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DPChallenge Forums >> Hardware and Software >> Cactus V2 Transmitters
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 12/10/2007 06:49:43 PM · #1
For those that use/are using/have used Cactus V2 transmitters, have you found them to be successful.

Do they allow the flash to fire correctly? Had any problems with them not firing? Etc. Etc.

Love to know your experience with this product.

Thanks
12/10/2007 07:52:25 PM · #2
also interested in hearing how they work for you guys.
they're on my list...
 12/10/2007 08:07:04 PM · #3
Never had a single missed frame due to the triggers not firing. They do occasionally fire randomly, but it's no big deal. They are a good buy for the money.

I admit I would like a set of Pocket Wizards, but until that time, the Cactus triggers work just fine.
 12/10/2007 08:11:55 PM · #4
I bought the set meant for use with studio strobes, and replaced the jacks with PC adapters (cut the jacks off and spliced on the PC tips). They work great, no misfires or missed shots.
 12/10/2007 08:13:26 PM · #5
Howdy. Yep, I've got one of the V2s on my 550EX flash. I've used mine a fair bit, and never had a problem. Having said that, I tend to only use over small distances, maybe up to 3 metres.

I guess as you start getting more stuff, and spreading out over bigger distance, you might increase the problems. They aren't hugely robust, and the plastic box isn't really strong enough to support the weight of a big flash if the whole unit is shoe mounted on a lightstand or tripod and tipped right over at and angle, but what do you expect? You just have to be a little careful about how you mount them, and it's all fine. I'm thinking about getting a hotshoe-PC adapter, just so I can stick the cactus to side of the flash instead of using the hotshoe mount. But this is only relevant when mounting the whole thing on a lightstand.

For the price, they are really cool. Very useful little gadgets for the non-professional shooter.

Message edited by author 2007-12-10 20:14:35.
 12/10/2007 08:20:35 PM · #6
Ever heard the quote "It was the best of times, It was the worst of times....". When they work, it's great and other times you want to throw the flipping things out the window.

The top 3 things to do :-
- The battery's they come with are rubbish - throw them out and get a fresh set (particularly on the transmitter.. undo the screw on the bottom)... it will save you big patches of hair.
- Put fresh batteries in the strobe.
- Did I mention FRESH fully charged batteries all round yet?

Otherwise :-
- Doing this MIGHT MIGHT! let you sync at your max of 1/250 (for both of the replies so far... for those with electronic shutters I think they stop around 1/500)... but you will get the odd partial bar anyway.
- You will also get the odd dead frame, they just miss sometimes - usually at the wrong time.
- If you are somewhere with a lot of people with these things - forget it! There is something going on that causes then to misfire a lot.
- If you find they stop... take the door off the receiver as that is a known issue. You can fiddle with the battery connector or just put tape over the thing to stop the insides falling out.
- The receive is hard to keep still on a stand as it's too flimsy to hold a strobe with snoot or something - everything rests on the little bar & screw on the receiver no matter how strong the stand.
- The range is iffy... depends on the weather and the gods.

So why bother :-
- Because it's just soooo good having radio triggers.
- This off camera stuff is just plain fun.

Some recommendations :-
- Buy a good cable for backup or when you are feed up with these things. I recommend a sire called flashzebra.com... Lon is helpful and has very useful cables (read screw pc cables not the regular versions).
- I hear that the 16 channel version that is not hotshoe mounted is MUCH better then the cactus versions.
- Save up for a pair of pocketwizards (maybe skyports - I am looking at those)... having used them for a shoot, they never miss a beat.
 12/10/2007 08:21:15 PM · #7
Don't know about the V2s but I'm running the 16 channel TX/RX units. Number 616 I believe. I cut the big 1/4" phone plug off the dongle and replaced with Nikon screw type PC. (I use 4 Nikon SB-28s) They work nice and the only time they miss beat is when the SB28s go into sleep mode. The PC connectors on the body of the 16 channel units are worthless and will cause you no end of trouble if you rely on them.
I've got 2 TX units and 5 RX units. The fifth RX goes on a SunPak522 which is my highest GN flash. Like Leroy I get the occasional false fire and my cell phone is usually the guilty party. But.... only when it's within 10 feet of the units. At the price I don't think you can go wrong for hobby use.
 12/10/2007 09:40:52 PM · #8
Originally posted by fir3bird:
Don't know about the V2s but I'm running the 16 channel TX/RX units. Number 616 I believe. I cut the big 1/4" phone plug off the dongle and replaced with Nikon screw type PC. (I use 4 Nikon SB-28s) They work nice and the only time they miss beat is when the SB28s go into sleep mode. The PC connectors on the body of the 16 channel units are worthless and will cause you no end of trouble if you rely on them.
I've got 2 TX units and 5 RX units. The fifth RX goes on a SunPak522 which is my highest GN flash. Like Leroy I get the occasional false fire and my cell phone is usually the guilty party. But.... only when it's within 10 feet of the units. At the price I don't think you can go wrong for hobby use.

