Daisy Chaining the 600ex-rt

I've 8 600's and was thinking if there was a way to fire a different flash with each shutter release.

Situation is this, during first dance shots I backlit the couple with speedlites. Works well but I'd like to reduce the load on the flashes and take more shots in that short space of time.

I use the CP-E4's and use high ISO but with some Asian weddings the ambient temp is high and they sometimes fall over and overheat.

I don't need 8 there, (I usually use 2-4) but I was wondering if there was a way of doing it via the menu system and if not, if there is another option.

TIA!

Gel wrote in post #17138616
I've 8 600's and was thinking if there was a way to fire a different flash with each shutter release.

Situation is this, during first dance shots I backlit the couple with speedlites. Works well but I'd like to reduce the load on the flashes and take more shots in that short space of time.

I use the CP-E4's and use high ISO but with some Asian weddings the ambient temp is high and they sometimes fall over and overheat.

I don't need 8 there, (I usually use 2-4) but I was wondering if there was a way of doing it via the menu system and if not, if there is another option.

TIA!

There is no provision to do what you want to do for every shutter release. You can use the <Gr> mode and quickly switch different Slave Groups "On or Off". If one Group is over heating you can switch to another Group in the same location and keep shooting. If you have 8 600EX-RT Speedlites then use all of them if 2-4 is not getting the job done. You can also use 2 or 3 Speedlites together in a Group to lower flash output of each individual Speedlite which may help with your over heating issue.

As far as your flash units "falling over" this sounds like a personal problem.

The only way I can think of doing something like this is to use two cameras, each set to a different channel and then have half the lights on one channel and the other half on the other.

Better approach, as Rand suggests is gang two speedlites together and use them at half the output one would require.

the old PW Multimax allowed "speed cycling" where you could have up to four groups of flashes (A,B,C,D) and it would fire them in order.
i believe it was to get a few frames during something like a basketball game, instead of one frame then waiting a few seconds for the strobe to recycle, but it would work for what you want too.

i think agv8or's idea, running them at lower power in groups, would go a long way to solving your overheating problem

They actually added this feature upon request to the cactus v6. It is the only trigger I know of that does this. It was added in Firmware 1.0.173 http://www.cactus-image.com/cactus_v6_fw​update_notes.pdf

New feature:

- Group sequence: In the new menu item <GROUP SEQUENCE> on the TX units,
choose one of the following options to trigger the RX units in a group sequence:2
1. A-B-C-D: The first trigger in a series will fire group A, then group B and so on.
The fifth trigger will fire group A and start the cycle again. Another series will
restart at group A when there is no triggering event in 2 seconds.
2. AB-CD: The first trigger in a series will fire group A and B together, then group
C and D. The third trigger will fire group A and B, and start the cycle again.
Another series will restart at group AB when there is no triggering event in 2
seconds.