GX8, speedlights, burst mode, and crushing disappointment

[peppermonkey]

Also the shutter lag using a remote is ~67ms.

I'm not countering your facts (really) and I know you are saying it's an approximate but how are you measuring such lag?

The Cactus RF60 light has a delay feature for situations like this. I set the camera up and increased the time by 5ms over and over until I saw the flash in the photo. Then I stepped it back 1ms at a time until I had the lowest number possible.

So I'm pretty confident about this number. =)

 

[Jacques Cornell]

Today I had a ballet dancer in the studio. I had six Cactus speedlights set up, triggered from the GX8 hotshoe with a Cactus V6. This same combination works brilliantly on my Nikon D800 and I recommend it to everyone.

I was planning to use the GX8 today, instead of the D800, because it has double the framerate vs the D800 (8 vs 4) and I was going to mount the camera on a tripod, set the dancer loose and capture 8fps of flash-illuminated beauty.

The intent was to later composite the frames into single images, multi-exposure style.

Those of you who know the Panasonic M43 system well have already figured out where I went wrong, but I was floored, absolutely stunned, by Panasonic's bizarre decision:

The hotshoe is disabled in burst mode.

You can't even enter burst mode with a flash or trigger attached to the hotshoe, unless you explicitly set the flash to OFF.

This seems to be the opposite of my GX7. That is, with a flash on the hotshoe and turned on, I can select burst mode, but when I press & hold the shutter I get just one frame.

Never noticed it until I saw this post.

 

[mudprod]

burst flash worked in the FZ50 generation (of course flash output depends on flash recycle time), but was disabled by the time my G5 came along and in the GX7. Only solution I can see is to use a strobe flash like the $80 Meike 320 set for 8fps and use a longer exposure at a low ISO and small aperature, but I do agree that wasn't what you wanted.

--
Rich
Take many pictures - a few are keepers, the rest are are lessons.

hi dontfret,

can you confirm that the burst mode will work with the Meike320 flash?

I just realized the same on my gx8 with a standard manual flash. My Nikon D610 can handle the burst + flash, but the gx8 nothing at all.

I was initially considering buying the Mk320, but I went for something simpler cheaper and compatible with the D610 as well. But this burst mode thing is really annoying.

I'd like to know if anyone tested the burst mode with the MK320 or, know about other flashes that can overcome this problem. But by reading all the thread, it seems is more a camera issue, same that after more than a year they didn't do a firmware update to fix this.

thanks

M

ps. before buying the gx8 I was evaluating the OEM 5 II. I'm counting all the reasons why I should've gone for that choice. damn it.

 

[NFG]

Only solution I can see is to use a strobe flash like the $80 Meike 320 set for 8fps and use a longer exposure at a low ISO and small aperature, but I do agree that wasn't what you wanted.

can you confirm that the burst mode will work with the Meike320 flash?

I believe they're saying that the flash is set to strobe mode and the camera's on a long exposure. The flash itself is no more capable of firing based on the camera's shutter than any other - the camera simply disables the flash output.

ps. before buying the gx8 I was evaluating the OEM 5 II. I'm counting all the reasons why I should've gone for that choice. damn it.

I swapped my GX8 for a Oly M1 (not even the Mk2) and I love it so much more. No regrets.

 

[bgalb]

Well, you succeeded in getting my interest. I knew my E-M1 would do burst flash, but never really used it. Put my FL-50 on and at 8 feet in fast burst got 12 consecutive good indoor exposures at 1/250 second F4. I should have checked this out long ago.

 

[RobertG_Berlin]

Just tried out of curiosity.

The GX80 does trigger external flash in burst mode with Yongnuo 603IIs remote triggers and also with a non-TTL Yongnuo 560IV speedlite directly attached.

My G6 and the GX1 would disable burst mode once the trigger/flash is attached. For some weird reason the GX80 also won't burst if I attach a TTL-capable Metz52 directly to the GX80. What mode the Metz was in did not seem to make a difference (switched to M there of course to match the Yongnuos).

So it's not impossible on a Panasonic.

I still think such important details can't be simply "overlooked" by Panasonic engineers. This camera has power-supply on the hotshoe, the other does not, this one does fire in burst the other does not, this one allows sync-time to be upped to 1/250, the other does not.

You can't be sure what you get, which is quite uncomfortable. o(

 

[mudprod]

Only solution I can see is to use a strobe flash like the $80 Meike 320 set for 8fps and use a longer exposure at a low ISO and small aperature, but I do agree that wasn't what you wanted.

can you confirm that the burst mode will work with the Meike320 flash?

I believe they're saying that the flash is set to strobe mode and the camera's on a long exposure. The flash itself is no more capable of firing based on the camera's shutter than any other - the camera simply disables the flash output.

I bought the mk320, to test it. Unfortunately the RPT mode or strobe, is not useful for my purpose ( street photography with flash with short exposure).

ps. before buying the gx8 I was evaluating the OEM 5 II. I'm counting all the reasons why I should've gone for that choice. damn it.

I swapped my GX8 for a Oly M1 (not even the Mk2) and I love it so much more. No regrets.

i contacted the Panasonic support to ask for clarifications. In my opinion this is a real deal breakerbecause it is omitted everywhere. no mentions of this limitation in the manual either. No excuses.

I bought this camera one month ago, and so far i loved it. it was supposed to replace my D610 for better portability. The other option was the OMD Em5. But now I'm seriously thinking of sending it back.

 

[NFG]

no mentions of this limitation in the manual either. No excuses.

It is mentioned in the manual, but it's not really phrased in such a way that makes it clear. I don't have the manual anymore since I sold the camera, but it is definitely in there.

but honestly if you didn't already know the answer you'd almost certainly overlook it. The Panasonic manuals are awful.

 

[shinndigg]

burst flash worked in the FZ50 generation (of course flash output depends on flash recycle time), but was disabled by the time my G5 came along and in the GX7. Only solution I can see is to use a strobe flash like the $80 Meike 320 set for 8fps and use a longer exposure at a low ISO and small aperature, but I do agree that wasn't what you wanted.