Yongnuo EF YN 50mm F/1.8

[tpatana]

Welcome to the world of Yongnuo! After a very bad experience with my st-e3 rt "clone", I know they're selling products they know won't work as advertised - like the af assist beam on said transmitter. And I've not even started talking about qc...

Which one you mean? I bought bunch of the cheap ones, 602 or 603, can't remember which one. They sucked bad. I tried couple times, and since then they've been gathering dust in the box. Now I have 4x 622s, and they are nothing short of perfect. Well, only issue is the first two have the AF beam misaligned somewhat, the other two are from later batch and they fixed that. I can't think anything bad to say about them, works great, good range, ETTL, and reliable firing. Never had problems with those.

One time I also bought YN flash, one of the top models, paid ~$160 or so at Amazon. Tried it one time, and sold the next day. Recycle time after full flash was something horrible, plus after few shots in a row (6-8) the temperature protection circuit kicked in, and you had to wait 20-30 seconds to cool down for each shot.

So 2 out of 3 YN products I've bought sucked bad, but that one is really great.

 

[kcmw]

Has anyone tried this?
Thoughts on Yongnuo expanding into lenses?

http://www.amazon.com/Yongnuo-EF-YN-50mm-1-8/dp/B00QGHSGPW/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1417977023&sr=8-11

This is just a clone of the old Canon 50/1.8II. If for you the saving is worth it, give it a try. I don't shoot 50mm focal lenght. I had all three 50mm (1.8, 1.4 & 1.2L) versions and sold them.

I have just read about someone taking apart the Yongnuo and Canon f/1.8s. He says it is not actually a clone, because the inner workings are different. The overall dimensions and weight are slightly different, so the two are not identical. Canon can do nothing about the optical design, since theirs is not original, but a ripped off pre-war Zeiss one.

 

[Marsu42]

So 2 out of 3 YN products I've bought sucked bad, but that one is really great.

Yn's proprietary flashes might be fine by now, but at least their rt transmitter clone shows they are ready to ship products that aren't really tested (reliability, not even fixed fw updates) or working (af assist). I'd wish they made them just a little more expensive, but working instead of saving some cents where it hurts.

What made me really angry are *multiple* Yn ettl cables I tried, the plastic ripped apart in no time because the screws were too short. I have them somehow patched together with tape, but one was beyond fixing - and it's still €20. As is is with ebay purchases from overseas, you have to write it off as bad luck, and the Canon cables are simply so expensive I keep trying the clones.

 

[tpatana]

So 2 out of 3 YN products I've bought sucked bad, but that one is really great.

Yn's proprietary flashes might be fine by now, but at least their rt transmitter clone shows they are ready to ship products that aren't really tested (reliability, not even fixed fw updates) or working (af assist). I'd wish they made them just a little more expensive, but working instead of saving some cents where it hurts.

What made me really angry are *multiple* Yn ettl cables I tried, the plastic ripped apart in no time because the screws were too short. I have them somehow patched together with tape, but one was beyond fixing - and it's still €20. As is is with ebay purchases from overseas, you have to write it off as bad luck, and the Canon cables are simply so expensive I keep trying the clones.

Problem is that most people like to buy cheap, so manufacturers balance between acceptable quality and saving few cents. Month ago I was talking with this welding guy who worked at car factories. He said there's huge difference in welding quality requirement between American brands and Asian brands, and no wonder the Asian cars are much more reliable. Same thing with everything. Better quality costs more money.

Only way to fix that is for everyone to stop buying the cheap stuff. Not going to happen my lifetime...

 

[LowBloodSugar]

I have 3 Yn flashes, and they all have different problems. AF assist light doesn't work on two of them. Master mode doesn't work on one. Slave doesn't work on one. Diffuser cracked right away one one.

 

[Marsu42]

Problem is that most people like to buy cheap, so manufacturers balance between acceptable quality and saving few cents.

I admit it right away: I like to save money because I feel I don't have tons of it hidden under my pillow and find other meaningful uses than buying tech stuff. But: I don't want to buy "cheap" either, because it indeed means buying double. Alas, the solution "just get a 1dx+600L+whatnot" doesn't help either.

The problem here are the reviews: For one reason or another, there's a strong pro-manufacturer bias on Internet sites, not to mention yt amateur unboxing. You really have to resort to forums like CR to find users calling Yn trash what it is. And even then, you have to clear the fog of "isolated qc problems" and "just get it replaced under warranty" to see where systematic, not statistical problems are.

If there'd be more matter-of-fact reviews, 3rd party manufacturers like Yn would probably lift their prices a bit, but stop saving cents where it hurts. Lens manufacturers like Sigma and Tamron lead the way - they don't do "cheap" anymore, but "value".

Let's hope this Yn 50/1.8 is at least on par with Canon's original not only in the specs and "first impressions", but on the long run - but then again, in this special case it isn't difficult to do :->

 

[Policar]

If it's sharper than the 50mm f1.8, then it's sharper than Canon's sharpest 50mm prime wide open, and also sharper at f1.8.

The Canon 50mm f1.8 has poor build quality and sample-to-sample variation. And the five-bladed aperture sucks for anything other than wide-open use. If I can snag a decent copy for $40, this is my new walk-around lens on my 5D III and will probably replace my 50mm f1.4 Sigma non-art (great lens, awful AF) and 50mm f1.8 Canon.

Which is sad.

 

[GMCPhotographics]

Confirmed: is not a complete clone of the Canon!

The bokeh on these shots is beautiful, but for some shots, a deeper dof might make sense :-> as the lens parts in the back cannot be recognized.

Also, some bad news?

Welcome to the world of Yongnuo! After a very bad experience with my st-e3 rt "clone", I know they're selling products they know won't work as advertised - like the af assist beam on said transmitter. And I've not even started talking about qc...

Everyone seems to forget that the Canon 50mm f1.8 has beautiful bokeh when shot wide open. It's got a circular "straight though" light path. The only issues occur when it's stopped down and the low number of straight edged aperture blades comes into play.

 

[Marsu42]

Everyone seems to forget that the Canon 50mm f1.8 has beautiful bokeh when shot wide open. It's got a circular "straight though" light path. The only issues occur when it's stopped down and the low number of straight edged aperture blades comes into play.

Good point, but of course this severely limits you in your creativity as you essentially are fixed to the "native" depth of field of the camera. And you're hit for six in bright light when your shutter is maxed out unless you use a nd filter. I often used to use my 50/1.8 stopped down since the sharpness is really mediocre wide open on ~20mp digital.