HSS with V6

Alex

Hello all

 

I have been
using a set of Cactus V6 and RF60 for the past 7 or 8 months, and couldn’t be
more pleased. Everything works great – they instantly recognize each other, I have
full control over the RF60 power and zoom from the V6, updates easily, it’s the
best trigger set I have seen.

 

I know that
this issue has been debated, however, some time has passed and some
developments – with updates and what not – might have come to life.

 

I can’t
seem to have HSS function, using the V6 as the trigger. I have double checked
to see that the optical slave is off, and the HSS is active on the RF 60, but I
still can go no higher than 1/250 – at 1/320 the bottom of the frame begins to
darken, at 1/800 only a tiny fraction at the top is illuminated.

 

I have read
the manual, and the community input – the first only refers to using TTL
flashes as triggers, the latter alerts to the optical slave issue.

 

Am I doing
something wrong?

 

I use the
V6 on a Canon 700D.

 

Thank you
for your help.

Alex

Hello all

 

I have been
using a set of Cactus V6 and RF60 for the past 7 or 8 months, and couldn’t be
more pleased. Everything works great – they instantly recognize each other, I have
full control over the RF60 power and zoom from the V6, updates easily, it’s the
best trigger set I have seen.

 

I know that
this issue has been debated, however, some time has passed and some
developments – with updates and what not – might have come to life.

 

I can’t
seem to have HSS function, using the V6 as the trigger. I have double checked
to see that the optical slave is off, and the HSS is active on the RF 60, but I
still can go no higher than 1/250 – at 1/320 the bottom of the frame begins to
darken, at 1/800 only a tiny fraction at the top is illuminated.

 

I have read
the manual, and the community input – the first only refers to using TTL
flashes as triggers, the latter alerts to the optical slave issue.

 

Am I doing
something wrong?

 

I use the
V6 on a Canon 700D.

 

Thank you
for your help.

Class A

The V6 on its own cannot provide a correct HSS signal timing.

The V6 Mk II will be able to, but with the V6 you have to either trigger the V6 optically (from an E-TTL flash), or you use an HSS-capable trigger on top of the V6 (with TTL pass-through) and a connection cable between the two.

Another option is to use a bit of a cumbersome workaround. It does not require any E-TTL equipment, but you'd have to use a hand-held V6 trigger to release the shutter.

Alex

Thank you very much for the quick answer.

I have studied the walkaround mentioned, and given the type of photography I do, it's too impractical - still, an option, and I thank you for pointing it out to me.

I am very pleased to see that a new Cactus product will soon come. That does make me ask some additional questions, if I may.

1 - Will the V6 Mk II be fully compatible with current gen V6 and RF 60?
2 - Is there an expected release date?
3 - Will it be available in Portugal?

Thank you again for your help.

Best regards

Antonio

Hello @Alex,

1. The question should be the other way around   The current V6 would likely have limited compatibility with the new version in terms of high speed sync support. Our R&D team is still working on this, however basic functions such as remote power control should not be a problem, TBC.
2. Very likely within the next couple of months, TBC.
3. Certainly. Please contact our distributor for more information: http://www.robisa.es/

Thank you!

Alex

Hello Antonio

First of all, thank you for your quick reply and sorry for my late one.

These are great news, to now that such a great product will have an upgrade this year!

Will there be a new gen RF60 as well? And are the current gen ones goingo to be compatible with the V6MkII (HSS and other new features wise).

Once again, thank you

Best regards

Alex

Antonio

Hey Alex,

Yeah it's been in the works for quite some time, it's taking much longer than we anticpated though. It's much more complex running cross-brand with HSS support.

No new RF60 version planned yet, there'll only be a replacement model with a couple running changes, but it should support HSS with the new V6. We are still running reliability tests right now and hope it will work out so people can upgrade their RF60s by a simple firmware update, fingers crossed!

christianalencar

but we don't have option to use cactus V6 with RF60 in HSS ?

really need to buy Cactus V6II to use HSS mode?

I have Cactus V6, cactus RF60 using Canon 5D Mark II or T5i

Class A

but we don't have option to use cactus V6 with RF60 in HSS ?

Yes, neither V6 nor RF60 have the capability to talk the digital protocol with a camera that is necessary to properly engage HSS timing.

On some cameras you may get away with a manual PowerSync approach -- just put your flash to full power and try higher shutter speeds -- but in general you'll need at least one V6II to get HSS/PS capabilities.

Antonio

Yeah if we could get away with using the current V6 and RF60 hardware then we didn't have to release the V6 II, which is the HSS version with different hardware. The V6 II it does not replace the original V6, but it's the HSS model.