Cactus RF60 User Manual
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Cactus RF60 User Manual

Wireless flash
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  • Page 1 User Manual Wireless Flash RF60...

  • Page 2: Table Of Contents

    Table of Contents 1. Getting to Know your RF60 2. Caution and Warnings 3. Major Specifications 05 4. Package Contents 5. Nomenclature 07 6.

  • Page 3: Getting To Know Your Rf60

    1. Getting to Know your RF60 Thank you for purchasing the Cactus Wireless Flash RF60. We know that you will enjoy the benefits of your new wireless portable flash. The RF60 is unique among other flashes available on the market. With a built-in transmitter and receiver, it not...

  • Page 4: Caution And Warnings

    2. Caution and Warnings Before using the product, read the following instructions to ensure correct and safe use and to help prevent damage of the Cactus RF60. 1. Turn OFF all your equipment (Cactus units, cameras, etc. ) before changing batteries or making a connection.

  • Page 5: Major Specifications

    3. Major Specifications – Guide Number (ISO 100) : Zoom (mm) GN (meter) GN (feet) – Motor zooms: 24mm – 28mm – 35mm – 50mm – 70mm – 80mm – 105mm – Power levels (22 in total) : 1/16 1/32 1/64 1/128 1/16 1/32 1/64 1/128 +0.3 +0.3 +0.3 +0.3 +0.3 +0.3 +0.3 1/16 1/32...

  • Page 6: Package Contents

    4. Package Contents Carrying Case FC-3 Flash RF60 Flash Stand FS-2 User Manual...

  • Page 7: Nomenclature

    5. Nomenclature WIDE ANGLE DIFFUSER FRESNEL LENS AND BOUNCE CARD TRIPOD MOUNT 3.5mm CONNECTOR OPTICAL SENSOR USB PORT EXTERNAL POWER CONNECTOR CONNECTOR COVER CONNECTOR COVER HOT SHOE LOCKING WHEEL HOT SHOE CONTACT MOUNTING FOOT BOUNCE ANGLE INDICATOR BATTERY COMPARTMENT LCD PANEL DOOR GROUP BUTTON MULTI/HSS BUTTON MODE BUTTON TEST BUTTON/ MENU BUTTON FLASH-READY INDICATOR ON/OFF SWITCH - BUTTON + BUTTON NEXT BUTTON...

  • Page 8: Lcd Panel

    6. LCD Panel TEXT AREA GROUP PANEL SELECTION INDICATORS ZOOM LEVEL POWER LEVEL POWER LEVEL INCREMENT HSS SYMPATHY MODE STATUS OPERATING MODES CHANNEL BEEP INDICATOR BATTERY LEVEL OPTICAL SLAVE DELAY INDICATOR HIGH TEMPERATURE WARNING 7. Getting Started Inserting Batteries 1. Using your thumb, press on the battery compartment door and slide it open in the direction shown by the arrow.
  • Page 9 2. Install the batteries. Make sure the positive (+) and negative (-) battery contacts are properly oriented as shown in the compartment. 3. Slide the battery compartment door in the direction shown by the arrow to close it. Caution: 1. Use a new set of AA batteries of the same brand and type. When replacing batteries, replace all four at the same time.
  • Page 10 the indicator will blink when the flash does not have enough power to fire. Replace batteries immediately when you see the blinking signal. The indicator is not applicable to Ni-MH battery. 5. When the flash is not in use, remove the batteries to prevent possible damage from battery corrosion.
  • Page 11 3. To detach the flash, rotate the locking wheel on the mounting foot to the right until it is loosened. Turning the Flash on 1. Switch the On/Off Switch to ON. The flash starts charging. 2. Check that the flash is ready. - The flash-ready indicator blinks in red, indicating that the flash is ready for quick flash (see Section 12.
  • Page 12 - Once fully charged, the flash- ready indicator stays red and the flash is ready to give full power output. - Press the button to fire a test flash. Caution: 1. When the flash is switched ON but not used, after a certain period of time, the flash’s power turns off automatically. However, the flash still consumes power and batteries discharge over a long...
  • Page 13 Make sure the flash head is sufficiently angled away from the subject. The flash head of the RF60 can be tilted up to a vertical angle of 90˚ , with click stops at 30˚ , 60˚ , and 75˚ . Horizontally, it can be rotated up to 180˚ to the right and 90˚ to the left,...
  • Page 14 Bounce Card and Wide Angle Diffuser There is a bounce card and wide angle diffuser set built in the RF60. The bounce card and wide angle diffuser can be used separately or at the same time. Tip: The bounce card is useful in...
  • Page 15 2. Push the bounce card back in. The flash will illuminate at 18mm coverage. Choosing the Operating Mode There are three operating modes in the RF60, namely Local, Master, and Slave. Upon switching on the RF60, press the button to choose the appropriate mode. The mode indicator...
  • Page 16 Setting Channel When the RF60 units are in the Master or Slave mode, they need to communicate in the same RF wireless channel with each other. To set the channel, press . Use button to select the RF channel. Press to go back to the main screen. The selected...
  • Page 17 4. Press the button to leave and go back to the main screen, or press the button to change the menu to the next item in the sequence. Applicable Menu item and Text shown modes corresponding options on LCD RF Channel √ √ - 1-16 - 1-16 Delay Timer DELAY...

