Suggestions on how to "learn" with two Nikon TTL flashes?
Hello all,
I'm in the process of moving from Phottix Strato II to Cactus V6, and have three V6 units so far. As budget allows, I'll pick up the remaining three that I need to fully replace the Strato II units. My primary use for wireless slaves is shooting amateur roller derby, so this is a hobby rather than an income.
So far the V6 is working well with my SB-600, but I'm not sure what I should do with the other three stations I have set up in the rink. The other three are a mix of old Nikon TTL flashes, including SB-24, SB-25, SB-26, and SB-28DX. Each of these three stations has two flashes. One flash sits on the wireless slave, and the other flash currently connects to the wireless slave via an 1/8" to PC cable.
I'm thinking I need to train the three V6 about the power output of the two attached flashes (each station will always have the same configuration, so I don't have to worry about mixing them up), but I'm not sure if it will work properly?
Will a configuration of SB-24 on the V6 and SB-24 with PC cable connected to the V6's 1/8" socket train properly (hopefully this is the case) at 1m from a white surface? Or do I need to replace my PC cables with Nikon SC-19 TTL sync cords (at least they're not that expensive used through eBay)? Or will this not work at all (but I can't see why it wouldn't work)?
Thanks,
Chris
I'm in the process of moving from Phottix Strato II to Cactus V6, and have three V6 units so far. As budget allows, I'll pick up the remaining three that I need to fully replace the Strato II units. My primary use for wireless slaves is shooting amateur roller derby, so this is a hobby rather than an income.
So far the V6 is working well with my SB-600, but I'm not sure what I should do with the other three stations I have set up in the rink. The other three are a mix of old Nikon TTL flashes, including SB-24, SB-25, SB-26, and SB-28DX. Each of these three stations has two flashes. One flash sits on the wireless slave, and the other flash currently connects to the wireless slave via an 1/8" to PC cable.
I'm thinking I need to train the three V6 about the power output of the two attached flashes (each station will always have the same configuration, so I don't have to worry about mixing them up), but I'm not sure if it will work properly?
Will a configuration of SB-24 on the V6 and SB-24 with PC cable connected to the V6's 1/8" socket train properly (hopefully this is the case) at 1m from a white surface? Or do I need to replace my PC cables with Nikon SC-19 TTL sync cords (at least they're not that expensive used through eBay)? Or will this not work at all (but I can't see why it wouldn't work)?
Thanks,
Chris
Comments
In order for the V6 to control the flash power ouput of a remote (slave) flash, the flash unit must be hot shoe mounted.
A PC sync cable can only transmit a basic flash triggering signal, there's no other information being transmtted, so each flash unit has to be mounted on a V6 transceiver's hot shoe and with the corresponding flash profile.
If a particular flash model is not listed, you may try to learn it's flash profile by using the Learning Program built-in on each V6. Be sure to install the latest firmware version as I believe the latest one has improved the learning program - giving more time for the flash to recharge after each cycle. In any case, do put in fresh (charged) set of batteries before the learning the flash.
Please let us know if we can be of further assistance.
Thank you!
Brand Manager
I do hear what you're saying about the PC cable not being usable in this context, so what I'll do is pick up a few Nikon TTL flash sync cables. The Nikon SC-26 cable, for example, is a 5ft cable which does support legacy TTL (not i-TTL or D-TTL) and connects two SB-2x flashes together, and "teach" the V6 for that particular configuration of the two attached TTL flashes.
Thanks,
Chris
Cool! Do let us know how you get on with your dual-speedlight setup. I haven't tried it so it would be interesting to see how such a setup works on the V6.
Thank you!
Brand Manager
The V6 is a definite upgrade from the Strato II, with the ability to control power output. I still have quite a few photos to process, but here's the end-of-bout group shot:
https://www.facebook.com/CKPhotographicSystems/photos/a.698109000217373.1073741851.637861642908776/1259495807412020/?type=3&theater
The only negative I see so far is the V6s reconfiguring themselves a lot. I have a D3s with 80-200/2.8 on my left, and a D600 with 18-35/3.3-4.5 on my right, both with a V6 TX. There was the ability to lock out the dial, but other settings "randomly" changed during the bout as one body or the other would bump against me. It's also _very_ easy to bump the "fire" button on the V6, but that's not as big a deal. I might have to make up a plastic hinged cover of some sort for the menu/OK buttons on the V6.
