Ritz Gear GN60 User Manual

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2 IDENTIFICATION OF PARTS

(Figure 1) 

1. Battery Cover  

2. Locking Wheel  

3. Hot-Shoe  

4. External Power Jack  

5. Focusing Light  

6. Flash Sensor  

7. Flash Head Lens     

8. Diffusion Screen     

9. Bounce Card  

10. Tilt Angle Scale     

11. Display Screen

12. Clear Buttons (both pressed)

13. Right Clear Button

14. Zoom Button/Wireless Settings

15. On-Off Button

16. Keypad

17. Flash Test/Charge Light Button

18. Mode Button

19. Back-light/Function Button

20. PC Jack

21. Wireless Select Button

1 INTRODUCTION

Thank you for your purchase of this Ritz Gear high-performance, 

feature-packed flashgun. It’s like a flashgun of yesteryear on steroids. 

It looks like an ordinary camera-mounted flash, but the 

enhancements built in to this light source make it anything 

but ordinary.

This flash features a built-in diffusion screen and white bounce card. 

It operates with through-the-lens cameras or cameras equipped with 

PC synchronization. It can also serve as a wireless master or slave 

when using multiple flash units. In addition, it provides eight power 

levels of light and can be set to keep up with rapid fire exposures

of eight frames per second.

Before operating the flash, please read all of the following instructions 

and keep them in a safe place for future reference.

Safety Precautions

1  Be sure batteries are inserted correctly. Refer to Section 3 

 Battery 

Installation.

2  The flashgun is to remain dry at all times; do not use the flashgun in 

  the rain; store it in a non-humid environment and do not spray or 

  pour liquid cleaners onto the flashgun.

3  When necessary, wipe the exterior with a clean, soft, dry cloth. If 

  some dirt or stain can’t be removed with a dry cloth, apply a small 

  amount of water or liquid cleaner to the cleaning cloth and rub the 

 surface 

clean.

4  Do not fire the flash into a person’s eyes if the flash is closer than 

  three feet from the person.

5  Do not attempt to disassemble or otherwise repair the flashgun. 

  Extremely high voltage is used to ignite the flash tube, and that 

  voltage may remain in a charged capacitor.

6  Keep the flashgun away from small children.

7  As batteries age, they are susceptible to leaking their chemicals 

  and corroding battery terminals.

  If the flashgun is not to be used for a month or more, remove 

 the 

batteries.

3BATTERY INSTALLATION

1  Slide the battery compartment cover down in the direction of the 

 small 

arrow.

2  Flip the door up 90°.

3  Insert 4 x AA alkaline batteries following the polarity markings 

  stamped into the metal contacts on the inside of the door.

  NOTE: The most economical battery to use is a size AA (1.5-volts) 

  marked “alkaline.” Priced slightly higher is size AA (1.5-volts) 

  “lithium.” A third choice is size AA “nickel metal-hydride” which 

  provides only 1.2-volts. They lose their charge sooner than the 

  previous two types, but they are rechargeable.

  An alternative to batteries is to use an external power adapter (not 

  included) which plugs into the power receptacle located on the

  bottom-front of the flashgun. It will provide the fastest recycle 

  times, but requires a 120-volt cord between a wall outlet and 

 the 

flashgun.

4  From top to bottom, the positive terminal should be facing out, 

  then a negative terminal, then positive, and negative facing out in 

  the last position.

5  Close the Battery Compartment Cover, Item 1 to compress the 

  batteries then slide it up until it locks in place.

  NOTE: It is recommended that the flashgun be in its OFF position 

  when inserting or removing batteries.

4 MOUNT THE FLASHGUN ON YOUR CAMERA

1  Loosen the Locking Wheel, Item 2 at the bottom of the flashgun 

  and turn it so it’s as far as possible above its Hot-Shoe, Item 3.

2  Slide the flashgun all the way into the camera’s hot-shoe mount.

3  To secure the flashgun in place, turn the Locking Wheel, Item 2 

  downward until it’s tight against the camera’s hot-shoe.