  • Page 18: On-Camera Operation

    8. On-camera Operation: Local Mode Set up the RF60 in Local mode when you work with one flash on the camera’s hot shoe. In the main screen, the power level is shown on the left while the zoom level is shown on the right. The selection indicator ►...
  • Page 19 The power levels available for adjustment are: 1/16 1/32 1/64 1/128 1/16 1/32 1/64 1/128 +0.3 +0.3 +0.3 +0.3 +0.3 +0.3 +0.3 1/16 1/32 1/64 1/128 +0.7 +0.7 +0.7 +0.7 +0.7 +0.7 +0.7 Adjusting the Zoom Level To adjust the zoom level, press until the selection indicator ►...

  • Page 20: Wireless Flash

    RF60 wirelessly, set up one RF60 in Master mode and the other RF60 units in Slave mode. Setting up the RF60 Slave 1. Make sure that the RF60 units that you want to control through the Master flash are set to mode (see Section 7 .6) .
  • Page 21 Commanding with the RF60 Master 1. Set the on-camera RF60 to mode by pressing (see Section 7 .6) . 2. Set the RF60 Master to the same channel as the RF60 Slave units (see Section 7 . 7) . 3. Check the group statuses on the group panel.
  • Page 22 Changing parameters of a particular Slave group To select a particular group for remote control, press the group selection indicator will go to group A. 7 . Press again to select the next group, i.e. , group B. Each press of the Group button will select the next group in the following sequence: Master...
  • Page 23 Changing parameters of all active groups 9. You may also change settings for all active groups at the same time. To select all groups, press and hold the button. 10. All selection indicators of the activated groups will be on and the text area will show <ALL GP> . The first activated group in the sequence of Master-A-B-C-D will be chosen as the reference group.
  • Page 24 15. Press the shutter release button on the camera and the RF60 Master and Slave units in groups A, B, C, or D will fire at the power level and zoom level you have set in the...

  • Page 25: Group Aliases

    10. Group Aliases The RF60 comes with a list of pre-set group aliases to choose from for the particular slave groups according to the purpose of each. The chosen group alias will be shown in the text area next to the group panel. The group alias will display whenever the group is selected.
  • Page 26 3. Press to confirm the alias and exit. 4. Repeat steps 1-3 to set aliases in all the Cactus RF60 units. To prevent confusion, make sure that you have set the same alias for the same group in all RF60 units. 5. The alias of each group will...