Exactly, these are the ones I have too.

And as an alternative to Skyports and Pocket Wizards, this site was linked to over on Strobist a while back. If this comes true, it'll be the best thing since sliced bread!
 12/11/2007 04:15:30 PM · #9
Thanks for the input.

Looking at these or an ST-E2 or maybe just getting a 580exII and some transmitters. Thought I would start with some remotes for the 430ex and work with that for a bit and decide from there.

Cheers
 12/11/2007 04:23:42 PM · #10
I just got mine last night. Definitely worth it to start out with. At least for me.

But those RadioPoppers sound like a pretty great idea. Hopefully they come through.
 12/11/2007 04:53:00 PM · #11
Mine just arrived a few days ago from gadgetinfinity. Shipping was faster than I expected. I haven't had any problems with them, though I haven't played with them too much yet. I figured I couldn't go wrong for the price.

I got a bit of shutter at 1/250 sec, so I put it down to 1/200 and it's dandy. Also tried some longer exposures just fine.

Message edited by author 2007-12-11 16:54:36.
 12/11/2007 05:54:23 PM · #12
I get the same thing Slippy. If I keep fairly fresh batteries in the RX units I get 1/250 syncro almost all the time.
 12/12/2007 08:25:50 AM · #13
Originally posted by fir3bird:
I get the same thing Slippy. If I keep fairly fresh batteries in the RX units I get 1/250 syncro almost all the time.

Ah. The wife is going to the "battery store" to get me a bunch of those funky batteries. I've never seen batteries like those before, so I hope they have some in stock, as I'm doing some family portraits for some friends this weekend in trade for some sort of fancy orthopedics (SP?) which I don't need. The wife's feet will probably like them, though. But I digress...

Message edited by author 2007-12-12 08:26:09.
 12/12/2007 08:29:39 AM · #14
Originally posted by Strikeslip:
I figured I couldn't go wrong for the price.



is the price of gold sinking or something?
 12/12/2007 09:40:10 AM · #15
Originally posted by AlexSaberi:
Originally posted by Strikeslip:
I figured I couldn't go wrong for the price.



is the price of gold sinking or something?

Camera gear is so freeking expensive, my gold is all gone. It's nice to get something fun for $35 for once. :-) Actually, I got an extra flash-receiver and a wireless shutter release as well, so spent $88 after adding $9 for shipping. Of course, I ran out and bought another flash, a couple of stands and umbrellas, a clamp, and stofen diffuser. :-(
 01/17/2009 09:35:38 PM · #16
I just got a set of the Cactus V2s Triggers, with new batteriesin them and the 285HV flashes and they mis fire 50-75% of the time. These are the absolute WORST investment I have ever made....the old saying "you get what you pay for" applies here.
 01/18/2009 01:34:04 AM · #17
Hi dnstall. When you say misfire, do you mean
1) they fire when they aren't supposed to
2) they don't fire when they are supposed to, or
3) they fire, but don't sync up properly with the shutter.

I've had all 3 happen.

#1 is usually the flash hasn't had time to recycle yet. The flashes need a few seconds between shots to recharge properly.

The other major cause of all 3 problems is the fault of the pc-sync connectors that come with these systems. They are very dodgy connectors, and really don't work well. I've managed to play around with mine and get some good results. I've also bought a hot-shoe to PC connector that works well from the receiver to the flash, instead of the original supplied connector.

