Cactus v4

[Andre Reinders]

I am excited - I just bought a Cactus V4 flash trigger and reciever set from Gadget Infinity!
 
I was shooting some real estate and my Canon infra red communications and my optical slaves showed their limits yet again. I cannot afford Pocket Wizards for my small side business and/or my hobby. I started to investigate alternatives, and re-discovered the Chinese alternative products - but they just came out with a new model - a major upgrade! It got great initial reviews, and so after waiting for them to get more stock available - I just placed an order this morning.
 
YAY!!
 
$40 USD + $6 Airmail shipping.
 
I can't wait!

[LarryD]

I may have to look into them.

[Alan Gage]

They're great, you'll love'em. I've got some of the old ones and while they don't have the best range in the world they're pretty darn reliable.

A couple years ago I wanted something better but didn't want to spring for the Pocket Wizards so I bought the Skyports instead, which I regretted. They had a much better range than the chinese ones and were more reliable but they had some little glitches that made me wish I'd spent the little extra for the real deal. What I mean is when you upgrade jump straight to the pocket wizards.

I sold the Skyports long ago but kept my chinese triggers and just used them the other day to take some pictures of my grandparents house so we can sell it. I pulled mine apart and soldered in pigtails for vivitar and mini-jack leads so I don't have use adapters.

Enjoy!

Alan

[shadowfox]

I have Cactus v2, and I like it a lot.

I have never noticed any misfire or non-fire, apart from me pushing the shutter too quickly before the flash recharged.

One strange thing is that it won't work with all of my flashes (mostly old, film flashes that came with 'bay purchases).  It won't work with my Oly T32, some Vivitars, but it works just fine with my trusty Viv 283, and the huge Konica 36.

My wife's top of the line Canon digital flash works with it too, just put the auto-sleep mode to off, otherwise it dozes off very quickly

What are the upgrades in v4?

[Andre Reinders]

I don't know much about the old version, but for v4 it works with all voltages, the old model had a v2 and a v2s versions depending on your flash voltage. Also this one uses AAA batteries. I am sure there are other changes as well.

[Josh]

I have a few Cactus V2's and love them.  I did do the antenna mod for the trigger as I was frustrated with the low range. Other than that they have been a great value for my outdoor portrait work.

Josh

[Andre Reinders]

The package arrived!!!!

I got my Cactus V4 kit a couple of days ago. Wored right out of the box - just had to install the AAA batteries.

I have not had much time to play with it, but I did confirm that it worked, and also checked some of the range. I put the remote unit in the basement (about the middle of the house) and then shot from 1 floor above from a corner of the house - the flash triggered fine.

I did forget the design, and was a little disappointed when I got everything unpacked. You see I need on camera flash and a remote, but the trigger does not also have a hotshoe. What I found  was that I could trigger the 'trigger' with the PC cable connection and still have a flash in the hot shoe - with TTL. The remote is on manual of course.

Happy so far!

[Andre Reinders]

Some shots of the setup...

Entire setup


Receiver with Vivitar 285 mounted. The unit has some extra plastic feet, so it can stand by itself. I would not use it this way for anything but the smallest flashes - I would use a light stand or a proper hotshoe stand (like what you get with the Canon 580ex)


Close up of the Flash 'bar' with the trigger mounted on it, and connected by PC cord to my 20D. A little more bulky but allows for ETTL flash in the hot shoe.


Another view


For the money, the quality is not bad at all - except the little antenna, it defines 'cheap'.

[shadowfox]

Awesome, Andre. Mine just came yesterday also.  Me and the missus will test it probably tonight.  Now it's time to get some extra Viv 285/283s

[Andre Reinders]

I may have 1 or 2 Vivitar 283's for sale. I have 2 of my own, and one from a friend to sell. One I have (that I am keeping) has the VP-1 Vari Power adaptor. I am looking for another, VP-1, but haven't been successful. I wouldn't want to keep a 283 without variable manual control, but for those who use the auto mode, they are great!

The couple that I have - the battery holders were corroded, so I bought some aftermarket ones on e-bay. For some reason they don't take my rechargables, the rechargeables are slightly bigger than the alkaline batteries. Oh well.

Oh, and I haven't tested the 283 I have for sale yet.....

[shadowfox]

Andre, please educate me, what is that VP-1 do anyways? is it like a TTL? If it is, I don't need that really since I'm parking the flash on a light stick and just tell it what the power level is.

[Andre Reinders]

If you look at the front of a 283, you see the little dial where you set the color, or M for manual (the dial has a sensor in it, and is marked 'auto thyristor') You can buy a VP-1, which replaces this dial (it just pulls out). The VP-1 allows for manual setting on the flash from Full to 1/64 power (like you can change the Vivitar 285 power).

If you use the auto settings, then you don't need it. I mainly use my 283,285, and SB-20 on manual settings on optical slaves (or now the cactus) - so I am interested in flashes that have this manual power level control.

The VP-1 used to sell for about $25 at BH, but it costs that much or more to get it shipped to Canada - so I am on the look out for another source. I peek on e-bay every once and a while.

looks like it is discontinued now....
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=search&A=search&Q=&shs=Vivitar+VP-1&ci=0&dscnt=Y

[Andre Reinders]

Well I took the Cactus for a test drive to a Real Estate shoot on Friday, when they worked, they worked great - it seems the transmitter battery was on its last legs when I got it. Oh well, I will buy a battery tomorrow and play around more.

Here are 2 shots from the shoot when the unit did work...

   

[Andre Reinders]

Got a new battery - cactus working fine again - kinda wish the original battery lasted a bit longer - the replacement ws $10.

I tested it with all my flashes that have manual settings, and variable power control:
Nikon SB-20 (x3) (100GN)
Canon 430ex (110GN)
Canon 580ex (140GN)
Sunpak auto 411 (100GN)
Sunpak auto 30dx (120GN)
Vivitar 283 with VP-1 (120GN)
Vivitar 285 (120GN)

I just realized I have a lot of flashes - I guess I got carried away looking for light options.

Incidentally I decided to put a little sticker on each with the guide number for reference. Where the flash had a zoom head I chose the guide number on the normal or 50mm setting - they are in brackets after each above.

[jake]

Andre - as you can imagine, in a city with 12 million people and enough apartments to hold most of them, real estate photography is a "steady Eddy" job for some photographers in NYC. I frequently see them schlepping around their cameras and a small bag's worth of lighting equipment, checklist of addresses in hand. They don't carry that much though, and I have yet to see any light stands. I can't imagine the real estate agents pay all that well, but once you get good at it, I guess it could be a relatively painless trade. Digital has probably made their lives easier. I'll bet a lot of them use something like this to set up quickly, blast away, and then head off to the next one.

A lot of brick-wall "vistas" in this town, so I am sure lighting is key.