  • Page 27: Advanced Operation

    11. Advanced Operation Multi Flash 11.1 In Multi mode, a rapid series of flashes is fired. It can be used to capture multiple images of a moving subject in a single frame. In Multi mode, you can change the: • Number of flashes in a series • Flash frequency per second in Hz • Power level • Zoom level...
  • Page 28 For example, if you wish to fire a series of flashes that lasts for 0. 5 second at a frequency of 10 times per second (i.e. , 10Hz) , the number of flashes would be 5. Similarly if you wish to fire 10 flashes at a frequency of 100Hz, the flash series would last for 0.1 second.
  • Page 29 12-14 15-19 20-50 60-199 Power 1/16 1/32 1/64 1/128 Notes: 1. Multi flash is most effective with a highly reflective subject against a dark background. 2. Multi flash is not supported at power level higher than 1/4. 3. The Multi flash may be useful when combined with a camera set to bulb mode.
  • Page 30 3. Press to increase or decrease the number of flashes. 4. Press until the selection indicator ► points to the frequency of flashes(Hz) , i.e. , the value after the hyphen. 5. Press to increase or decrease the flash frequency per second.
  • Page 31 11.1.2 Multi Flash in Master and Slave Modes An RF60 in Master mode will cause a Slave RF60 that uses the same RF channel to synchronize to Multi mode settings. 1. To enter Multi mode on the RF60 Master, press until you see <MASTER> displayed as the group name. 2. Press the button once.
  • Page 32 Master, Multi mode flashes can only be configured in the Master group. The selection will apply to the RF60 Master and all RF60 Slaves in the active group(s) . 11.2 HSS Sympathy Mode The HSS Sympathy mode of the RF60 is designed to support flash photography at shutter speeds beyond a camera’s...
  • Page 33 to achieve shallower depth of field while maintaining correct exposure. Characteristics of HSS Sympathy Flash Compared with normal single-burst flash, the HSS sympathy flash provides continuous and constant illumination for the full duration between the first curtain opening and second curtain closing. The contribution of HSS sympathy flash to the exposure of the image is therefore different than that of a normal flash: 1. The flash output power in HSS...
  • Page 34 Using the RF60 in HSS Sympathy Mode To use RF60 in HSS sympathy mode, you need a TTL flash with HSS/Auto FP capability. 1. Mount the TTL flash on the camera’s hot shoe.
  • Page 35 HSS sympathy mode automatically. Position the RF60 Master with its optical sensor facing the TTL flash head. 4. Take a test shot by pressing the camera’s shutter release button. 5. If the frame is not evenly illuminated from top to bottom, set the delay timer (see Section 11.4) of the RF60 Master to 10ms...
  • Page 36 Camera brand Suggested delay time Canon 52ms-64ms Nikon 55ms-65ms Sony 90ms-100ms Olympus/Panasonic 65ms-75ms Pentax 75ms-82ms • F-number: The higher the f-number, the longer the delay time within the range of the particular camera system. • Dark Band Position: When you see a dark band at the top of the image, increase the delay time. When the dark band appears at the bottom,...
  • Page 37 <OPT SL> . Use the button to choose <OFF> . Press to confirm. Delay Timer 11.4 Every RF60 is equipped with a delay timer that can be configured in either Master or Slave mode. The delay timer delays the trigger response for the time period set. If...
  • Page 38 To set the delay timer, press then press the button until <DELAY> is displayed and the selection indicator ► points at the value in ms. 2. Use the button to set the delay timer in milliseconds (ms) , which is equal to 1/1000 second. You may set a delay time from 1ms to 999ms, i.e.

  • Page 39: Personalizing The Rf60

    12. Personalizing the RF60 12.1 LCD Backlight The LCD backlight of the RF60 turns on whenever any button is pressed. In order to conserve energy, there is a timer setting that automatically turns off the backlight. To configure the backlight duration, press , and press until the text area shows <BK LGT>...
  • Page 40 Wireless triggering will not wake up RF60 Slave units remotely. 12.3 Quick Flash The quick flash option enables firing the RF60 even though the flash capacitor is not fully charged. However, the flash output may be lower than specified on the RF60 menu. Enable the quick flash option when speed is more important than the accuracy of power output.
  • Page 41 Beep Feedback 12.4 In addition to the flash ready indicator, the built-in buzzer of the RF60 can also notify you when the flash is ready according to your custom settings. Choose from the following options to best fit your shooting requirements: RF60 does not beep in any circumstance.
  • Page 42 fired a quick flash with a power level lower than the selected level. *Both Fn1 and Fn3 are only available for selection when the Quick Flash has been enabled (see Section 12. 3) . To configure the beep option, press , and press until the text area shows <BEEP>...

