What’s Your Preference?

ericw · #91 (**permalink**) 04-21-2009, 11:14 AM

For what it's worth, I contacted gadget infinity and complained about my problems and I got the following e-mail from them last night. I'm not really sure if this will fix the problem since they worked fine when they first got here which would indicate some other type of problem. I guess we'll see.

"Dear Eric,

We're sorry to let you know that a software bug was found in around 1% of Cactus V4 transmitter of the first batch. This bug is the root cause for low reliability and slow sync problem. We already fixed the problem and all transmitters released afterwards are problem-free. The transmitter you received probably comes from this batch. We will send you a new transmitter tomorrow.

It should work fine with the existing receivers.

Once again, we apologize for all the hassles caused. We're trying our very best to make sure similar problem won't happen again. If you experience any problem with our product, please do not hesitate to contact us. Your support is most important for us.

With best regards,
Gadget Infinity"

jim.neff · #92 (**permalink**) 04-21-2009, 12:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ericw

For what it's worth, I contacted gadget infinity and complained about my problems and I got the following e-mail from them last night. I'm not really sure if this will fix the problem since they worked fine when they first got here which would indicate some other type of problem. I guess we'll see.

"Dear Eric,

We're sorry to let you know that a software bug was found in around 1% of Cactus V4 transmitter of the first batch. This bug is the root cause for low reliability and slow sync problem. We already fixed the problem and all transmitters released afterwards are problem-free. The transmitter you received probably comes from this batch. We will send you a new transmitter tomorrow.

It should work fine with the existing receivers.

Once again, we apologize for all the hassles caused. We're trying our very best to make sure similar problem won't happen again. If you experience any problem with our product, please do not hesitate to contact us. Your support is most important for us.

With best regards,
Gadget Infinity"

Newer model is always better. I'm glad they responded to you and are willing to at least try to fix the problem. We usually don't get any customer service from non-American companies so this is actually refreshing that they are willing to try and help.

Just got my Gorillapod yesterday that I bought for my flash. The Cactus v4 receiver has a screw hole in the bottom what will work perfectly for it. I had thought the Cactus v4 set came with a base plate for the receiver but mine didn't. It's ok anyway as the Gorillapod will come in had with my camera too. I'm going to try to take some pictures of something tonight with it.

jim.neff · #93 (**permalink**) 04-24-2009, 01:54 PM

I tried to do the assignment on the strobist blog 3.2 for balancing sunlight with flash and started having problems with my Cactus. My flash is a Sunpak 433d. When I hit the test button on the transmitter the receiver blinked every time but when I was trying to take pictures the flash usually didn't fire. If I wiggled the flash's hotshoe in the receiver a little the flash would fire and usually it would fire the next time from the camera. If I moved the flash around it wouldn't fire again until I wiggled the flash in the receiver.

It seems to be a problem with the contact between the flash and the receiver. I've never had problems with this flash when plugged directly on top of my Nikon D40 camera.

The other variable here is I was using my new Gorillapod. I don't know if that makes a difference.

Anyone have a similar issue?

ericw · #94 (**permalink**) 04-24-2009, 02:15 PM

I've had similar experiences but I can't really define any cause. Some flashes have the pin on the hotshoe mounted more forward or closer to the back, and its possible to put them into the cactus receiver backwards since it's not completely clear which is the front or back on the receiver - this could cause the pin to not line up quite right?

Even when you walk right over to the receiver it still won't fire until you wiggle the flash? Something to consider - when you try and fire the flash by taking the picture, how far are you from the receiver? Now, when you walk over to the receiver to see what's up and hit the test button, does it fire? If so, whats the difference between the two distances? What's the position of the antena on the transmitter? I've heard the connection on the antenna might be a problem so try it in different positions.

FWIW mine worked pretty well last night with my new (ebay) vivitar 285

In fact, nearly perfectly. I think most of the problems were 1. partly due to the pentax flash 2. how close I had the two receivers to each other when testing them.