5  

Use the chart below to help you select the number of times you 

  can fire the flash during a single exposure.

6  Since the frequency is already set at 8-Hz, we’ll continue with this 

  example: let’s program 1/8 power and two flashes per exposure.

7  Press the center button of the Keypad Button, Item 16 repeatedly 

  until the frequency begins flashing (already set to 8-Hz) then press 

  the center button of the Keypad Button, Item 16 to set the next 

 column 

blinking.

8  Use the left and right buttons of the Keypad Button, Item 16 to set 

  the number of flashes to “2” then press the center button again to 

  flash the power output level.

9  Use the left and right buttons to set the power level to “1/8” then 

  press the center button to store all three numbers.

10 Press and hold the Flash Test Button, Item 17 and the video head 

  will flash twice and stop, verifying you’ll get two flashes during a 

 single 

exposure.

8 E-TTL MODE OPERATION

1  Press the On/Off Button, Item 15 for 3-sec to turn on the flashgun.

2  Press the Mode Button, Item 18 repeatedly until “E-TTL” is 

  displayed on the top line of the screen.

3  The flashgun is ready to go, taking all its commands and settings 

  from the camera. Just point and shoot.

4  If the flash exposure is a bit too bright or too dark, you can make 

  fine-tuned adjustments to the exposure value (EV) by pressing the 

  left and right buttons on the Keypad Button, Item 16. There are 9 

  values below zero and 9 values above zero (-3.0 to +3.0).

  For a Nikon camera, press its “FV” button. (Refer to your camera 

  manufacturer’s instruction booklet for detailed procedures regarding 

  the locking of the flash to a particular object in the scene.)

6 MANUAL MODE OPERATION

Use this mode to control every feature of the flash.

1  Press the Mode Button, Item 18 until the “M” appears on the top 

  line of the display.

2  Decide what percentage of the flash’s light you want to use on the 

  subject. There are eight possible values which appear on the second 

  line of the display and range between full power (1/1) to the least 

 power 

(1/128).

3  To choose a power level, press the left or right button in the Keypad 

  Button, Item 16.

4  Once a value is selected, it can be fine tuned even further by 

  choosing an exposure value (EV) for the power level. Choices 

  include: 0EV, +.3EV, +.7EV and in the opposite direction: 0EV, -.3EV

 and 

-7EV.

7 MULTI MODE (STROBOSCOPIC)

Use this mode to spray a moving subject, such as a golf swing, with 

rapid short-burst pulses of light to capture the subject in up to eight

successive positions on one frame.

1  Press the Mode Button, Item 18 successively until the word “Multi” 

  appears on the top line of the display.

2  Next, set the frequency of the flash (the number of times per 

  second that the light will flash during each firing of the light) by 

  pressing the center button of the Keypad Button, Item 16.

3  The frequency in hertz (Hz) will begin flashing. At this time, press 

  the left or right buttons of the Keypad Button, Item 16 to set the 

  time between flashes. For now, set the frequency to 8Hz.

4  Press the center button of the Keypad Button, Item 16 to store the 

  number and begin the blinking of the number of times the unit will

 flash.

5WHAT THE BUTTONS DO

1  Refer to Figure 1 for the locations of each item listed in this section.

2  Press the On/Off Button, Item 15 for 3-sec to turn the flash on and 

  press again for 3-sec to turn it off.

3  The Mode Button, Item 18 loops through three settings: E-TTL, M 

 (manual), 

Multi.

4  There are two Clear Buttons, Item 12 which, when pressed together, 

  will cancel all previous button selections and put the flashgun in the

 fully 

automatic 

TTL 

mode.

5  The Light Button, Item 17, has two functions: when pressed quickly, 

  it turns the display panel light on for 15-sec. During that time, 

  another quick press will turn the light off. Holding the button down 

  for 2-sec will change the display to the custom settings function 

  screen. (See Section 13 Custom Settings.)

