Using the Godox/Flashpoint R2 SP SINGLE PIN TRANSCEIVER as a remote camera shutter release

[Kumsa]

Godox/Flashpoint R2 SP SINGLE PIN TRANSCEIVERs (https://www.flashpointlighting.com/product/flashpoint-r2-single-pin-transceiver-2-pack/) can be used to trigger more than flashes and strobes. They can also be used as wireless camera shutter releases.

The reason for posting my experience is because (1) the manual is weirdly useless for configuring the units and (2) I couldn't find any other online reference for making it work.

I've been using these units to incorporate some non-Godox/Flashpoint strobes into my studio lighting. They work really well, and are extremely cost effective.

Rather than describe the setup as receiver and transmitter, I'm going to refer to the (A) camera unit and (B) the remote unit.

• Both (A) and (B) units need the identical group, channel and ID settings.
• The camera unit will require a connecting sync cable, with a 2.5mm plug on the end that fits into the (A) camera sync port. I have a Canon R, so both ends have 2.5mm plugs.
• Set (A) to RX
• Set (B) to RX
• Hold the (B) test button for 3 seconds until there is a TRX in the lower right hand. Ensure that the identical group is selected.

Isn't that weird that both units are set to RX ? And, then the (B) unit is configured to TRX mode so it's transmitting with the side switch set as RX. The manual also suggests that the (A) unit should be fitted onto the cameras hot shoe slot. I don't do that, because I need the hot shoe for the Flashpoint R2 Pro C to trigger my flashes and strobes.

What's funny to me, is that even after getting these units to work correctly, I still can't understand the instructions for making them work as a remote camera shutter release.

Cheers,

 

[ronscuba]

While doing this, can you fire flash and control power thru the trigger ?

 

[Kumsa]

While doing this, can you fire flash and control power thru the trigger ?

 

[Jacques Cornell]

Thanks for posting this. I can't get the SPT that's set to RX mode and wired to the camera to trip the shutter. I'm using a Flashpoint R2-TII or Godox X2T as the remote trigger, and when I press its Test button, the camera AF activates, but the shutter doesn't trip. Both devices are set to the same channel, ID and group.

I know about TRX mode, but am trying first to get just the basics of wireless shutter release working with RX mode. Once I get that working, I'll investigate flash sync.

Any ideas?

--
Event professional for 20+ years, travel & landscape enthusiast for 30+.
http://jacquescornell.photography
http://happening.photos

 

[Hanson Peterson]

Are you using back-button focus? On my D750, the shutter won't trip with BBF.

EDIT: The test button on the trigger device - in my case, an R2 Pro - works like a shutter button: half-press to focus, full-press to shoot.

EDIT 2: If your camera is set up to shoot only when focus is achieved, the shutter won't trigger unless you've locked in focus.

 

[fotowbert]

Thanks for posting this. I can't get the SPT that's set to RX mode and wired to the camera to trip the shutter. I'm using a Flashpoint R2-TII or Godox X2T as the remote trigger, and when I press its Test button, the camera AF activates, but the shutter doesn't trip. Both devices are set to the same channel, ID and group.

I know about TRX mode, but am trying first to get just the basics of wireless shutter release working with RX mode. Once I get that working, I'll investigate flash sync.

Any ideas?

You are getting the "half-press" but not the "full-press" behavior.

If you have a dumb wired shutter release (or another wireless release) I suggest you try it to confirm the issue in not your camera as Hanson Peterson's Edit #2 addresses.

I have a pair of SPTs and Nikon variants of the X2T and XProII and the SPT remote shutter works as expected. I prefer to use my YN RF-603II triggers (have 3 pairs) as remote shutter releases due to their smaller size, especially if I have them dangling from the camera by the shutter cord.

• John

 

[Jacques Cornell]

Are you using back-button focus? On my D750, the shutter won't trip with BBF.

Nope.

EDIT: The test button on the trigger device - in my case, an R2 Pro - works like a shutter button: half-press to focus, full-press to shoot.

I have an X2T and R2-TII. The button seems not to have a half-press. In any case, no matter how I press it, the shutter doesn't trip.

