The Cactus V6 wireless radio transceivers are relatively new to the market but are without a doubt the most versatile radio triggers on the market AND are still cheaper than many radio triggers that are less effective (including PocketWizards).
What? How can I dare suggest that the Cactus V6 transceivers are better than PocketWizards? Because I've used almost every variety of PocketWizard made in the last 15 years ... and I've personally found these are easier to use and more reliable*. I put an asterisk by that last comment because the only shooting environment where I haven't tested the Cactus V6 is a professional sports event where there are dozens of other photojournalists using radio triggers at the same time.
The main advantage of the Cactus V6 is that it works with a variety of TTL flash protocols so you can control the power output of wireless speedlights even if they come from different manufacturers or use different TTL standards. That's right, you can mix and match flashes from Nikon, Canon, Pentax, Metz, and others ... and the Cactus V6 controls them all as if they are part of the same flash system.
The setup is a little complex at first because the V6 has to be told what flash has been connected (or you have to set it up so the V6 can "learn" what flash is connected on its own). However, once you've done the setup a couple of times you'll be able to setup the V6's MUCH faster.
I particularly love the V6 system because I use a variety of cameras and flashes from different brands and the V6s communicate with every camera and every flash while giving me the same level of control that is only available with the PocketWizard MiniTT1, FlexTT5 and AC3 zone controller. Keep in mind that the PocketWizard products I mentioned above only give you TTL/ratio control with one type of TTL protocol (Nikon or Canon) and you cannot mix and match like with the Cactus V6.
I use multiple V6 transceivers with Pentax, Sony, Olympus and Canon cameras and a mix of Canon, Pentax, and Metz flashes. These triggers give me amazing control over my off-camera lighting all through the V6 that is connected to my camera. I don't have to walk over to flashes or have my assistant change the flash settings ... I can setup everything in advance and then control my lighting from behind the camera.
As I mentioned, I personally found the V6 to be more reliable than the PocketWizards over extremely long distances. My PocketWizards sometimes failed to fire reliably beyond a distance of about 30-35 feet. The Cactus V6 has ALWAYS worked at distances of up to about 60 feet as long as I setup the V6s correctly. I've never used the V6 system beyond about 60 feet so it may work fine beyond that range but I've never tried it.
Bottom line, this is a BEST radio trigger system currently on the market in terms of both flexibility and value for your money.
Highly recommended.
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I will update this review after rugged use at a wedding or two.Build quality is not the best but for the price it's decent. The functions are amazing and revolutionary. I recently switched to nikon from canon, and had some left over canon flashes that nobody wanted to buy, and can now integrate them into my nikon system with these! Saved me money on replacing those two flashes.First and foremost- I had problems upon setting these up initially on my Nikon D750 cameras. The pass through ttl was not working, and was locking up my on camera flash. I went to the cactus website and read through their forums and I was not the only one with this problem.Apparently the D750 hot shoe is deeper than other models, and so if you slide these triggers in all the way, the prongs do not align properly. To fix this, you must slide the trigger out a tiny bit before locking it down. Once I did that, pass through TTL worked like it was supposed to. I will either make a tiny spacer or hope that cactus releases a premade one to remedy this problem. Then, when pass through ettl (on camera) was enabled, my remote flashes would not fire. I was stumped for about an hour, and then everything started working properly. I have no idea what happened, but I'm going to assume that the hot shoe prongs on camera were still not properly aligned all the way. Now everything is working as it should and they are awesome.Benefits of these triggers vs others: pass through ttl on camera (though other triggers do this, such as yn622c's, and my buggy as hell pixel king pro's). Change manual powers on remote flashes quickly and easily. The interface is so fast and easy to use, on my pixel king pro's you have to press a million buttons to change flash powers, and on these you simply spin a wheel. If you want to change all the flashes powers at once, you just spin the wheel on the back. If you want to change a single group power, you hold the group you want to change and then spin the wheel. That simple. Having four groups vs three is also very useful, since most rooms have four corners, or, it simply just gives you an extra independent flash.Another really awesome feature is that these can force lower powers than your flashes can normally be set to. For example my 430ex ii's only go down to 1/64 power normally, but these triggers can force them to 1/128 and even 1/256 in 'lo power' mode. This is extremely useful to me because often at weddings, especially for exit photos or outdoor shots, where I'm at high ISO and wide apertures, even 1/64 power is too bright, and this gives me two stops lower to work with.These triggers are awesome. I will however, be keeping my pixel king pro's as well, for when I need to use HSS, off camera ttl, or hypersync with strobes. Note: the pixel king pro's are extremely unreliable and buggy with the D750. I'm hoping they update the firmware. That was actually my main reason in getting this cactus system.