I did, however, run into significant problems with my V6 that had an SB-600 attached, and I don't know what I should do about it. I know the SB-600 is an intelligent flash and power-on sequence matters, but it didn't matter if I turned on the SB-600 first or the V6, the SB-600 would eventually no longer accept power output changes. I ended up switching to "manual flash" and setting the SB-600 to 1/16th.
When using the SB-600 profile in the V6, how should the SB-600 be configured?
Thanks,
Chris
Good to hear you've successfully learned and cloned your NIkon flash units.
With your "V6 reconfiguring themselves" issue, firstly please note that the V6 was not designed for such a dual-camera setup.
In our own tests the V6 RX units often go ballistics after a few shots, because they don't know which TX to listen to and the signal from the TX units might jam each other. This would be like 2 CEOs in a company staff don't know who has the final say. In my own tests, I was able to fire more consistently (and unchanged power levels) if my second camera had a V5, which is a basic trigger with no power controls.
All compatible flash models, including the ones you learnred and cloned, should always stay in TTL mode. That's the only mode that the V6 is able to adjust its power output.
Just to confirm, did you have your SB-600 as an on-camera fill flash, mounted on your V6 TX unit? If that's the case, you have a few options:
- TTL Pass Through: set the SB-600 to TTL mode, on the V6 TX unit, select the corresponding flash profile (Nikon > SB600), then press and hold the MENU Button on the V6 to enabled TTL Pass Through
- Manual power control from the V6: All the above steps except enabling TTL pass through, and you can control SB-600 from the V6 TX unit but press and hold the MENU button and then roate the Adjustment Dial. This is easier to do if your camera is on a tripod.
- Manual power control directly on the flash unit: Set to M mode on the SB-600 and adjust the power manually on the flash.
Hope this helps!Brand Manager
The problem I was running into with the TX units reconfiguring themselves was because the buttons kept getting bumped as one body or the other was bumping into me. I would often see my flashes fire, even though I wasn't shooting, so I'd adjust how the other body was turned, so the "fire" button wasn't being pressed. This isn't something you can really do much about, though, except maybe to have a "lock all buttons" mode where no button presses would do anything without first pressing and holding, I dunno, the "fire" and "menu" buttons for two seconds.
Regarding the SB-600, it was on a stand at station #4, configured as RX with group D. The SB-600 would eventually just stop reconfiguring, and would get stuck at like 1/16th power, no matter what I adjusted the power output to on the TX. I don't know if there's something wrong with the SB-600, or if it needs to be "defaulted" or something. Should it just work? If I follow the correct power-on sequence, and configure the V6 (with the latest firmware) to the SB-600 profile, should the SB-600 "just work"?
Thanks,
Chris
Again, we don't recommend having more than one V6 TX in the same setup as it was not designed for this. But if you absolutely need two transmitter and you want to avoid signal jamming or RX units going crazy, you may consider getting a pair of Cactus V5 as the transmitter.
The SB-600 should indeed just work.
When you adjust the power from the TX, do you also see the power values changing on the RX's LCD? If it matches the values on your TX but the SB-600 is not, then it's likely a hot shoe connection issue. From memory, SB-600 hot shoes has a loose fit on the V6 female hot shoe. So do make sure the hot shoe is securely mounted. If the flash wobbles quite a bit then you may cut out small pieces of masking tape so it clamps in place and less chance where the contact pins not lined up.
Brand Manager
http://www.amazon.com/OP-TECH-USA-3501232-Utility/dp/B00TKLF9YW
Whichever body was hanging at my side was causing button-presses, because the V6 on top of the body has a fairly large footprint. I can probably work around it, though, by making up hinged plastic shields for the buttons.
As a software engineer, I do understand where you're coming from about not supporting multiple V6 TX units. I don't fire the V6 TX units simultaneously, and figure out before the bout started that only one TX unit could do the configuring. The way I see it, as long as you don't have two TX units both attempting to configure (well, except for the random button-presses), but they're all on the same channel, I should be ok. I can't go with a V5, partly because I already have all V6, and partly because I need four groups depending on where I am aiming whichever body I am shooting with at that moment.
And yeah, the SB-600 hot shoe is probably related. It did feel wobbly. The RX unit seemed to reflect what the TX commanded, but the SB-600 would behave randomly. I'll try placing some tape on the top surface of the SB-600's hot shoe to see if that improves.
Thanks,
Chris
I forgot to mention one important setup info about my idea with using V5 with V6. You won't loose remote group nor power control -
- Mount V5 transceivers on the cameras: it serves as triggering a flash signal.
