Off camera flash for Panasonic GX8, G7

Hi all,

A few quick questions regarding off camera solutions for the GX8? I have just come across this Hahnel trigger and wondered if anyone has experience of this setup and if it would work well?

I would like the option to add a trigger in the GX8 hotshoe to then trigger a flash unit. I currently have a nissin i40 which works fine on and off the G7 in TTL mode but of course unless I mount a 2nd flash on the GX8 I cannot use it.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Electronics-Photo/H%C3%A4hnel-CAPTUR-REMOTE-OLY-PAN-Captur-Olympus-Panasonic/B00WGMC4TK/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1487412980&sr=8-4&keywords=Hahnel+Captur+Remote+Control+and+Flash+Trigger

I have also read about these? YONGNUO RF-605C RF-605 and wondered if again anyone had good experiences using them with the GX8?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Electronics-Photo/YONGNUO-RF-605C-Wireless-Trigger-Cameras-WINGONEER-Diffuser/B00PS3H1KG/ref=pd_sim_421_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=B0N33PQ39NVWFKK3JMF1

Excuse my ignorance but will these work together as one being a trigger and one a receiver or do I need to add YN-560TX controller?

I understand that none of the above options offer TTL and therefore is there a trigger out there that would work with the GX8 that offers TTL with say the Nissin i40?

Many thanks for your help.

Hi

I use the Cactus V6 with my G7 and G85.    It has TTL pass through.   A typical setup is that I put the V6 on the camera hot shoe, set it for TTL and put my Panasonic FL-360 on top of it.  I then control several Cactus RF60 Wireless Flashes (with built in wireless) from the V6 controller.     If you want to use other flashes you can get additional V5 controllers and use them in Rx mode to control your other flashes.

Mark

Forgot to provide some links for my previous post.

Cactus Wireless Flash Transceiver V6

Cactus RF60 Wireless Flash

Mark

The big question here is whether you are wanting off camera TTL function. If so your options are limited to using 'R' system, line-of-sight flashes, or something like the new Nissin i60 which requires the 'Air Commander' transmitter.

I recently invested in the Yongnuo YN-560 lll system and am very pleased with control and output -- at a great price too. However, Yongnuo for m4/3's is strickly a manual control system -- no TTL (I prefer manual control myself).

Since the YN-560 lll flashes have a built in receiver, all you need for off camera control is the YN560-TX transmitter and you are in business. The flash and controller can be had for a mere $102 from B&H or Adorama. It is easy to use and allows total control from your camera position -- but once again, it is manual and not TTL.

Hi Neil

TTL Passthrough here means that you can use the TTL flash as if the trigger unit was not in between it and the camera.

You do not need to have any flash unit attached to the top of the trigger to make the other flash units fire.  Control of the RF60s are wireless.

Note:  If you use a different flash then you need additional V6 controllers with the switch set to Rx to fire those flashes, also wireless.

I can only speak to using the Cactus RF60 Flashes as the remote flash units.  There are several ways you can configure and control the flashes.    I have four RF60s.  I assigned each to a separate group (A, B, C or D).  With this configuration I can control adjust the power of each individually. If you want to raise or lower the power of all four simultaneously you can do that as well.  For example, if I have a unit at 1/8 power and another at 1/32, I can lower them both simultaneously so that they will now be  1/6th and 1/64th.

As daddyo said after my previous post, options for off camera TTL are very limited.

While having off camera TTL would be nice to have, I haven't really missed that capability for In-studio use.  I have to fiddle with the power via light meter or test shots till I get the power set just so.   What's nice is that I don't have to go and touch the flash units, I simply press the channel button for a flash and turn the dial to raise the power up and down right at the camera.

Mark

I'm looking for a flash system for a GX8 too. I'm confused but have been doing homework. Comments and "training" would be appreciated!

Thanks for the Cactus information.  I've not tried to study that one yet.

