Version 2.1.001 firmware & the V611s have 1.1.011.All 6s have been reset as well. I have tried them on all 3 Lumix cameras to find that although the V611s will fire each other, they will not even fire the V5 without some playing around with the menus ("other" seems to work.) 

 But I cannot get the V611 to fire the V6 units, on any of the Lumix cameras. (but I could on an old Canon G10 !!)  Taking out the spring plate makes no difference. I don't think they're faulty, The problem must either be in the firmware or in my set up. In your video, you just demonstrated V611 to V611, not to V6 as far as I can tell. What am I doing wrong??? I have followed all the instructions in both your video & the leaflets supplied with the units.

Antonio

Thanks for the update and clarifications.

In my test video above I missed not having a V6 MK1, and as I just did, I was able to repeat what you described above, shooting between a Lumix and a Nikon DSLR so you are not doing anything wrong.

I have already advised R&D about the software bug so they are looking into this as I type. We apologize for the inconvenience caused during this time and the extra tests we put you through in troubleshooting your setup.

We shall have a fix within the next couple of days. Your understanding during this time is very much appreciated.  

Thank you.

Antonio

@Vanlslander, a quick update.

Our initial investigation reveals that the Panasonic Lumix GX8 behaves "a little different" than other cameras. 

To put in simple words, the GX8 is not able to give what Nikon flashes is asking for. This is something most if not everybody else has. So we will need more time to figure a way to make this work. 

FYI we will extend our investigation to other Lumix cameras as well.

Thank you.

Antonio

The mystery has been solved.

We discovered that Lumix cameras always send out a HSS command code. It never sends out an x-sync command.

Now, when the receiver is a V6 MK1, which cannot decode HSS commands, will not fire. 

Other cameras you tested worked, like the Canon G10, or Nikon D7000, because cameras send out an x-sync command, as they should.

So in conclusion, if you want to use your Lumix cameras to trigger your existing (or any) flashes with a V6 MK2, they must be mounted on a V6 MK2. 

Thank you.

VanIslander

Well, thank you very much for your efforts to resolve this puzzle. I appreciate the feedback here, even if it's disappointing to discover that my Cactus triggers will not work on  Micro 4/3 cameras as implied in your publicity. And it would have been good to have been aware of this limitation before purchasing. 

I wonder if this apparent exception also applies to Olympus cameras? I assume so, as Lumix are recognised as "O" in V6 mk11 units.

Is there any chance that this situation will be dealt with in the upcoming TTL firmware release for M4/3? 

VanIslander

Well, Antonio, an addendum to your conclusion in your last post, which gave me a clue as to a better solution (for me anyway) than spending C$150 on another V6 Mk11 at this stage & that is to simply turn off HSS in the Mk 11 menu. Then, as I've just discovered, the Mk1 will fire, as does the V5. I can still use power levels on the vanilla V6.
Just thought I'd share this with you & others as a get around to the apparent Lumix peculiarity. Most of the time I don't use HSS, anyway.

Antonio

Yes, it caught us off-guard too. One would of never expect a camera to always fire HSS commands. And no, Olympus does not behave like this. But a V6-V6 or V6II-V6II setup would work fine with a Lumix camera, or the workaround you suggested above by setting V6 II's sync mode to HSS off. Thank you!

jakobmalm

I also have a Panasonic Lumix GX8 and am considering buying a used cactus system. Will HSS work with a V6II + multiple off-camera RF60 units setup (i.e. with V6II units under the RF60 units) together with my camera?

raychan

@jakobmalm Don't worry. The Cactus V6 II and RF60 also works with Panasonic GX8. Just make sure the firmware has updated to X-TTL in both V6 II and RF60.

All the best,