EDIT 2: If your camera is set up to shoot only when focus is achieved, the shutter won't trigger unless you've locked in focus.

The camera successfully focuses. I think the focus-priority setting is "balanced".

Thanks for sharing your ideas.

 

[Jacques Cornell]

Thanks for posting this. I can't get the SPT that's set to RX mode and wired to the camera to trip the shutter. I'm using a Flashpoint R2-TII or Godox X2T as the remote trigger, and when I press its Test button, the camera AF activates, but the shutter doesn't trip. Both devices are set to the same channel, ID and group.

I know about TRX mode, but am trying first to get just the basics of wireless shutter release working with RX mode. Once I get that working, I'll investigate flash sync.

Any ideas?

You are getting the "half-press" but not the "full-press" behavior.

I'm pressing the button on the X2T every way I can think of.

If you have a dumb wired shutter release (or another wireless release) I suggest you try it to confirm the issue in not your camera as Hanson Peterson's Edit #2 addresses.

I don't have one.

I have a pair of SPTs and Nikon variants of the X2T and XProII and the SPT remote shutter works as expected. I prefer to use my YN RF-603II triggers (have 3 pairs) as remote shutter releases due to their smaller size, especially if I have them dangling from the camera by the shutter cord.

The SPT seems pretty small to me.

• John

 

[Hanson Peterson]

Hmm, frustrating. I assume the shutter fires when you push the test button on the SPT?

Also, and I'll edit my other post in a moment, but my memory is poor, and it's not that the shutter won't fire when I've set BBF; it's that the camera won't focus first. My apologies.

Also, occasionally, it seems that ghosts occupy my Godox/Flashpoint stuff. There have been a few times when pulling the batteries, resetting, etc., have moved them along to someone else's gear.

EDIT: Ironically, I'm editing this post to note that I can't edit the earlier one.

 

[Jacques Cornell]

Hmm, frustrating. I assume the shutter fires when you push the test button on the SPT?

Good observation. Yes, it does.

Also, and I'll edit my other post in a moment, but my memory is poor, and it's not that the shutter won't fire when I've set BBF; it's that the camera won't focus first. My apologies.

Also, occasionally, it seems that ghosts occupy my Godox/Flashpoint stuff. There have been a few times when pulling the batteries, resetting, etc., have moved them along to someone else's gear.

Aside from this, I've had no issues with this gear in several years. Now that I've got current versions of flashes and triggers, I'm able to keep firmware up to date with the mac-compatible G3 updater.

EDIT: Ironically, I'm editing this post to note that I can't edit the earlier one.

LOL

 

[fotowbert]

fotowbert wrote in part:

I have a pair of SPTs and Nikon variants of the X2T and XProII and the SPT remote shutter works as expected.

• John

I need to correct what I posted above.

I posted the above because I remembered discovering during initial testing that the test buttons on both my X2T and XProII had the same half-press/full-press behavior as the test button on an SPT when used as the TX.

New testing has revealed the remote shutter feature of the SPT only works reliably when using another SPT as the TX.

Using the X2T as TX results in the camera going into a half-press shutter state but no shutter release. This agrees with Jacques's post.

The same behavior occurs when using the XProII as TX, however during one brief period of testing the shutter did release sporadically some 4 or 5 times from perhaps 20-25 attempts. I have since been unable to repeat this limited success. I have tried using the channel that the XProII scan reported, factory reset the SPT and ZProII, and fresh alkaline cells that ZTS tester said were 100%. I would like to understand this issue but so far it remains a mystery.

My X2T and XProII are Flashpoint branded and Nikon variants. I find it more convenient to use the Godox designations where possible. All this gear was purchased late in 2023 from Adorama.

• John

 

[Jacques Cornell]

Thanks for posting this. I can't get the SPT that's set to RX mode and wired to the camera to trip the shutter. I'm using a Flashpoint R2-TII or Godox X2T as the remote trigger, and when I press its Test button, the camera AF activates, but the shutter doesn't trip. Both devices are set to the same channel, ID and group.

I know about TRX mode, but am trying first to get just the basics of wireless shutter release working with RX mode. Once I get that working, I'll investigate flash sync.

Any ideas?

