how reliable are cheap third party flashes (yongnuo)

[kirispupis]

I currently have two Yongnuo 565EX flashes, a Canon 580 EX, and a Canon 580EX II.

Canon 580EX - Synchronization is now off in the flash, preventing me from using it for my high speed work.
Canon 580EX II - Miniport no longer works. I have to use a hotshoe to trigger it
Yongnuo 565EX - Both of them still work fine

 

[Jel_55]

I personally can't speak about the Yongnuo, but until recently I used to have a couple of Meike 580. Basically Chinese 580ex copies but with most of the advance functionality removed.

In my personal opinion, the old adage "you get what you pay for" is especially pertinent when it come to flash guns. The Mieke’s I had were horribly inconsistent and unreliable. They rarely worked with other third party radio triggers (in this instance Pixel Kings). I got phenomenally frustrated with the whole set up and nearly lost interest in flash photography as I found the kit so problematic.

In the end, I sold the lot, saved up the extra cash and bought myself the new 600EX-RT and ST-E3-RT. There is now no pain or anguish – things just work.

It seems from the forum that others have had better success than I with third party flash equipment. But from my experience, my conclusion was simple - putting a third party flashgun on my 5d Mk III, was like adding a luggage-roof-rack to an Aston Martin – cheap and does the job, but looks ugly and you’d never know what state your luggage (photos) would end up in and you’d always feel like it’s ruining/limiting the performance of the car (camera).

Not the greatest analogy but hopefully you get the idea!

 

[EOBeav]

I currently have two Yongnuo 565EX flashes, a Canon 580 EX, and a Canon 580EX II.

Canon 580EX - Synchronization is now off in the flash, preventing me from using it for my high speed work.
Canon 580EX II - Miniport no longer works. I have to use a hotshoe to trigger it
Yongnuo 565EX - Both of them still work fine

I'm hearing more and more stories like this. A few years ago, Yongnuo got a bad rap because a lot of bad units were making their way past QC. The company seems to have improved this, though, and I'm hearing of much fewer reports of bad units being shipped. Personally, I have two 560's, and they work just fine for my occasional use.

 

[Zv]

I have two YV-560 II and they work flawlessly. I actually prefer them to my 430 exii, the controls are so easy to use. Changing power is childsplay. The build quality is also pretty good considering the price. Makes me wonder why Canon charge so much. I guess for ettl? Which is not that great really. I prefer manual flash nowadays as I like to keep shot to shot consistency and learn lighting as I go. Plus the YN's have a built in optical slave mode. Why does Canon not have this basic feature?

I paired up the YN-560 with the 603 triggers and it all works just fine. I do get a misfire but it seems to be the first shot after changing settings and or after a "wake up". Does anyone have a fix for that?

Otherwise brilliant, simple combo. Love it so much I might buy 3 or 4 more just for kicks!

 

[Rienzphotoz]

im thinkig of buying a second flash.
a Yongnuo YN-560 II or YN-565.

i have a 430 EX II and i want/need a second flash.

has someone really put the yongnuo flashes to the test?
i mean on a real shoot that stresses the flash.

should i go fore a cheap one or better stick to canon?

ps: i shoot manual, not ETTL, most of the time.

My Yongnuos died on me during photoshoot

Last weekend I received a surprise gift from my wife ... and it was a Yangnuo YN-568EX for my Nikon D7000. It is an ok speedlite for the money ($180) ... the flash out put works well and it communicates well with the camera in i-TTL (Canon E-TTL) ... but I would have spent another $170 and get the SB-700 ... if I could help it I would have never bought it ... reasons:
1. There are visible gaps between the moldings, even a little bit of water could easily reach inside and short circuit the speedlite.
2. Even though YN568EX is taller than the SB700, they both weigh the same (Yongnuo 360gms & SB700 350 gms) due to Yangnuo's much cheaper plastic
3. The wide angle diffuser panel is stiff to pull out
4. The up/down flash head movement is stiff and jerky
If used extensively I don't see the YN568EX lasting very long ... also moderate falls will not be very kind on this unit ... having said that, I don't see any reason why it won't last long if it is not "pushed" too much and used moderately.
I've seen some people compare YN568EX favorably against 600 EX-RT, they probably never held or used the 600 EX-RT ... simply put YN568EX is an ok purchase for $180 but is no match for a Nikon SB700 or Canon 580 EX II or Nikon SB910 and let alone the Canon 600 EX-RT.
Having said that, it is perfect for my Nikon D7000 as it is will not be used heavily. My personal experiance is, get the YN568EX if you don't intend to use it heavily and don't want to spend more than $180 ... but if you are willing to spend another $75, get the 430 EX II