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Reviewed in the United States on September 22, 2014
Reviewed in the United States on November 19, 2014
I will update this review after rugged use at a wedding or two.
Build quality is not the best but for the price it's decent. The functions are amazing and revolutionary. I recently switched to nikon from canon, and had some left over canon flashes that nobody wanted to buy, and can now integrate them into my nikon system with these! Saved me money on replacing those two flashes.
First and foremost- I had problems upon setting these up initially on my Nikon D750 cameras. The pass through ttl was not working, and was locking up my on camera flash. I went to the cactus website and read through their forums and I was not the only one with this problem.
Apparently the D750 hot shoe is deeper than other models, and so if you slide these triggers in all the way, the prongs do not align properly. To fix this, you must slide the trigger out a tiny bit before locking it down. Once I did that, pass through TTL worked like it was supposed to. I will either make a tiny spacer or hope that cactus releases a premade one to remedy this problem. Then, when pass through ettl (on camera) was enabled, my remote flashes would not fire. I was stumped for about an hour, and then everything started working properly. I have no idea what happened, but I'm going to assume that the hot shoe prongs on camera were still not properly aligned all the way. Now everything is working as it should and they are awesome.
Benefits of these triggers vs others: pass through ttl on camera (though other triggers do this, such as yn622c's, and my buggy as hell pixel king pro's). Change manual powers on remote flashes quickly and easily. The interface is so fast and easy to use, on my pixel king pro's you have to press a million buttons to change flash powers, and on these you simply spin a wheel. If you want to change all the flashes powers at once, you just spin the wheel on the back. If you want to change a single group power, you hold the group you want to change and then spin the wheel. That simple. Having four groups vs three is also very useful, since most rooms have four corners, or, it simply just gives you an extra independent flash.
Another really awesome feature is that these can force lower powers than your flashes can normally be set to. For example my 430ex ii's only go down to 1/64 power normally, but these triggers can force them to 1/128 and even 1/256 in 'lo power' mode. This is extremely useful to me because often at weddings, especially for exit photos or outdoor shots, where I'm at high ISO and wide apertures, even 1/64 power is too bright, and this gives me two stops lower to work with.
These triggers are awesome. I will however, be keeping my pixel king pro's as well, for when I need to use HSS, off camera ttl, or hypersync with strobes. Note: the pixel king pro's are extremely unreliable and buggy with the D750. I'm hoping they update the firmware. That was actually my main reason in getting this cactus system.
Build quality is not the best but for the price it's decent. The functions are amazing and revolutionary. I recently switched to nikon from canon, and had some left over canon flashes that nobody wanted to buy, and can now integrate them into my nikon system with these! Saved me money on replacing those two flashes.
First and foremost- I had problems upon setting these up initially on my Nikon D750 cameras. The pass through ttl was not working, and was locking up my on camera flash. I went to the cactus website and read through their forums and I was not the only one with this problem.
Apparently the D750 hot shoe is deeper than other models, and so if you slide these triggers in all the way, the prongs do not align properly. To fix this, you must slide the trigger out a tiny bit before locking it down. Once I did that, pass through TTL worked like it was supposed to. I will either make a tiny spacer or hope that cactus releases a premade one to remedy this problem. Then, when pass through ettl (on camera) was enabled, my remote flashes would not fire. I was stumped for about an hour, and then everything started working properly. I have no idea what happened, but I'm going to assume that the hot shoe prongs on camera were still not properly aligned all the way. Now everything is working as it should and they are awesome.
Benefits of these triggers vs others: pass through ttl on camera (though other triggers do this, such as yn622c's, and my buggy as hell pixel king pro's). Change manual powers on remote flashes quickly and easily. The interface is so fast and easy to use, on my pixel king pro's you have to press a million buttons to change flash powers, and on these you simply spin a wheel. If you want to change all the flashes powers at once, you just spin the wheel on the back. If you want to change a single group power, you hold the group you want to change and then spin the wheel. That simple. Having four groups vs three is also very useful, since most rooms have four corners, or, it simply just gives you an extra independent flash.
Another really awesome feature is that these can force lower powers than your flashes can normally be set to. For example my 430ex ii's only go down to 1/64 power normally, but these triggers can force them to 1/128 and even 1/256 in 'lo power' mode. This is extremely useful to me because often at weddings, especially for exit photos or outdoor shots, where I'm at high ISO and wide apertures, even 1/64 power is too bright, and this gives me two stops lower to work with.
These triggers are awesome. I will however, be keeping my pixel king pro's as well, for when I need to use HSS, off camera ttl, or hypersync with strobes. Note: the pixel king pro's are extremely unreliable and buggy with the D750. I'm hoping they update the firmware. That was actually my main reason in getting this cactus system.
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