It appears that the Panasonic/Olympus brand flashes require a flash on the camera to trigger one, or more, off the camera. In other words, you need two. There is a little one and a big one. Price for two would be about $450 for two little ones.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/924874-REG/panasonic_dmw_fl360l_wireless_external_flash_with.html

For manual off camera or multi flash, the YN560-TX Manual Flash Controller appears to be a bargain. It comes in a version for Nikon or Canon. Users that write on various forums say either work on Panasonic/Olympus but without an "auto wake up". Apparently there are two flashes for it, the Yongnuo Yongnuo YN-560-III or IV. Controller and one flash is about $100.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1108992-REG/yongnuo_yn_560_tx_yn560_tx_manual_flash_controller.html

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1101196-REG/yongnuo_yn_560iv_yn560_iv_speedlite.html

For automatic TTL off camera flash, Nissin recently added Panasonic/Olympus functionality to their "Air 1" commander. They have also announced a future "Air 10" commander. Controller and one flash is about $300.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1306097-REG/nissin_nd700ak_ft_di_700a_flash_air_1.html

Reading about how these work has been confusing. I will be buying from someone that makes returns easy!

Neil426 wrote:

BillSprague wrote:

I'm looking for a flash system for a GX8 too. I'm confused but have been doing homework. Comments and "training" would be appreciated!

It appears that the Panasonic/Olympus brand flashes require a flash on the camera to trigger one, or more, off the camera. In other words, you need two. There is a little one and a big one. Price for two would be about $450 for two little ones.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/924874-REG/panasonic_dmw_fl360l_wireless_external_flash_with.html

For manual off camera or multi flash, the YN560-TX Manual Flash Controller appears to be a bargain. It comes in a version for Nikon or Canon. Users that write on various forums say either work on Panasonic/Olympus but without an "auto wake up". Apparently there are two flashes for it, the Yongnuo Yongnuo YN-560-III or IV. Controller and one flash is about $100.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1108992-REG/yongnuo_yn_560_tx_yn560_tx_manual_flash_controller.html

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1101196-REG/yongnuo_yn_560iv_yn560_iv_speedlite.html

For automatic TTL off camera flash, Nissin recently added Panasonic/Olympus functionality to their "Air 1" commander. They have also announced a future "Air 10" commander. Controller and one flash is about $300.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1306097-REG/nissin_nd700ak_ft_di_700a_flash_air_1.html

Reading about how these work has been confusing. I will be buying from someone that makes returns easy!

Hi Bill, very helpful and yes we appear to be going along similar lines ref the gx8.. just wondering if you need to only mount the yn-560tx controller on the gx8 to fire an off camera flash? will the gx8 recognise it to then fire any compatible off camera flash?

I don't know because I don't have one (yet!). Apparently the answer is yes. I read that you mount the controller on the camera and it fires the flash or flashes off the camera by radio signal. I don't know what flashes besides the YN-560 would be compatible.  I also don't know how you set up the GX8 (yet!)

If you buy one, PLEASE post the results here.  I'm subscribed to this topic so would see it eventually!

Yes, the YN560-TX mounts on the camera hotshoe, and with it you can control up to 6 groups of YN-560 lll flashes. It is a very easy to use set up, and it works very well. You can vary the flash output of each group from 1/1 power to 1/128 power in full or 1/3 EV increments. There are some pretty good YouTube videos showing the set up and how to use it.

I believe the YN-560 IV flash has the controller function built in to the flash, but I strictly wanted the system for off camera flash use, so the lV model didn't make sense for me.

Plus 1 for the cactus system.

I recently purchased 4 v6ii units to replace the v4 units I was using that crapped out.

It was a big step up.

Allows ttl pass through, control of all groups from the camera tx .  I was so impressed I ordered a cactus flash to add to my set up

downside...price is steep. The units are large

oh, and if you go this route, ensure you do firmware upgrades on the units before even trying them. It will save you a lot of headaches and the process is very quick and easy

Hi

I've been doing off camera flash shooting with my MFT gear since 2015 or so, and now I'm at the point where I am very comfortable with my setup and no longer wish to add anything significant to my lighting setup.

I use YongNuo these days, and my main flashes are YN560IV, YN510EX, YN560EX, and a couple of Olympus FL600R. I used a bunch of RF603C II transceivers on both my camera and my flashes(except YN560IV which has that transceiver function built in) for my off camera flash setup.