Hook up the receivers to the flash units with the hotshoe, and make sure you have fresh batteries in the receivers and flashes (I've heard reports that the supplied receiver batteries can have problems too) and you'll probably find most of the problems go away, and they'll work quite well.

If not, then maybe you got a dud batch.
01/18/2009 10:31:58 AM · #18
The flashes either do not fire or they do not sync. Every once in a while they work, but not very often. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks for the reply.
 01/18/2009 11:30:53 AM · #19
Originally posted by dnstall:
The flashes either do not fire or they do not sync. Every once in a while they work, but not very often. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks for the reply.


The only way to help the situation is to toss those junky things in the trash and buy a decent wireless system. There is a reason they are so cheap.............because they are cheap. Buy yourself a nice PC sync cord or a real wireless system and be happy you didnt spend more then you did for the junk. Sorry to be so direct, but someone has to be the bad guy and tell you the truth.

Matt
 01/18/2009 01:24:17 PM · #20
Originally posted by MattO:
Originally posted by dnstall:
The flashes either do not fire or they do not sync. Every once in a while they work, but not very often. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks for the reply.


The only way to help the situation is to toss those junky things in the trash and buy a decent wireless system. There is a reason they are so cheap.............because they are cheap. Buy yourself a nice PC sync cord or a real wireless system and be happy you didnt spend more then you did for the junk. Sorry to be so direct, but someone has to be the bad guy and tell you the truth.

Matt


I couldn't agree more with Matt here, I also have the V2 Cactus triggers and they are crap, they work for about 20% of the shots...
 01/18/2009 01:59:45 PM · #21
Anybody with cactus triggers they want to throw into the trash I'll pay actual shipping to have them sent to me. Just private message me.
 01/18/2009 02:28:25 PM · #22
My set has always worked fine, as long as the batteries are good. Have you tried fresh batteries?
 01/18/2009 02:41:05 PM · #23
Just a note,

I had V2 Cactus triggers, you know the ones that say they fixed the 580EX compatibility problems? I had so many times it would randomly fire the flashes, usually just before I'm about to take a frame and then not have the flash fire. I struggled with these for like a week, sold them, bought the 16 channel versions, they were also about as reliable as the word of most politicians while trying to get elected. I have the AB Cybersyncs, and now I dont worry about rather they are going to work or not. They just do. I use them with my flashes, my strobes, with my friends flashes. Save yourself some disappointment and buy something that works. Or you could miss "the shot" because one or both of your receivers flaked out on you.

Matt
 01/18/2009 04:07:00 PM · #24
i've got three of the v2s receivers and i've been having misfire (not firing) problems. i've discovered that the problem is that the contacts in the hot shoe don't always touch. when the flash is in the inverted position they don't work. this may be the reason it works for some people and not others who use different flashes. Some flashes may have thicker contact points or something. i'm not sure what to do about it though. i'm looking at those new radio poppers. anyone using those?
 01/18/2009 04:18:15 PM · #25
I chimed in back when this thread was new, and I'll add my $.02 again. I just ordered a second Tx and two more Rx units, of the Cactus 16-channel variety. I found the V2 series to be A) cumbersome to work with, due to their stupid design and B) worthless, as they mis-fired all the time.

The 16-channel ones, however, work perfectly for me - I will now have 2 Tx and 5 Tx units which I've used in settings ranging from stock photos in my (tiny) kitchen to covering a class held in a full size pool, lit by 3 Speedlights arraigned along it's length.

The Cactus 16-channel units are great and I have no plans to ever switch them for Pocket Wizards (which are grossly overpriced for what they do), or even for the RadioPoppers (which are still rather pricey). The catch is, there are certain mods I've done to my Cactus units which make them work this good.

First off, I had to cut off the jacks the Rx units came with and splice on PC-male connectors (very easy, very cheap). Second, I followed some instructions online and added an antenna to my Tx (VERY easy and very cheap, again). My range is now several times what it was in the beginning, I very, very rarely get misfires, and I have 4 off-camera strobes that I can use wirelessly for a fraction of the cost of the alternative.
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