Cactus V4 triggers

[Samanax]

Originally Posted by bhursey

Top Sync was 1/250 it cant keep up with 1/320.

Yeah, your shutter speed will be limited to whatever the Max Sync speed for your camera is...any faster and you'll start to see the shutter curtain in your shots.

You have to change the way you think about exposure when shooting with flash. A lot of times you want to use a slower shutter speed to catch some ambient light to balance out the image. Set ISO to 100, set shutter speed to max sync to start with and then adjust down for ambient (take test shots to check). Aperature will control the amount of flash getting to the sensor. Off-camera without E-TTL really makes you think about light and exposure. It's a good learning experience.

A lot of my strobist friends have been using flash meters to help them set up their camera exposure settings for shots. A Sekonic L-383 Flash Meter is on my wish list.

[agape]

Originally Posted by Samanax

Yes, you need on transmitter to go on the camera and one receiver for each flash you want to trigger wirelessly.

Hi, Thank you for that. I have ordered mine and hopefully will receive in the very near future.

[bhursey]

Originally Posted by Samanax

Yeah, your shutter speed will be limited to whatever the Max Sync speed for your camera is...any faster and you'll start to see the shutter curtain in your shots.

You have to change the way you think about exposure when shooting with flash. A lot of times you want to use a slower shutter speed to catch some ambient light to balance out the image. Set ISO to 100, set shutter speed to max sync to start with and then adjust down for ambient (take test shots to check). Aperture will control the amount of flash getting to the sensor. Off-camera without E-TTL really makes you think about light and exposure. It's a good learning experience.

A lot of my strobist friends have been using flash meters to help them set up their camera exposure settings for shots. A Sekonic L-383 Flash Meter is on my wish list.

Ya i see the shutter curtain with my ttl flash when it is on shoe also however it normally is at a faster shutter speed. I understood the shutter speed limitation going into the purchase. When I shoot, I always actually shoot in full manual with a shutter speed of around 1/250. Well it depends on my lens length but I like having say a 1/50 buffer above the focal length. I have to of course play with my ISO and Aperture to balance the exposure out. And adjust the speedlight output levels. When ever I can I try and shoot at 100 iso. I really am liking a speed light setup. In the past I could actually not shoot at 100iso with my 2 500watt tungsten set and keep at 1/250.

I have also been looking at Sekonic light meters. When I start making more money I will save up for one but it is near last on my list.

[SilverBullet07]

Originally Posted by bhursey

Well I got my trigger and receiver set in the mail yesterday. I am very pleased with the product. I am however only using one receiver that triggers my other flash optically. So there is only one possible point of failure than if I had two receivers. So far in about I would day 20 test fires I have not had one single miss fire on the default batteries. I am going to actually take some pics of my Daughter tonight but here is what my setup looks like that I was testing with. Top Sync was 1/250 it cant keep up with 1/320.

Question on your setup:

you have one receiver on one false and then that flash fires your other one? I tried to put the reciever on my Canon 580 which can be a master in hopes that it would fire my 430 but did not get it to work right. The 430 fired a sec later after the 580. Wonder if I did not have something set correctly? I also tried pluging the sync cable into my 580 and the transmiter and have the receiver on my 430 but that did not work either.

Wonder if it should and I had something set up wrong. I might need to go back and investigate that.

[bhursey]

Originally Posted by SilverBullet07

Question on your setup:

you have one receiver on one false and then that flash fires your other one? I tried to put the reciever on my Canon 580 which can be a master in hopes that it would fire my 430 but did not get it to work right. The 430 fired a sec later after the 580. Wonder if I did not have something set correctly? I also tried pluging the sync cable into my 580 and the transmiter and have the receiver on my 430 but that did not work either.

Wonder if it should and I had something set up wrong. I might need to go back and investigate that.

I have a v4 receiver on my vivitar 2500. This sets that flash off. Then I have a vivitar 400mz has an optical slave feature and it triggers of the flash from the 2500.

The 580 and 430 use a different system normally it is used as master and slave type setup. I know this works with it on the hotshoe of the camera and this transmits TTL information. However the cactus v4 is a dummy type of trigger not ttl info. So I dont know how that would react.

[SilverBullet07]

Thats propaply it then, The 430 can not get the instruction from the 580 if it is on the receiver.

Thanks

[Samanax]

Originally Posted by SilverBullet07

you have one receiver on one flash and then that flash fires your other one? I tried to put the reciever on my Canon 580 which can be a master in hopes that it would fire my 430 but did not get it to work right. The 430 fired a sec later after the 580. Wonder if I did not have something set correctly? I also tried pluging the sync cable into my 580 and the transmiter and have the receiver on my 430 but that did not work either.

Wonder if it should and I had something set up wrong. I might need to go back and investigate that.

bhursey's setup worked because he's using a Vivitar flash that can be fired optically (the Vivitar DF400MZ has a optical slave function). The 430 doesn't have that capability (unless you use a optical trigger, but those are problematic with Canon flashes). My suggestion is to get another receiver for your 430.

[SilverBullet07]

Great thanks..

[jim.neff]

I got the hankerin' today for one of these sets and logged in to DPS to complain about them being out of stock. So I checked their website and it says "in stock" ! I put my order in and hopefully the website inventory was accurate. It says 6 days for shipping, I take it this is coming from the UK?

My only external flash is an old manual Vivtar. I'm looking forward to seeing what other kinds of shots I can get with being able to control the light source remotely.

I think first on my list is the high key background for a portrait that was described in the DIY background post.

I watched the video on Youtube of a guy reviewing the V4 and he didn't have a lot of good things to say about it. He said effective range was only 35 feet or so and reliability was better for him on the V2.

Has anyone on this thread who recently got their V4 had issues with it failing to fire?

[ericw]

Originally Posted by jim.neff

I take it this is coming from the UK?

Coming from Hong Kong

Originally Posted by jim.neff

Has anyone on this thread who recently got their V4 had issues with it failing to fire?

I have not. Something was going on when they first got here but I think thats because I put the batteries in when the triggers were turned on (I think the manual says not to do that? Not sure). Anyway they've worked perfectly for me since. No misfires, no failing to fire.