Olympus OM-D EM-1 + V6 + Olympus FL-600R + RF60
Let me come right out and say that I am a novice photographer when it comes to all this modern digital and electronic equipment. My last serious stint was in the '60's with Nikon F, Hasselblad's and Rolli's. Oh, and Honeywell had come out with this nifty on camera strobe to replace flashbulbs! Anyway, Real life intruded, I got away from photography, and then about a year ago my inner artist wanted to come out again so I started taking courses at PhotoManhattan in NYC, was attracted to M4/3 and bought an Olympus OM-D EM-1 with an Olympus FL-600R Flash. I have learned how to use the combination in TTL and now it's time to start adding odd camera lighting. After much research I decided on the Cactus V6 and RF 60 combination with the idea of mounting the V6 on top of the Oly and the FL-600R on top of that using the TTL pass through mode and then set the RF60 as a side or back light. I followed the directions and set the first slot on the V6 screen to TTL and then sed the group / channel in TX to A-1 on the V6 and and on the RF60. My first hint that something was not right was when both the "Auto Check" and "Test/Charge" lights on the FL-600R were flashing together. When I go to the a test shot, the V6 fires the RF60 beautifully but I can not get the FL-600R to fire at all. I even tried to mount the small Oly flash on top of the V6 nd use that to optically trigger the FL-600R optically to no avail. HELP! Can anyone please give me simple step by step instructions, sort of like those yellow paperback "Guide for the Complete Idiot" books? Thanks.
Comments
EDIT: Sorry, it seems that you were enquiring about the V6, not the V6II. Thanks to C88 for pointing it out.
I'm sceptical that the FL-600R will work with the V6, but I'll let Cactus or someone else with the respective experience comment.
OLD text regarding the V6II:
It may still work with TTL pass-through, provided you select the correct camera system and flash profile (in case the auto detection isn't working for some reason).
Select "Olympus" as your camera system on the V6II and also select "Olympus" as your flash system. Then select "Olympus Auto" as your flash profile.
You may need to ensure that your camera notices the attached flash by half-pressing the shutter button a couple of times, while you turn on the V6II/flash.
If the "Auto" flash profile does not work for TTL pass-through then you could try one of the existing dedicated flash profiles. Perhaps they'll work for your flash model as well.
Good luck.
Doesn't it look like the OP is talking about the "original V6"?
And isn't the original v6 compatible with the Panasonic equivalent of that Olympus flash?
I'm not a Cactus user yet, but I've been reading everything on your website I can get my eyes on......
I just tried mounting it on V6 in TX mode on an EM-1, randomly selected an Olympus flash mode, enabled TTL pass through but the flash does not go from A mode to TTL mode like it would if it's mounted directly on the camera.
However, when trying it on the OMD E-M5, it worked with the exact same settings on the V6.
This matches the issues we have found for the V6 II, that is, the Olympus E-M1's hot shoe is slightly different than the E-M5, or maybe with various other models.
I will speak to R&D about this and post an update as soona s we have it.
Thank you.
Brand Manager
The problem is with the alignment of the hot shoe contact pins. One of the smaller pin is slightly offset to the right when compared to other Olympus camera, such as the E-M5 II.
This is much harder to remediate than the Nikon D750 case where the offset is forward / backward. The E-M1 is more of a horizontal shift.
R&D is trying to find a way to align the pins so that it matches those on the E-M1 but without hampering contacts with other compatible cameras. Doesn't sound like an easy task but they are trying.
On a side note, I wonder if the upcoming E-M1 Mark II would have the same hot shoe as the Mark I? Or maybe it would snap on the one from the E-M5 II?
Brand Manager