This is a full manual setup, there's no TTL, there's no HSS, I have to physically get to the individual flash to adjust its power, and it's all very basic and straight forward. However, it works very well, and the results(combined with proper modifiers such as umbrellas or bounce panels) meet my requirements.

Here are some results:

Most of these shots were taken without using any modifiers at all, so it's just a YN560IV, and a single RF603CII mounted on my GX8. A friend held the flash, and another friend took the shot.

Hope this helps!

daniel-m144 wrote:

Hi, So the youngnuo yn560 with the yn560tx transmitter is all you need for the manual flash on the G7? also does the high speed sync work well?

Nowadays we recommend going with the Godox system rather than Youngnuo. Youngnuo is good but it's not as scaleable as Godox and it's roughly the same cost

It's broken up into 2 parts for speedlights

- Universal Manual speed lights (HSS but no TTL)

- Full featured but brand specific (have both HSS and TTL)

Both of these categories are also broken down by power source

- AA battery powered - standard AA's

- Lithuium Ion powered - faster recycle times, longer lasting

So with that in mind the Manual speedlights with their respective powersources are

- TT600 (AA) , V850II (Li-Ion)

The Full featured speedlights are :

- TT685[C,N,F,O,S] (AA) and V860II[C,N,F,O,S] (Li-Ion) that are specific to each camera brand, canon, nikon, fuji, olympus,sony (eg the Canon one is the TT685-C)

All of these flashes have built-in 2.4GHz transmitters/Receivers so they can control all the other speedlights/strobes in the system

You also have the stand-alone triggers like the XT32(HSS only) X1T[C,N,F,O,S] (TTL/HSS) and the upcoming XPro[C,N,F,O,S](TTL/HSS)

I usually recommend that someone gets a TT685 and X1T specific to their camera for the TTL capability and then they can get additional manual speedlights after. Ofcourse you can choose between the AA or Li-Ion variants.

If you need more power there are the AD200 (TTL) , AD360 (TTL) and AD600B (TTL) or AD600M (No TTL) strobes. All of them also support HSS and all of them can be controlled by the speedlights or the stand-alone triggers.

If you don't need the full power of an AD600 all the time you can actually get 2xAD200's + the AD-B2 adapter to combine them into one light for about the same price.

BTW I would recommend getting these from CheetahStand or Molight or Adorama for their excellent warranty service. They have their own names for them but searching for the Godox names will usually get you to the correct product.

daniel-m144 wrote:

Hi, So the youngnuo yn560 with the yn560tx transmitter is all you need for the manual flash on the G7?

Yes. But. You don't have to settle for manual-only setups any more, thanks to Godox. You could also get a TT600 and an X1T-O (or wait for an XPro-O). It would give you everything the Yongnuo setup does, but also access to Godox's full system which includes TTL lights, bigger lights, and HSS over radio.

And the YN-560IV has been succeeded by a YN-660, and there's an upcoming YN-740 (aka YN-680Li) that uses a Li-ion battery pack. This thread is pretty old and cheap Chinese flash gear moves fast.

also does the high speed sync work well?

The Yongnuo 560/60x radio transmission system does NOT include HSS signalling. For that, you need Yongnuo's 622 or -RT triggering systems and they only come in Canon and Nikon flavors.

That's why we say Godox is better instead. Godox supports TTL/HSS with Canon, Nikon, Sony, micro four-thirds, and Fuji X. And the lights that do TTL can be used in TTL/HSS over radio from any of the five systems, so long as the camera has the appropriate transmitter and the light has the appropriate firmware updates.

The $65 TT600 will work in HSS off-camera from a $45 X1T-O . A $110 TT685-O should work in HSS and TTL both on and off camera from an X1T-O or the upcoming XPro-O.

I have two TT600 speedlights that work great off-camera in HSS with remote power control from a TT350-O on top of my GX7. My TT685C, however, isn't working the way it's supposed to, and the best response I've gotten from Flashpoint/Godox support is "I've sent your issue along to the engineers." It works in TTL/HSS in studio conditions, but not outside in bright ambient light, which is very weird. OTOH, I haven't tried it with an X1T-O or a TT685-O, and I haven't heard anybody complain with a similar issue about using those on MFT.