6  To manually change the beam spread of the light to match the focal 

  length of a given lens, quickly press the Zoom Button, Item 14. The

  focal length value in the lower-right corner of the display will flash 

  for 6-sec. During that time, press the left or right Keypad Button,

  Item 16, to select the focal length of the lens in use. Pressing the 

  left button will decrease the value; the right button will increase the 

  value. Values range from 18-mm to 180-mm. To set the value into 

  memory, quickly press the Zoom Button, Item 14, press the center 

  button of the Keypad Button, Item 16 or wait 6-sec and the value 

  will be entered automatically. In any case, the focal length value 

  displayed in the lower-right corner will stop flashing.

7  The exposure value (EV) of the flash can be adjusted between 0 

  and +3EV and between 0 and -3EV. To select an EV, press the Mode

  Button, Item 18 to put the flash in the E-TTL mode. Next, press the 

  left or right button on the Keypad Button, Item 16. The left button

  will decrease the value; the right button will increase the value.

8  A “Flash Exposure Lock” feature allows you to set the correct flash 

  exposure for any part of the scene being photographed. Set the 

  flashgun to the E-TTL mode. If you’re using a Canon camera, press 

  its “FE” button. If your Canon camera doesn’t have an “FE” button,

  press the flash exposure lock button as indicated with this symbol: 

  “   ”

Flash Power and Time of Flash Relationship Table

Flash

Output

Power

1/128

1/64

1/32

1/16

1/8

1/4

Flash

Time

1-40

1-20

1-12

1-8

1-4

1-2

8  Do not use a flashgun in areas of propane, gasoline vapors or dust. 

  Doing so can cause an explosion and/or fire.

9  Do not recharge carbon-zinc, manganese or alkaline batteries. Non-

  rechargeables may overheat, swell, and leak corrosive chemicals.

9 E-TTL MODE WITH RADIO TRIGGERING (MASTER)

1  Press the Mode Button Item 18 repeatedly until “E_TTL” is 

  displayed on the top line of the screen.

2  Press the Wireless Select Button, Item 21.

3  The bottom of the screen will display icons of an active radio 

  antenna and a flashgun with a zig-zag arrow pointing outward. 

  “MASTER” is displayed in the center of the screen; under it are 

  two columns, one labeled “CH.” and the other is “RATIO.”

4  It is necessary that the Master and all Slave units are tuned to the 

  same channel of operation. Let’s set the channel number to “2.”

5  Press the Zoom Button Item 14 once; a numeric value of a focal 

  length begins blinking. Press the button again to start the 

 “CH.” 

blinking.

6  To select channel 2 operation, press the right button of the Keypad 

  Button, Item 16 once. To stop the blinking and to enter the number 

  2, press the center button of the Keypad Button, Item 16 or wait 

  5-sec for the number to enter itself.

7  Next, set the Master by pressing the Zoom Button Item 14 until 

  the icon of the flashgun in the lower left corner of the display 

 begins 

blinking.

8  Now, press the left or right button of the Keypad Button, Item 16 as 

  necessary to display the icon of the flashgun with light rays in front

  of the light head as shown here…

9  Press the center button of the Keypad Button, Item 16 to store the 

 Master 

mode.

10 The flashgun is now sitting atop your camera as a Master flash. 

  Additional flashguns with radio trigger capability should be 

  programmed to act as slaves on channel 2 (See Section 10.).

5  To save the adjusted value in memory, press the center button on 

  the Keypad Button, Item 16.

6  Pressing the up and down buttons on the Keypad Button, Item 16 

  allows you to fine tune the value set in Step 4 to any of 9 values 

  between .3 and 3.0 [.3, .7, 1, 1.3, 1.7, 2.0, 2.3, 2.7, 3].

7  To save the adjusted value in memory, press the center button of 

  the Keypad Button, Item 16.

GN60 WIRELESS TTL AUTO POWER

ZOOM BOUNCE & SWIVEL FLASH

USER GUIDE