- Set one V6 to TX mode in your hand - probably more sensible around your neck using the lanyard loop, to do all the remote controls.
I think this will minimize accidental presses of the Menu and OK buttons when the V6 is hanging down from your neck and the buttons faces up. And it should be an easier option compared to making a hinged plastic shield?FYI this was the method I have personally tested and that did not caused RX to go crazy / not repsonding.
Brand Manager
However, as you can imagine, because I am shooting sports with two bodies that each have a zoom lens attached, I'd need a third (or even a fourth would be useful) hand to press the shutter release on the hand-held V6 while composing and zooming to capture sequences like this: https://www.facebook.com/CKPhotographicSystems/posts/1261557667205834
Oh, one last thing, I've been meaning to ask, is there a pinout anywhere for the Cactus V6 accessory cables? I already have a set of Phottix cables with 2.5mm connectors for all of my Nikon bodies, and I'd like to figure out if I can pick up 2.5mm to 3.5mm adapters so I can use the Phottix with the Cactus.
Thanks,
Chris
Yes do give the V5 + V6 combo setup a try.
So were you shooting that sequence all on one camera? Since you need to hand held the camera and compose why would you want to release both camera shutters from one V6 unit? If you have the cameras on tripods, you can certainly do that by using V6's Relay Mode.
With an adapter it should work - I don't have the schematic of the cable. In case it doesn't you can always get the Cactus cables: http://store.cactus-image.com/cable/
Brand Manager
Now you can see why the Cactus TX units can end up being reconfigured on their own. The Cactus RX units are scattered around the roller derby track, so you can't see them in this shot. And what you see here is why it would be difficult to have V5's on the bodies and a hand-held V6 to trigger. I don't have a third hand to press the trigger on a V6.
I do have an update on the SB-600, by the way. I narrowed it down to the Quantum Battery 1+ cable I was using. Go figure. I was playing around with making up plastic shims, and the problem was still happening. So I moved the Quantum cable and V6 from the SB-600 to my SB-700, and the same problems happened. I dug up another Quantum cable, and all of the problems seem to have gone away. I guess there's something loose in the first Quantum cable that was maybe causing the flash to crash. So thanks for the suggestion on the shims, but it looks like, for the moment, my SB-600 problems are gone.
Thanks,
Chris
Good to hear you have singled out the issue previously on the SB-600!
As
for the camera TX setup, I still meant for you to shoot each frame
directly on camera's shutter button. The V6 is the mainl power
contorller and is hung on a neck strap, and each camera uses the V5 as a
Transmitter.
See below picture of a quick sample setup. I hope this clears any confusion with what I described earlier.
Thanks!
Brand Manager
Chris
All other transceivers are in TX mode:
- V6 on neck strap is the main remote power controller
- V5 on the cameras triggers the flash
Note that V5 only sends out a basic trigger signal so it won't send out any power / group info, and thus a much lower chance of driving the RX unit(s) crazy.Brand Manager
No, actually, after shooting a second roller derby bout, I'm starting to get the hang of shooting with two V6's in TX. I still had the occasional problem with the D600's V6 (secondary) being reconfigured, but I'm going to make something up to cover the buttons on the secondary V6. I turn it on, configure it for A through D at 1/128th, and then turn on the primary V6 and do all of the proper configuration from there. As long as the secondary V6 doesn't change, none of the RX units can tell the difference between the two when firing.
So, apart from having to make a plastic cover for the secondary V6, I'm doing better with the Cactus units than the Phottix. Not only do the Cactus units seem to fire every time (the Phottix TX would sometimes get garbled, apparently, where occasionally none of the units would fire), resulting in sequences like this that work reliably:
https://www.facebook.com/CKPhotographicSystems/posts/1265580790136855
but I can reconfigure all of the units from the primary TX from the typical 1/8th power to full power and capture images like this:
https://www.facebook.com/CKPhotographicSystems/photos/a.1265004746861126.1073742052.637861642908776/1265004826861118/?type=3&theater
So unless there's a future firmware update that allows the lock out _all_ of the buttons on a TX V6, I guess I'm set with what I have been able to figure out so far. Thanks for the replies.
Chris
Once you have the power set, just leave it on the neck strap and focus on shooting - with both hands on the camera.
It's only when you have to adjust the power, you would let go of your camera attached on your Op-tech strap for a few seconds, pick up the V6, make the adjustments and then off you shoot again.
I hope this makes more sense now?
BTW, good to hear the V6 is giving you consistent flash firing!