 

[Lichtgestalt]

im thinkig of buying a second flash.
a Yongnuo YN-560 II or YN-565.

i have a 430 EX II and i want/need a second flash.

has someone really put the yongnuo flashes to the test?
i mean on a real shoot that stresses the flash.

should i go fore a cheap one or better stick to canon?

ps: i shoot manual, not ETTL, most of the time.

My Yongnuos died on me during photoshoot

my canons did the same.

i have canon 580 ex ii, 430 ex ii and a few yongnuos (2x 565, 3x 568).
yongnuos are hard to beat for the price. i use them manually most of the time.
but i need ETTL versions to setup the power wireless via radio triggers.

i don´t know how many flashes canon sells and how many yongnuo sells.
but when i look at the price, i guess more yongnuos are sold then canons.

for me the ratio is 2:5.
when i read strobist forums i see many who have one or two canon flashes but a few third party flashes.



so statistically it´s no wonder when you hear more about broken yongnuo flashes then canons.

 

[FEBS]

Today i had my YN-622c eTTL trigger in the mail and they feel very durable and well built, they also look very nice with the shiny surface on top. The feature set is impressive for 80€ triggers. Now I can change my flash output from the camera and won't need to go to the flash and fiddle with the buttons, which (let's be honest) looks not very professional on a portrait shoot.

I will buy a YN-565 with another set of triggers in the future when one light isn't enough anymore.

The YN-622c is a TTL trigger. With TTL flashes you can indeed change output directly from the camera menu. However, as the 560 II or III is a manual version, you can't change output of that flash by the YN-622 trigger. You can do that only for TTL flashes like 430II, 600RT, 565EX and 568EX. Be aware that also the 560EX is not remotely changeble as this ttl flash can function only in TTL by optical connection and NOT straight from the hotshoe.

Never the less, I have a lot of Youngnuo products and I am very pleased with it.

Francois

 

[Lichtgestalt]

Today i had my YN-622c eTTL trigger in the mail and they feel very durable and well built, they also look very nice with the shiny surface on top. The feature set is impressive for 80€ triggers. Now I can change my flash output from the camera and won't need to go to the flash and fiddle with the buttons, which (let's be honest) looks not very professional on a portrait shoot.

I will buy a YN-565 with another set of triggers in the future when one light isn't enough anymore.

The YN-622c is a TTL trigger. With TTL flashes you can indeed change output directly from the camera menu. However, as the 560 II or III is a manual version, you can't change output of that flash by the YN-622 trigger. You can do that only for TTL flashes like 430II, 600RT, 565EX and 568EX. Be aware that also the 560EX is not remotely changeble as this ttl flash can function only in TTL by optical connection and NOT straight from the hotshoe.

Never the less, I have a lot of Youngnuo products and I am very pleased with it.

Francois

correct but he wrote:

I will buy a YN-565

that´s perfectly fine for the YN-622c.

 

[noncho]

I have YN565EX from more than a year and it's working fine.
I'm not using the flash too often, but I'm pretty happy with this one. Especially for 1/4th of the 580EX II price.

 

[CharlieB]

Some AA rechargeables are a little shorter than std AAs....hence funky operation. I had battery door failure on two YN568EXii's. Fix shown here on the forum. Inside....looked well made. Large components were shock mounted with hot glue, not just flopping about. Very neat little cable connectors. Plasitc case is reasonably thick. Worth the price paid I'd say.

