cactus v2 sync speeds?

heyya potn light gurus,

this may be a dumb question, but ive searched and found a topic pertaining to the elinchrom triggers but not the cactus v2s'.

it seems like i cannot use my flashes off camera at anything faster than 1/100th. anything faster and i catch the shutter closing which gives me a large dark area in my images.

is there anything to fix this? i know HSS wont work.

right now i have 1 reciever on my 580, and my 580 is mastering my 430ex.

thanks for any advice

eric

Make sure you have vital batteries in:

the transmitter
the receiver
the flash

Report back.

Enjoy! Lon

everythings fresh if i can recall correctly it triggers everytime when i press the test button.

With my Cactus trigger set (not the V2) I found tremendous variability in their performance, depending on conditions. They also varied from one shot to the next. When I first tested them indoors, they synced at 1/250 just fine. When I took them outdoors, they triggered extremely late. I got completely black images even at 1/60. The last time I used them indoors (with the camera only a few feet from the receiver), they synced at 1/250 most of the time but a few shots had the tell-tale black bottoms from late flash.

From the tremendous variability in user reviews of Cactus triggers (various versions), we can conclude little more than that they are an inconsistent product with substandard quality control. They are a budget-priced way to experiment and practice with off-camera flash, provided there are no paying customers or paid models in attendance.

interesting... why is that? is the circuitry not holding the same amount of current or is there some other reason?

how do i get to the batteries in the transmitter?

1/200 is what i get reliable....

here is a set...

interesting turbodude, thanks for the post.

right now the only thing i can do right now is play with the aperture or just shoot raw and turn down the exposure

could it be because, im only using the cactus on the 580, and still using canons wireless to trigger the 430? is this causing maybe a slight delay?

after some more experimentation, if i go to shutter speeds at 1/200, only one umbrella is lit, and the one with the 430 is dark.

e r y k wrote in post #4670442
could it be because, im only using the cactus on the 580, and still using canons wireless to trigger the 430? is this causing maybe a slight delay?

after some more experimentation, if i go to shutter speeds at 1/200, only one umbrella is lit, and the one with the 430 is dark.

I got the same results. When the set the master 580 on manual, the max sync speed is limited to 1/125, add the eBay trigger to mix, sync speed drop to 1/100. When the batteries getting weaker, 1/80.

I shoot mostly indoors, which is not a problem.

You're onto something

When I fire a pair of off-camera 580EX's with a PocketWizard on the master, firing the second with IR, I can't get it to sync faster than 1/125.

The IR system adds extra delay in firing the slave flash.

i guess its time to order some more triggers lol... oh boy. maybe some vivitar 285HV's while im at it.

ah, photography. it should be a drug.

It *is* a drug. It just needs to be diagnosed as such. Now, where's my stash of "Don't Treat Me Under Any Circumstances" forms ...

I can't get reliable results with my V2's either...even with each of my flashes having their own receiver. A few times, I've even had a flash go off SECONDS after the picture was taken. Maybe I just got a bad batch, but I'm definitely not gonna spend anymore money on these guys ($20 of batteries isn't very pocket-friendly either) and I'm saving up for either Skyports or Pocketwizards.

its the 430ex. for some reason its IR system doesnt like to play with radio systems... this occurs with my buddys skyports as well. But the farther away you get it from each other the better they work oddly. if my 550ex (radio triggered) is 10ft away from my 430ex(without radio trigger) they fire great. But 2 ft apart and the 430ex doesnt fire as reliably.

I used the poverty wizards for a couple of months, and found no way of guaranteeing "perfect" reliability. I finally saw the light and went to see the wizard. My pocket wizards have never failed me. I hate to say it, but you get what you pay for here. Some people report excellent results with them. Unfortunately, I wasn't one of them.