Thanks, all, for sharing your experience. I've talked with Flashpoint support. They say this "should" work, but it doesn't. I've tried Groups A, C and E, an R2 TTI-S and an X2T-S, a7RV and a7IV, different lenses, manual focus setting, RX and TRX modes, channels 1, 2, 11 & 12, different manual group output levels, and fresh alkaline batteries. No joy.

Found an "open box" Flashpoint TTL R2 Receiver for Sony for $20, so gonna try that in place of the SPT.

--
Event professional for 20+ years, travel & landscape enthusiast for 30+.
http://jacquescornell.photography
http://happening.photos

 

[fotowbert]

fotowbert wrote in part:

New testing has revealed the remote shutter feature of the SPT only works reliably when using another SPT as the TX.

Using the X2T as TX results in the camera going into a half-press shutter state but no shutter release. This agrees with Jacques's post.

The same behavior occurs when using the XProII as TX, however during one brief period of testing the shutter did release sporadically some 4 or 5 times from perhaps 20-25 attempts. I have since been unable to repeat this limited success. I have tried using the channel that the XProII scan reported, factory reset the SPT and ZProII, and fresh alkaline cells that ZTS tester said were 100%. I would like to understand this issue but so far it remains a mystery.

My X2T and XProII are Flashpoint branded and Nikon variants. I find it more convenient to use the Godox designations where possible. All this gear was purchased late in 2023 from Adorama.

• John

UPDATE:

The behavior I described in the quote above is for the default setting of "TRIGGER" for the custom function "Test button" (lightning bolt icon) of my XPro Mark II.

I have now discovered the manual says you need to set that custom function to "SHUTTER" for the XProII's test button to activate remote shutter. I wish I had seen that earlier. Now a full-press of my XProII's test button will reliably activate the shutter of camera connected to an SPT set to RX. Surprisingly the test button still fires my flashes with the "SHUTTER" setting.

The only downside I am currently aware of to using an XProII with the "SHUTTER" setting as a remote shutter TX compared to using a 2nd SPT as TX is there is no half-press behavior with the XProII contrary to what the manual describes.

Unfortunately there is no similar custom function on my X2T. Still can't get it to work as a remote shutter TX. :-(

• John

--
"[If you don't sweat the details] the magic doesn't work." Brooks, F. P., The Mythical Man-Month, Addison-Wesley, 1975, page 8.

 

[Jacques Cornell]

fotowbert wrote in part:

New testing has revealed the remote shutter feature of the SPT only works reliably when using another SPT as the TX.

Using the X2T as TX results in the camera going into a half-press shutter state but no shutter release. This agrees with Jacques's post.

The same behavior occurs when using the XProII as TX, however during one brief period of testing the shutter did release sporadically some 4 or 5 times from perhaps 20-25 attempts. I have since been unable to repeat this limited success. I have tried using the channel that the XProII scan reported, factory reset the SPT and ZProII, and fresh alkaline cells that ZTS tester said were 100%. I would like to understand this issue but so far it remains a mystery.

My X2T and XProII are Flashpoint branded and Nikon variants. I find it more convenient to use the Godox designations where possible. All this gear was purchased late in 2023 from Adorama.

• John

UPDATE:

The behavior I described in the quote above is for the default setting of "TRIGGER" for the custom function "Test button" (lightning bolt icon) of my XPro Mark II.

I have now discovered the manual says you need to set that custom function to "SHUTTER" for the XProII's test button to activate remote shutter. I wish I had seen that earlier. Now a full-press of my XProII's test button will reliably activate the shutter of camera connected to an SPT set to RX. Surprisingly the test button still fires my flashes with the "SHUTTER" setting.

The only downside I am currently aware of to using an XProII with the "SHUTTER" setting as a remote shutter TX compared to using a 2nd SPT as TX is there is no half-press behavior with the XProII contrary to what the manual describes.

Unfortunately there is no similar custom function on my X2T. Still can't get it to work as a remote shutter TX. :-(

• John

Thanks for sharing this. As I started reading, I got all excited and looked for such a custom setting in the menu. Then I got to your conclusion. :-(

I've got an R1 receiver (X1R) on the way...