RF60 + Cactus V6+ Fuji X-T2 II very unreliable/unusable, no problems with V6 1st

rreopjopo

Hi,

My RF 60s work only very sporadically with my V6ii whereas they are rock solid with my old V6 transceivers. Does anybody else see this? My V6ii is pretty much unusable as it is. All devices have the latest firmware and I have done all my my testing without camera to rule out the camera causing problems.

rreopjopo

After some more testing it seems to be the camera (Fuji X-T2). I have two RF-60s. When I reset the V-6ii to factory defaults both flashes work. As soon as I put the V6ii on the camera one of the flashes stops working.

Again, no problems with the older V6 models.

Antonio

Hi @rreopjopo,

I suspect it's the hot shoe connection between the camera and the V6 II TX.

Are you using auto-detect for the camera system - this is recommended, especially for Fujifilm cameras.

Below checklist x-post from another thread.

1. Has the hot shoe metal spring plate been removed?
2. Did
   the V6 II auto-detect the camera as Fujifilm by half-pressing the
   camera shutter button while switching the V6 II to TX mode?  Make sure
   to securely mount the V6 II on the camera hot shoe.
   
3. Try re-doing the LEARN HSS process in case it actually failed in recording the timing on the first run.
4. Before shooting above camera's x-sync speed (1/250s on the X-T2), manually switch ON Forced HSS by pushing the Adjustment Dial.
5. Similarily, before shooting at or below camera's x-sync speed (1/250s on the X-T2), manually switch OFF Forced HSS by again pushing the Adjustment Dial.
6. Make sure both the V6 II are running on the latest firmware version.

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FYI the original V6 works right off the bat because it ONLY communicates with the camera using the centre hot shoe pin. But the V6 II needs to use all the contact pins in order to support HSS.

I hope the above helps. Thank you.

rreopjopo

Thanks for the comments. I just did some more experiments and I have isolated it to only the transceiver and the RF60. No camera needed. I also didn't try HSS.

The problem shows more with one of the RF60. It seems after some power adjustments the flash and the transceiver stop communicating for a while and then the communication restarts. For example I turn the flash's channel off but the flash doesn't show "Off". Or the power adjustments don't get transmitted from the transceiver. After a while things go back to normal and after some more time the problems come back.

Also the test fire button on the transceiver sometimes triggers a flash whose channel is off. The whole thing just seems very unstable.

The original V6 works fine. I haven't seen any problems with it.

rreopjopo

Also, the signal when I turn off a group often doesn't get transmitted. All firmware is on the newest version and I also did a factory reset for all devices.

Antonio

Also, the signal when I turn off a group often doesn't get transmitted. All firmware is on the newest version and I also did a factory reset for all devices.

What versions are they?
RF60 should be on v2.04
V6 II should be on 1.1.006

Remember to press the "Check for Latest Firmware" button above the UPDATE button when you install using the Firmware Updater.

rreopjopo

The RF60 are on 204
V6ii is on 1.1.006
V6 is on 2.1.001

Antonio

Thanks for checking the firmware versions.
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... The problem shows more with one of the RF60. It seems after some power adjustments the flash and the transceiver stop communicating for a while and then the communication restarts. ...

What was the distance between your supposedly hand-held V6 II and the RF60?

In case you had them relatively close to one another, say 1m or so, did you already set the TX's <WORK RANGE> to SHORT?

rreopjopo

That may be it! It works much better when I keep at a distance. Do the RF60 also have to be at a distance? Is this new for the V6ii?

rreopjopo

Thanks! The distance was the problem. The last few days I worked at close distance so the problem showed up. Just used the flashes at normal distance and everything is rocksolid.

Antonio

Thanks! The distance was the problem. The last few days I worked at close distance so the problem showed up. Just used the flashes at normal distance and everything is rocksolid.

Ah-ha!

Thanks for the update.

On the next firmware release we will have SHORT as the default setting for Work Range. FYI even at SHORT it could operate up to 100m on an open field. So indoor with WI Fi and other possible wireless interferences, 5-10m should not be a problem.

So in the meantime you could adjust the work range anytime here:

Menu > Radio Setup > Work Range.

Cheers!

rreopjopo

I really appreciate your support. This was a tricky problem that required some patience.