580EX II ETTL Issues

Mattpugs

Is there an issue with the Cactus V6 triggers and the Canon 580EX II? I'm not sure what the deal is but I have been having a hell of a time at events getting these to work flawlessly and thats with the latest firmware. Basically I put the trigger on my camera and mount the flash, it immediately knocks my flash out of ETTL. If I try to use the flash it will over expose everything by 2 or 3 stops. I have to pull the batteries, pull the flash and remount. Sometimes it works and ETTL comes back, other and most times it turns on a random custom function I do not even have set and again, gets stuck on TTL. Last night I was able to get them to work at a faster rate but it is effecting both of my camera's using 580EX II. I noticed there is only one profile for a 580EX, is there one for the II? Has this issued been reported before and is there a fix? Thanks!

raychan

Hello Mattpugs

May I help?

Whenever the 580EX II uses with V6, the Custom Function 5 (Fn5) will
switch from ETTL (0) to TTL (1) automatically. It is because the V6 is
based on the analogue TTL to control Canon flash.  Did your flash switch between ETTL and TTL randomly? Usually it will switch to TTL once at the time the V6 is turned on.

Each flash has its unique profile. The V6 is based the profile to determine the power level output. So, at the first to use the V6, it is required to select a flash profile regarding to the flash that mounts on. The profile of Canon 580EX* works fine to 580EXII. To select profile, please press MENU button in either TX / RX > CHOOSE PROFILE > select CANON 580EX* . Also, the 580Ex II has to set to TTL mode.

I hope that helps. Look forward to hearing you.

Mattpugs

Now are you talking about the receivers? I have no issue with those. My issue is with the flash on my camera with the trigger as the transceiver. I have my profiles set but when I put the flash and trigger on my camera it knocks it out of ETTL and like I said, over exposes everything by 2-3 stops. I have to pull batteries, clear random functions and sometimes it will work, sometimes it wont. I'm really not sure what is causing it.

raychan

Did you turn on the TTL pass-through in the V6 when the V6 is sandwiched between the camera and the flash. With TTL pass-through, the flash should work as it mounts directly on the camera. All TTL / ETTL function works as it should.

To activate that, please press and hold the MENU button for two seconds in V6 Tx unit. The TTL icon will appear on the V6's display.

Thank you.

Mattpugs

Yes it is on. When I mount both the trigger and flash on the camera for the first time is normally when it happens. I have a total of 4 triggers, one I can't even use as a tx because I can't get it to stop doing what it is doing to the flash. It has to be in rx. I'm just not sure how to deal with this in the long run, it doesn't look to be a common issue here.

raychan

It seems that one of the V6 acts abnormally. Did you have chance to switch them to use since you have 4 V6's?

Maybe you can link me to the video / picture to show the problem? I will let my Engineering Team to inspect it for solution.

I'm not sure whether it is bug or defective. Your further information will be helpful.

Mattpugs

Oh yea, it happens with all 4 of my triggers when they are bing used as the tx. This happens on both of my Canon 5D Mark III's and 580exii. I can see if later this evening after work I can get some video up, that will honestly be the best way to show you what happens.

Class A

Did you select the "Canon 580EX*" profile on the transmitter as well?

TTL pass-through requires that the correct flash model is selected on the transmitter.

Once you have confirmed that the transmitter has the flash profile set correctly and you still have problems, I suggest experimenting with the ordering of switching on units.

P.S.: There is also an "unlock" functionality on the V6, but that may only be useful for certain Nikon models.