Flash battery doors

jolyonralph

Game Boy Camera
CR Pro
Aug 25, 2015
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London, UK
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Is it just me being unlucky, or are there problems with flash battery doors breaking? Inevitably the little plastic tabs that lock the door in place just fail. I thought this was just because I had been a cheapskate buying 3rd party flashes, but so far I've had one Yongnuo 468, a 568EX II and one of my Yongnuo 600EX all with doors breaking at least partially.

So. When I wanted a flash for my A7R II I decided not to skimp and buy an official Sony HVL-F43M flash. And within a month the door on that was broken too.

I don't think I use my flashes in a particularly destructive way and I try to keep care of my kit - but it does seem these doors are quite fragile.

I've never owned a genuine Canon Speedlite, are these any better constructed? And if the battery door latch does fail does it look like a simple component to replace? (On the sony it seems the whole outer shell needs to be replaced!)

Jolyon
 
Jul 21, 2010
31,098
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I had two 430EX II flashes, and currently have four 600EX-RTs and a 270EX II. I use eneloops but I still cycle batteries fairly often. I've never had a battery door fail.

Actually, the 600's are pretty tough – I dropped one from a boom stand, it fell nearly 3 m to a hardwood floor. Dented the wood, but the flash was unaffected and I put it back up on the boom and continued shooting.
 
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Besisika

How can you stand out, if you do like evrybdy else
Mar 25, 2014
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Montreal
Yes, the Canon speedlites are better constructed.
I own two 430EX II and never broken any door.

I own two Yongnuos and I already replaced both doors (I actually bought 4 just in case). Besides, I have to hold them with a rubber band to hold the batteries tight. They have felt to the floor on me many times, and you have to chase after them in front of everybody (batteries).
But I never complained, they are cheap, same as rubber band.
 
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Own 7 Yongnuo flashes, mostly 560 IIIs and the new 600 RT series. All battery doors have been fine through much abuse and transportation. One consideration: how much do replacement doors cost? Curious, I looked on the webs and found the Yongnuo ones going for $5 and the Canon going for $35 (which is half the price of a new Yongnuo 560 III).
 
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Ooh... New idea... all you guys who have Canon flashes can remove the doors and sell them on ebay for $30+. If you have three flashes, you could purchase new Yongnuo doors for $5 per and then purchase a 560III with the profit.

(More seriously, I wonder if hard use can beget very high temperatures, and this might affect the type of plastic. It may be that the inconsistency in user feedback might betray a link between how we use our flashes and how likely doors are to fail.)
 
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One of my Yongnuo battery doors lost a locking tab the first time I tried to use it.. I went back to the seller who offered me a replacement door which I took as I knew by then the rest of the flash was good.

IT was trivial to pop off the old door and replace.. however if anyone wants to do this themselves BE CAREFUL, the little spring that holds the locking tab in the locked position is easy to lose, it will ping a hundred miles with minimal effort.
 
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