Info
Name: Yongnuo MC-36b Remote Cord
Price: £28
Genuine Equivalent: Canon TC-80N3
Genuine Equivalent Price: £110
Link
So, another quick delivery, arrived after less than a week from the mystical land of Hong Kong.
A rather suspect looking box, don't you think?
Especially for something that fits a Canon
Opening the box, fairly well packaged - a set of batteries, the remote and an instruction manual.
The instructions were probably translated from Japanese, so I wasn't holding high hopes for them, but the English is genuinely fantastic. Could have been an English product had the japanese bits not been there. Plus all the writing on the remote is English.
Evens comes with a little screen protector!
And a set of Duracell batteries! (AAA)
The remote is pretty fantastic. As far as build quality goes, it's extremely plasticky. The bit that looks like a grip? It's just plastic. Nothing on here feels extremely durable, and if you bent it, it's likely it would shatter. The top bit of the remote and the wire feel very heavy duty however, possibly because there's nothing in the bottom bit. The buttons all feel firm and responsive, and certainly work on-screen. You can use the remote as a simple remote release, which kind of defeats the purpose of my Yongnuo remote release, but hey ho
One other thing I noticed, it's massive! Why is it so massive?!
The remote has 5 settings on screen - DELAY, LONG, INTVL, N, and a little quaver (music symbol note thing).
DELAY is how long before it releases the shutter, LONG is where you enter the exposure time you've set on the camera, INTVL (interval) is how long between each shot, and N is the number of shots to take, from 1-399, or alternatively an infinite amount (until you press for the shutter to stop).
Below the screen are 2 buttons - lightbulb/lock for turning on the back light or locking the remote, and timer start/stop - pressing this will start the shutter releasing according to the settings, and pressing it again will stop the shutter releasing. You have 4 directional buttons for changing the on-screen settings and a set button for confirming those settings.
All work perfectly, so no comments here.
Testing it out briefly on 10 shots, it's a bit strange to implement. What I think the remote does is take the shot, and then act as if it's re-metering and firing the shot again.
So, for example. You set your camera to manual mode and mf, focus and get the exposure settings right. Your camera beeps to let you know it's in focus. You take a shot, release the shutter button. 10 seconds later, you take exactly the same shot, same settings, same focus. Depress the shutter button half way, beep, depress fully, snap, job done. Now imagine repeating that over and over again in quick succession.
It is very strange to hear.
Also, if you don't set the LONG setting to equal the camera's shutter speed EXACTLY, the remote goes ahead without you. So if you keep the default setting of a 0 second shutter speed, and set your camera to a 2 second exposure and release it for 5 shots, you'll get 2 shots before the remote is sat there saying "Yeah, what now?"
Also, you can only change the exposure time in intervals of 1 second. Great if you have a 30 second exposure, not so if you have a 1/125 exposure, although I suppose setting the exposure time isn't a necessity - just let the remote do its thing.
Another strange thing I noticed - No off button :shrug:
You have to make sure everything is switched off (i.e. blinking lights not blinking) before putting it in your bag. Alternatively, I wrapped the batteries around the remote with an elastic band.
Pros
- Significantly cheaper than counterpart
- Does pretty much the same job
- Feels sturdy
- Backlight for the screen
- An 'infinite' shutter release setting
- Works as a regular shutter release too
- Might not be a Canon product, but it looks professional and the Yongnuo Digital bit looks super fancy!
Cons
- No off button
- Can only change the exposure time in intervals of 1 second
- Maximum amount of set releases is 399 - after that it's infinite
- Not a Canon product - hardly any resale value
Price: 4/5 - Much cheaper than a mega-overpriced timer release remote
Design/Build: 4/5 - Pretty stupid big, but fits hand nicely and all the buttons do what you'd expect and work in the same way
Function: 3/5 - Perfect for a cheapy timer release when the nearest one is quadruple the price, however a lack of an off button, a maximum set release number of 399 and exposure time changes in intervals of 1 second put this to a 3/5 instead of a 4 or potentially a 5/5 - even an off button would have made me a happy bunny.
Speaking of bunnies, Happy Easter! No, pun not intended!