Brand Manager
Very interesting, yes, that does open the possibility back up, and would prevent misconfiguration.
So, my only concern is, if I turn on groups A, B, and C on the V6 TX, but turn off group D, will the V5 fire D anyway?
If the V5 will fire D anyway, then unfortunately, it doesn't help me.
But if D will ignore the fire signal because the V6 TX told it not to, then I will start looking for a couple V5's.
Thanks,
Chris
Despite the V5 essentially fires all groups, when you turn group D off from the V6 TX lanyard, it won't trigger from the V5 on camera. I just tested this to confirm.
Brand Manager
I'll look into picking up a couple of V5's!
Chris
Do keep us posted on how you get on with your dual camera setup! ;-)
Brand Manager
I'll keep you posted on the V5's.
Brand Manager
Fast forward a bit, and I see the V5 has a cold shoe, which doesn't help me at all when I need to use one CLS flash on each of my two bodies, and have the remote V6's fire also.
Is there a suggestion for when you need to mount a TTL flash on the V5 and have the TTL operate?
Chris
Seems like you set it up differently? I thought you want off-camera flash, but you are now mounting your Nikon speedlights directly on the V5 that's on-camera?
The V5 does not have a "cold shoe" because it has a centre contact pin for flash triggering. If you do mount your speedlights on it it will simply trigger them to fire. If you mount a TTL flash on a V5 you need to set it to M mode.
In other words you can only mount a TTL flash on a V6 and set to TTL mode in order for the V6 to communicate with it (control flash power outputs) from another V6 unit.
For your initial inquiry about shooting on two separate camera bodies and firing the same set of off-camera flashes, here's the setup:
- Mount the first Cactus V5 (1/2) on your Nikon D600 (on OP-TECH strap) and set it to TX mode, Channel 6;
- Mount the second Cactus V5 (2/2) on your Nikon D3s (on OP-TECH strap) and set it to TX mode, Channel 6;
- Mount your SB-600 on the first Cactus V6 (1/3) on a light stand / tripod, set it to RX mode, Channel 6, and to any flash group as the V5 (TX) triggers all 4 groups - A,B,C and D;
- Mount your SB-700 on the second Cactus V6 (2/3) on a light stand / tripod, set it to RX mode, Channle 6, and to any flash group as the V5 (TX) triggers all 4 groups - A,B,C and D;
- Strap your third Cactus V6 (3/3) on a neck strap, set it to TX mode as your main remote controller (flash power outputs of your SB-600 and SB-700).
You mentioned Nikon's CLS - which is essentially an optical and not radio method of triggering. With the V6 you don't need to use CLS.Let me know if you need further assistance.
Thank you!
Brand Manager
Thanks for the correction on cold vs. hot. Right, a cold shoe doesn't
fire at all. I guess what I was referring to was more of a "dumb hot
shoe" as opposed to a "TTL hot shoe".
An on-camera flash isn't my primary use case for roller derby, but I do use an on-camera flash on my secondary/D600, which you can see in the photo I posted previously:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153514017343527&set=t.1128638076&type=3&theater
Granted, it's not obvious, and you do have to look at the secondary body hanging at my side, but I do have an SB-700 mounted on it.
So I guess I'm a little stuck at this point. I can either not use on-camera flashes at all, or I can try to hack something together for my D600 using a TTL shoe adapter with a PC socket, and a side bracket to hold the V5.
For roller derby, I'd consider putting the V6 on the D600 and a V5 on the D3s, so there's still only the one V6 in use, but it's so easy to bump the V6 at my side that it'll end up being misconfigured anyway.
Derby season doesn't start for another few months, so I have time to hack something together.
Chris
That may be a good alternative, V6 on one body and V5 on another.
You may also set the DIAL LOCK again, and this time go to the sub-menu and DISABLE the Temp Unlock feature. By doing so, you will need to long-press the OK button to turn off and on again manually. This can avoid any accidental bump or roll of the dial.
Hope this helps!
Brand Manager
Thanks,
Chris
You could set the on-camera V6's channel to a different value and thus prevent it from interfering with the setup. You may still have issues with the V6's buttons being pressed inadvertently, but since you are using it as a pass-through device only, you may be able to protect its buttons somehow.
Alternatively, an i-TTL cord or just the hot-shoe component of such a cord often comes with a connector on the side that should allow you to fire the V5.
cord often comes with a connector on the side that should allow you to
fire the V5." is exactly what I'm looking for, I'm not sure what Nikon offers that will give me that functionality.
Thanks,
Chris