Yongnuo Advice Please?

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bmines67

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Brendan
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Hi guys, i have a nikon d80 and am now wanting to experiment with a flashgun and have been looking at yongnou. I am totally new to flash and have a few basic questions so please bear with me.

I have been looking at the YN468ii, the YN560ii and possibly the YN565. Along with the RF-602 radio triggers. I will be starting with one flash and the ability to use it off camera, with a view to adding more in the future.

I want to be able to use the flash on and off camera. Can these flashes be used with ttl metering? Can i swivel the heads to bounce the flash? Is all i need to use it off camera the radio triggers or is some sort of lead a better option? If i get 2 or 3 flashes, do i need a master and slaves to work properly, and if so, are these compatible? Which would you recommend for my needs?

Thanks in advance everyone
 
The yongnuo range are good flashes and are best bang for your buck as far as 3rd party go all 3 flashes work with the rf yongnuo triggers although I would o for the rf-603 as are both as you can use these to wirelessly trigger camera and flash guns. The 565 does have TTL if connected on camera but off camera is no better than the 560 unless you have the yongnuo rf 622 triggers which allow the camera to send TTL information wirelessly, the 560 is a great manual flash and can triggered with the radio triggers or as a slave, I don't own the 468 but I have both the 560 and 568( HSS version of the 565) and 603 triggers and never had a problem with them.
 
I also have the 560ii and rf-603's. Good for basic cheap flash setups. I also have an umbrella for softening the light.
 
The YN468ii & 565 are iTTL compatible meaning you can use them on camera automatically.

The YN560ii is manual only. Meaning you can attach it to your camera but you'd need to set the power manually.

If I were in your shoes and just starting out I'd purchase the trigger set along with the 565 or 468ii depending on your budget. You can then use these on camera if you like or off. It gives you that flexibility.

Additional flashes in the future can be manual like the YN460ii or YN560ii.
 
Hi im also interested in purchasing my first falsh unit and was also looking at the yongnuo range and I narrowed it down to the 560 ll 500 EX or the 568 EX the later 2 have TTL but im not entirely sure I would use this feature or not so I look forward to see how this thread goes
 
Do what I did and pick up the 565EX with whatever triggers you like. The 468 is a good gun but I preferred the 565EX over the power usability and generally nicer design. The ETTL is really useful. If it's just off camera flash you're after, don't bother trying to do it through E-TTL as the exposure is always usually off. You could essentially do OCF for £50 with any flashgun you find and some triggers. I've found doing things on manual is much easier in order to learn strobing, but I bought a gun with a decent E-TTL as my mk2 doesn't have a built in flash :)
 
lucky_13 said:
Hi im also interested in purchasing my first falsh unit and was also looking at the yongnuo range and I narrowed it down to the 560 ll 500 EX or the 568 EX the later 2 have TTL but im not entirely sure I would use this feature or not so I look forward to see how this thread goes
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If it's your first flash then I'd definitely recommend the ones with ETTL. Why have a fully manual flash when you can have one which is auto for a little bit more?

Just consider your pop up flash for a moment. How much of a pain would it be to have to set the power manually each time you want to use it?

Of course if you wanted a flash purely for OCF work then I agree that TTL isn't essential. In fact with the RF602 triggers mentioned earlier it's a complete waste since the triggers don't support TTL.

You'd have to upgrade to the more costly RF622's if you have Canon and you wanted full TTL support when off camera. They don't even have a Nikon version of the 622's yet so Nikonites would have to be looking at PixelKing's or something equivalent.
 
Thanks for all the replies guys. It's not purely OCF that i'm after, just that i'd like the option of on or off camera. I think i'll go for the rf-603 triggers and a YN-468ii to start off with, and probably add more 468's if and when i require.
 
bmines67 said:
Thanks for all the replies guys. It's not purely OCF that i'm after, just that i'd like the option of on or off camera. I think i'll go for the rf-603 triggers and a YN-468ii to start off with, and probably add more 468's if and when i require.
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The 468 is a great starter flash, don't forget you can Tigger them with the onboard flash! Really handy when starting out.

I had a yn-560 with a broken hot shoe for £15, and I still use it on the S2 setting when I have a trigger on my 468. There are many ways to skin the proverbial cat, it just depends on your budget in the end :)
 
Is there a lead i can use that goes from the hotshoe to the flash to use it off camera instead of the radio triggers? If so, does anyone know the code or could post a link? I dont like the idea of having to use the onboard flash to trigger the OCF.
 
Just search the usual shopping sites. They are pretty generic and made by many third party suppliers. Do make sure you get the correct cable for your camera manufacturer though.

For off camera you will find yourself reverting to manual flash however. The whole idea is to be creative and make the flash do what you want.
 
Gr8Shot said:
I also have the 560ii and rf-603's. Good for basic cheap flash setups. I also have an umbrella for softening the light.
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almost same set up i have the 565, then i went and bought nikon sb700, yes its twice the price but i havent touched the yongnuo since as the nikon works flawlessly everytime, yongnuo as good as they are failed me a few times on vital shots.

the rf603 craking peice of kit! cant fault them and have used them halfway across a field with no probs
 
gadgeteer said:
If it's your first flash then I'd definitely recommend the ones with ETTL. Why have a fully manual flash when you can have one which is auto for a little bit more?
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Personally, I disagree. The first flashgun I bought was a Canon 460EZ which I could only use manually and I have only ever used flashguns manually. I think this is the best way to learn and I have never even wanted TTL, I don't see how it would be beneficial to introduce yourself to the field and rely on auto!

A couple of days ago I just bought 2 560IIs and 4 RF-603s, I haven't received them yet but from what I've read, you can't go too far wrong and I still think manual is the best way to understand flashes!
 
I'm all on for learning to use them manually, i just think that starting off, ttl would be a benefit until i get my head around the manual settings
 
bmines67 said:
Is there a lead i can use that goes from the hotshoe to the flash to use it off camera instead of the radio triggers? If so, does anyone know the code or could post a link? I dont like the idea of having to use the onboard flash to trigger the OCF.
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You have a full choice of triggering, either the onboard flash (doesn't necessarily contribute to the exposure), with a TTL cable, with purely manual radio triggers, or with TTL radio triggers.

The cheapest way is to just use the onboard flash. I'd start there and decide what your priorities are after having a play. The method of triggering is about the least important decision affecting the picture, unfortunately we sometimes focus on the toys rather than the results we want.

For on camera flash TTL is really useful, for off camera it's much less so.

Typically with your flash on camera, you're moving about, changing shooting distance, flash bounce distance and pattern, having the flash metered in camera helps greatly.

With OCF you generally set up a lighting pattern and meter it, from there small tweaks are simple and there's no need for the camera to constantly guess what you're trying to achieve.
 
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