When switching 622s a lot....I needed to clear memory one or twice to restore full function....Going from 7D to 5Dii. They got confused. No big deal there.

 

[digital paradise]

And look out Canon. They are coming after you.

http://flashhavoc.com/yongnuo-yn-e3-rt-released-yn-600ex-rt-coming/

 

[keithfullermusic]

When switching 622s a lot....I needed to clear memory one or twice to restore full function....Going from 7D to 5Dii. They got confused. No big deal there.

I'm assuming that you're referring to the 622C wireless triggers, but what do you mean you cleared your memory in order to restore functionality?

 

[privatebydesign]

Personally, if I have x amount of money to spend, I'd rather get a second hand Canon unit than a new third party unit, be that a lens, a flash or a simple accessory.

I found the 550EX to be far and away the best bang for the buck with regards flashes, even second hand they are very reliable.

 

[kirispupis]

I have had issues with both my Canon and Yongnuo flashes. I have two Yongnuo 565EX flashes, a 580EX, and a 580EX II. Over the past two years.

- One Yongnuo died. The other still works fine.
- 580EX now has a slight delay when firing. This is imperceptible for standard use like portraits, but because I use all four for high speed photography I can no longer use it for that purpose.
- 580EX II - the PC port no longer works, forcing me to use the hot shoe

 

[verysimplejason]

I've been using YN 560II and Nissin DI622 for quite sometime in full manual mode through a couple of RF603Cs. It's been 3 years and I am yet to experience a problem. I've went through several weddings and photoshoots. I like the YN because it's very powerful and I've got no problem when using even in multi-flash mode. If you've got limited funds, the 560 II or III (much better alternative due to it's built-in RF) are very much recommended.

 

[drmikeinpdx]

The first Yongnuo product I got was a simple RF-600TX radio trigger set that I use with my Alien Bees. I've had it for over two years, used it weekly and had no problems of any kind. I can't see a need to upgrade to the big name triggers, at least for my needs.

I have two of their speedlights, the manual YN-560 and the YN-568 EX. I'm not an advanced speedlight user, so I can't comment on the fancy features, but they have been reliable in light use. My main complaint is that the instruction manual is almost useless.

I took the 588 EX along on an outdoor shoot a month ago, because I knew I'd need fill light and didn't want to carry an Alien Bee w/ stand and battery. Here's the first test shot. Do you see what's wrong? I had the swivel head tilted up one or two clicks.

When a model shoot is going really well, I like to click about every 1-2 seconds. I was hoping that with the speedlight on manual at 1/2 or 1/4 power, that it would keep up, but it didn't. I lost about one shot out of every 3 or 4 when it didn't fire. That was with alkaline batteries. I later tested with eneloops and it worked a little better.

Obviously I'm still learning about speedlights.

 

[ablearcher]

When a model shoot is going really well, I like to click about every 1-2 seconds. I was hoping that with the speedlight on manual at 1/2 or 1/4 power, that it would keep up, but it didn't. I lost about one shot out of every 3 or 4 when it didn't fire. That was with alkaline batteries. I later tested with eneloops and it worked a little better.

I think Yongnuo has minimum 2 sec between shots regardless of power. I think I read somewhere this is a tech spec of the flash they produce.

 

[FTb-n]

I like to use two YN 460ii's as my main light. Typically, I'll shoot with each at 1/4 (power level 5 out of 7). With a 5D3 in normal burst mode (~3 fps), I can get two shots off at 1/4 power before the recycle. At 1/2 power, if I burst 3 shots, the flash will fire on shots 1 and 3.

 

[thgmuffin]

My 560III's and RF603 trigger have been doing very very well!

 

[Rat]

Do you see what's wrong? I had the swivel head tilted up one or two clicks.

Actually, that's by design. If you check the specs, the head tilt range is listed as -7 to 90 degrees. I think it's one of the many little advantages of the 568.