RF602 > Cactus v2s?

Pardon my lack of knowledge, I've been away from photography for a bit. But looking to upgrade my triggers.

I was on here a few weeks back and I saw a thread talking about these new radio triggers that are much more reliable than the cactus V2s. I did a search again and I couldnt come across the thread

Are the triggers in question called the RF602? Do they cause any sensor interference / banding? The cactus v2s created some weird noise / banding on part of my 5D's sensor when I used it.

Again I apologize if this question has been asked repeatedly.

Thanks!

Just search in ebay "rf 602 Canon" and you will find what you want. As for banding... I'll test... post results in a hour or so =)

The RF-602's are infinitely more reliable than the Cactus V2s (I had both). They're not even in the same ballpark.

So far I've not seen any reports of banding with the 602's on the 5D classic.

The new Cactus V4s are much more reliable and better built. Just throwing it out there.

jrosephoto wrote in post #9682905
The new Cactus V4s are much more reliable and better built. Just throwing it out there.

Much more reliable compared to the V2's.

Compare do the RF-602 the V4's:
... are still 433 MHz vs. 2.4 GHz on the RF-602s
... don't wake up Canon/Nikon Speedlights
... are more expensive

int2str wrote in post #9682919
Much more reliable compared to the V2's.

Compare do the RF-602 the V4's:
... are still 433 MHz vs. 2.4 GHz on the RF-602s
... don't wake up Canon/Nikon Speedlights
... are more expensive

That is what I meant compared to the V2s. But I am currently using them and they do wake up my Canon Speedlights. I will say that the reason that I went with the Cactus V4s is that I could buy them local to me.

jrosephoto wrote in post #9682932
That is what I meant compared to the V2s. But I am currently using them and they do wake up my Canon Speedlights.

Really?

From the picture they only seem to have 1 pin. I didn't think it was possible to wake the flashes with only the center pin connector.

int2str wrote in post #9682942
Really?

From the picture they only seem to have 1 pin. I didn't think it was possible to wake the flashes with only the center pin connector.

I just did a maternity shoot, and it woke them up every time and they worked 100% of the time during the shoot. I was using them on my Alien Bee and my 580 ex and 430 exII.

e r y k wrote in post #9682823
Pardon my lack of knowledge, I've been away from photography for a bit. But looking to upgrade my triggers.

I was on here a few weeks back and I saw a thread talking about these new radio triggers that are much more reliable than the cactus V2s. I did a search again and I couldnt come across the thread

Are the triggers in question called the RF602? Do they cause any sensor interference / banding? The cactus v2s created some weird noise / banding on part of my 5D's sensor when I used it.

Again I apologize if this question has been asked repeatedly.

Thanks!

The RF602's use the 2.4 GHz radio frequency. The Cactus V2s use 433MHz frequency for the radio. I can not speak about the Cactus triggers, but the RF602's I have used with my Canon gear has been reliable.....I have not got a lot of wear and tear on the RF602's but thus far they have performed well as far as distance and reliability. I stayed away from the 433MHz triggers because of noise issues with certain Canon Flash systems...I have both Canon and Nikon Flash equipment and thus far, I have not had a problem.

Regards,

110yd

I just did a search and found this information that might help with your decision. If you are using a 5D then stay away from the Cactus triggers

Some buyers reported to us that they experienced banding issue with Canon 5D and/or Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 when using Cactus V4. Similar issue was NOT found in Canon 5D Mark II and other DSLR camera models

jrosephoto wrote in post #9682956
I just did a maternity shoot, and it woke them up every time and they worked 100% of the time during the shoot. I was using them on my Alien Bee and my 580 ex and 430 exII.

How often were your shots?
Like, how much time is there in between every shot you take.

Your defination of "wake up", is not correct.

The 580EX II will sleep after a period of time. It's about every 3 minutes or so of inactivity, the flash will turn off, or go to "sleep".

When it's asleep, you cannot wake it up with a standard wireless flash trigger.
Mainly the ones with the trigger pin in the middle.
You need the other pins, which send am electric signal to the flash, tell it to wake up, or turn on again.

If you've had long pauses between shots, your sleep function must be disabled, if you're not experiencing any sleep from your flash.

OP. There's a huge thread about there RF-602 already that will answer all your questions.
Just search up RF-602 here.
You'll get a thread labeled, RF-602 problems and success.

I just took some sample shots with a Canon 5D rf 602 and a 580EXII Here they are. I don't see any banding. It is just photos of random crap on my desk and my bookshelf so forgive the mess.

My sleep function is not disabled on the flashes and I know the definition of "wake up". Some of my shots were more than 10 minutes apart as we would change rooms or the client would change clothes. I am not going to get into an argument as to what they will or will not do. I was simply letting the OP know that he might want to consider the Cactus V4s instead of the V2s as they have been improved.

But as I stated earlier in the thread that if he is using a 5D as it says in his original post, then he will probably not want to use the Cactus triggers as it has been reported that there has been banding issues.

thanks guys for the replies. looks like ill be making a switch, i really have no issues with the cactus, but as soon as i went to the 5d i had banding issues. i guess ill be putting those up for sale soon.

themadman - thanks for taking time to do the testing! i really appreciate it.

jrosephoto wrote in post #9683169
My sleep function is not disabled on the flashes and I know the definition of "wake up". Some of my shots were more than 10 minutes apart as we would change rooms or the client would change clothes. I am not going to get into an argument as to what they will or will not do. I was simply letting the OP know that he might want to consider the Cactus V4s instead of the V2s as they have been improved.

Don't take this personally. We're not saying you're wrong,

It's just interesting that you mentioned a feature on the V4s that I didn't think they had, that nobody else mentioned before (afaik) and that I didn't think was physically possible with one pin...