RustySterling · #95 (**permalink**) 04-26-2009, 03:58 AM

I did another major studio shoot today and with three receivers had no trouble. There were occassional misfires, but that was more because of recycling time and low battery in the flash issues than the Cactus V4s. So I'm feeling pretty good about the V4s. Sorry to hear so many other people are having troubles. Maybe my time will come.

Here's a shot with no misfires:

One of the three flashes misfired resulting in this, which I kind of like:

RustySterling · #96 (**permalink**) 04-27-2009, 12:14 AM

Yikes! Today while shooting in the home studio the light stand with boom arm fell over (I was going for the sandbag at the time), Mounted was my Canon 430EX II on a Cactus V4. The flash was fine, no damage and it worked. The trigger's casing broke exposing the guts and it was very difficult to get back together. I managed with a little Super Glue and it fires just like it did before. So I guess these things are a bit sturdier than we might have thought.

jim.neff · #97 (**permalink**) 04-27-2009, 12:26 PM

That's awesome Rusty. Nice pictures too. Did you use any kind of diffuser? I actually like the shadows from the hair on the face. I think it adds to her expression and pose.

Yesterday I was showing the wireless trigger to a friend who was taking pictures for our church's directory in between services. Same thing happened to me where I put my Sunpak 433d on the receiver and it occasionally failed to fire. The receiver blinked every time but for some reason the flash didn't fire. Moving the flash around the receiver's hotshoe a little made it fire and then it would fire from the trigger for a while. We tried her flash, which was a Canon 430, and it fired every time. Later that day I was in my yard taking pictures of a blooming tree while holding the Sunpak with wireless receiver in my left hand and shooting with my right (which in manual mode is not easy)--the flash fired every time.

The difference between the two scenarios was using the Gorillapod. I wonder if the receiver is fixed to something, meaning it is taking the weight of the flash full on the hotshoe, if that is causing the flash to not make good connection? I need to play with it some more and isolate the problem.

I was pretty excited yesterday shooting the tree. I was able to properly expose the background, then close the aperture by 2 stops (since I was already at max sync speed) and then use the flash to illuminate a particular blossom on the tree. It really made it pop out of the picture. I've been reading the articles on Strobist.blogspot.com about exposing for an ambient light plus off-camera flash and it seemed to make sense to me yesterday. I need to shoot more but I just wanted to share my success.

RustySterling · #98 (**permalink**) 04-27-2009, 04:04 PM

Thanks Jeff. I used a beauty dish in front (Canon 430EX II) as the main that I made from instruction I found on The Strobist. Plus I was using a bounce-back umbrella on the side (Vivitar DF-383) and a back-overhead shoot through umbrella (Vivitar 285VH) for highlights. That what you see for the first photo. The beauty dish apparently misfired on the second shot, but I still like it nonetheless -- it's a very moody shot.

I really don't have a lot of trouble with misfires but I get them occasionally. And usually it is because of recycle time. I haven't had to "jiggle" the flash units in the shoe to get them to fire. I just wait a few more seconds. My biggest issue is when I'm futzing around changing things, my 430 and 383 have an auto-off feature and I don't notice that it has engaged until I take a shot or two. But no big deal, it's just a matter of turning them off and then back on and everything is good to go.

Post some of your pics. Would love to see them.

jim.neff · #99 (**permalink**) 05-02-2009, 03:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RustySterling

Post some of your pics. Would love to see them.

Since you asked:

For all of these shots hand held Sunpak 433d flash in left hand and using Cactus v4 trigger. Nothing altered about these except crop. I'm having trouble focusing, things look fine to me in the viewfinder but on the computer they seem out of focus a bit. Maybe I need to see an eye doc. Also, the flash fired every time when I did this set (took over 60 pictures of this darn tree). This makes me think there's something wrong with how the Cactus v4 trigger sits in my gorillapod (which I didn't use for these).

Critiques and comments welcome. I'd really like to learn this off camera flash stuff better.