That's a good start if you want to utilise your Metz for off camera HSS work. Later you could get an RF60 and both flashes can be controlled indepentantly from the one Tx unit on the camera.

Place the flashes together to double your power if needed, or have a more sophisticated lighting arrangement (eg one behind as a hair rim light).

Well, the Cactus does not need a receiving trigger, plus the V6II alone on the camera is less unwieldy than the double trigger stack needed for Godox. Much less to get connected, plus you get remote flash zoom as well ..... Some Godox strobes need a small receiver trigger as well, which attaches to their side.

Probably comes down to the power needs ultimately.

I think it's more powerful, plus some of them have an internal rechargeable lithium ion battery, which gives faster recycling.... It looks like there is a battery pack connected to that one in the video, so that probably gives faster flashes as well.

They will have useful power advantages outdoors for HSS work when you're fighting the sun, that's for sure. I get away with a couple of hot shoe flashes because I am using them very close to the subject.

Your Metz is a 'P-TTL HSS' flash, and as far as we know it's compatible with the Cactus V6II system. To use it you need 2 V6II units, one on the Metz in Rx mode.

The Metz is set to P-TTL mode and the Cactus system turns it into a Manual power HSS flash, with remote power and flash head zoom control.

If you're still needing to buy more flashes, then the RF60 is likely to he the best value. Of course if you need something like the Godox then go for it. Be aware that as a bonus, the upcoming promised Cactus firmware update will allow automatic TTL off camera mode, with HSS, for your Metz and RF60 flashes.

It's a good clear video that shows the equipment nicely ...a bit confused though because he first tells us he is using the 'power-sync' / 'hyper-sync' technique, but then doesn't. Instead he uses true HSS.

Hyper-sync is for flashes that lack HSS ability, and the technique relies on a full power burst that hopefully lasts for 1/180thsec. It's not guaranteed to illuminate the whole frame evenly.

But here he is using real HSS, because the Godox flash has the ability to be manually engaged in HSS mode. So the Godox system can control the power levels remotely, with the V6II simply enabling the trigger signal from the camera (the Godox triggers alone can't do this).

Be aware that full manual HSS with local manual engagement of that mode is a rarity on any type of flash or strobe. But if your flash equipment allows that then yes, you can use just a single V6Ii as in the video.

Could you just clarify again exactly what trigger and flash gear you have already that you are wanting to use?

If it works that's all that matters Very creative!

Some scaling back seems inevitable, given the industry and market conditions. Let's hope it's limited mainly to the likes of the WG and Q, since these are mostly challenged by the smartphone onslaught.

If it's just about reallocating factory capacity to more profitable product lines, then hopefully there's enough room left to keep the K mount stuff on track.

That's one hell of a lens hood ! So the flash light is actually in front of the lens ? That's odd, as ringflashes obviously go around the lens barrel, just behind the front element ....

I'm surprised there's not some sort of bad flare reflecting going on with so much light right in front of the lens .....but the results are very good. Is the flower very close? The light seems soft so I'm assuming it must be very close.

John knows once I'm on a role its hard to stop me! He probably thought I was due a break

Yes, there's a fair bit of stuff on HSS there .... the Guide is focussed on the Pentax flash system, so it deals mainly with automatic P-TTL mode HSS, as well as the reasons that HSS is needed, and the limitations. Manual HSS is something newer, and still a rarity .... the Cactus RF60 is the only hotshoe type manual single pin flash that offers HSS output that I'm aware of, and it can perform HSS bursts off camera with optical triggering as well (triggered by an on-camera P-TTL flash) using its 'HSS Sympathy' mode (that is the technique shown in my 'teddy bear' thread) . And now with the V6II trigger plus the latest firmware the RF60 offers HSS output with radio triggering as well.

In basic terms, because once past the max sync speed there is a 'moving slit' between the shutter blades, a single flash 'pop' will not illuminate the whole frame. Therefore for HSS mode the flash turns into a rapidly pulsating strobe, providing a light source that is effectively continuous, and therefore this continuous light shines through the moving slit during its whole passage over the sensor, illuminating each part of the sensor equally.

This special way of operating requires a special mode on the flash, plus normally on Pentax cameras the flash trigger signal is cut off past the max sync speed .... so the camera needs to detect the presence of a P-TTL flash with HS mode engaged in order to generate the trigger signal. The Cactus V6II simulates / emulates this also to enable the trigger signal to the radio transmitter. That's why the V6II is such a big deal in Pentax world ..... its our only way into budget manual HSS flashing.