  • Page 43: Working With Cactus Triggers

    13. Working with Cactus Triggers The RF60 is compatible with Cactus Wireless Flash Transceivers V6, V5, and Laser Trigger LV5. CAMERA RF60 SENSOR EMITTER 13.1 Cactus V6 With the group function, the Cactus V6 transceiver and RF60 flash can trigger and command each other, in either Master or Slave mode. 13.1.1 RF60 as Slave...
  • Page 44 You may combine an RF60 with other V6-compatible TTL flashes to form a manual flash control system. For example, assign a RF60 to group A, Canon 580EX (with a V6 RX) to group B, Nikon SB-900 (with another V6 RX) to group C. The V6 TX will be able to trigger them all and set their power levels in either relative or absolute power mode.

  • Page 45: External Power

    RF60 Master will trigger all V5s, independent of which group it considers active. Similarly, both the V5 and LV5 will trigger any RF60 Slave, independent of what group it has been assigned to. 14. External Power The external power source provides faster recycling times and more flash counts per battery cycle.

  • Page 46: Forming The Capacitor

    When this occurs, you can “form” the capacitor as follows: 1. Switch on the RF60 in Local mode with fresh batteries. 2. Adjust the flash to full power. 3. Allow the ready light to glow 15 seconds to 20 seconds first.

  • Page 47: Usb Connection

    16. USB Connection The USB port of the RF60 is designed for firmware updates. To check the firmware version, press and hold and switch on the RF60 at the same time. To undergo a firmware update, switch off the RF60 and remove the batteries inside. Connect it to a...

  • Page 48: Troubleshooting

    18. Troubleshooting Before reading this section, ensure that the Cactus RF60 has been set up correctly (follow the instructions in Sections 7-9 of this manual) . If the problem persists after completing the troubleshooting steps, contact your seller directly for further assistance. 1. Flash capacitor not charging...
  • Page 49 3. Local or Master Flash does not fire SYMPTOM POSSIBLE CAUSE SOLUTION Flash Ready Flash is not Attach the flash’s LED blinks attached hot shoe securely or stays on, securely to to the camera but the flash camera does not fire Electrical Clean the contacts contacts of the flash or camera are dirty 4. Slave Flash does not fire...
  • Page 50 - Set up the RF60 in HSS Sympathy mode (see Section 11.2) Delay timer Turn off the delay has been set timer or adjust incorrectly the delay timer to correct sync time 6. Flash misfires (Unexpected flash firing)

  • Page 51: Notices

    7 . Flash power lower than specified SYMPTOM POSSIBLE CAUSE SOLUTION Insufficient Flash fires - Turn off Quick Power when it is not Flash Warning fully charged - Allow the flash beeps (if to recharge enabled) fully Ready Signal Batteries are Replace batteries takes longer nearly with a new set of than usual depleted or AA batteries...
  • Page 52 If this equipment does cause harmful interference to radio or television reception, which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on, the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or more of the following measures: • Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna. • Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver.

  • Page 53: Warranty

    The limited warranty set forth below is given by Harvest One Limited with respect to the Cactus brand Wireless Flash purchased with this limited warranty. Your Cactus Wireless Flash RF60 or other contents, when delivered to you in new condition in its original container, is warranted against defects in materials or workmanship as follows: for a period...
  • Page 54 (a) Loss of or damage to the Wireless Flash due to abuse, mishandling, improper packaging by you, alteration, accidents, electrical current fluctuations. (b) Failure to follow operating, maintenance, or environmental instructions prescribed in Cactus user’s manual. (c) It is serviced by someone other than Harvest One Limited or authorized dealers. (d) Without limiting the foregoing, water damage, sand/corrosion damage, battery leakage, dropping the flash, scratches, abrasions or damage to the body, or damage...
  • Page 55 ONE LIMITED HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. IN NO EVENT SHALL THERE BE RECOVERY OF ANY KIND AGAINST HARVEST ONE LIMITED GREATER IN AMOUNT THAN THE PURCHASE PRICE OF THE CACTUS WIRELESS FLASH SOLD BY HARVEST ONE LIMITED OR ITS AUTHORIZED DEALERS AND CAUSING THE ALLEGED DAMAGE. WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, YOU ASSUME ALL RISK AND LIABILITY FOR LOSS, DAMAGE, OR...
  • Page 56 www.cactus-image.com...

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