Yn 460 ii

[brown455]

i have just bought a YN 460 ii and it fired fine at full power for about 10 pops then the pilot light just flashes red and green . I switch it off for 5-10 mins and it works again fine for another 10-15 times. I have read that there is a QC issues with YN and this might indicate that it has overheated. Has anybody else had this issue or know if it can be resolved without replacement. People have suggested batteries maybe an issue but mine are brand new and fully charged.

[DoesNotFollow]

Yongnuo makes decent flash units. I have the 565ex.

A pilot light that flashes red/green intermittently indicates that overheat protection is enabled. The manual recommends shooting at 1/4 power or less for continuous shooting. If yours works again after a cool-down period, it's probably fine. However, I personally avoid shooting the YN at full power as there has been some online discussion of YN flashes failing outright when used at full power.

Batteries may be an issue, as YN doesn't seem to play nicely with Lithium batteries, but otherwise you should be fine.

[brown455]

I could understand it if iwas shooting continuously and really pushing it but it purposely did a few tests at lower power settings and leaving a good 50-60 second intervals between shots, and still occurs, sometimes after maybe 2-3 shots. I take on board what you say about YN making good flashes and reviews back this up, but surely it's not right that it functions so eratically is it?

[Colin Southern]

You probably won't like hearing this, but my personal suggestion is to "stick to the same brand flash as you have camera" - yes there's a price difference, but there's a reason for that, and it's more than "just the name".

[DoesNotFollow]

My personal suggestion is to "stick to the same brand flash as you have camera" - yes there's a price difference, but there's a reason for that, and it's more than "just the name".

Indeed, third party equipment is cheaper for a reason.

I meant to say that YN is decent with respect to other off brands. It still can't compete with a Canon 580EX II, for example. YN is going to have limitations and compromises in comparison.

[Colin Southern]

It still can't compete with a Canon 580EX II, for example. YN is going to have limitations and compromises in comparison.

The new flagship is the Canon 600EX-RT by the way ... and if folks don't like the price, have a little sympathy ... I just ordered 5 of them this morning

[brown455]

I agree that only really get what you pay for, but as cheap as it is, it's basic functioning is not too much to ask for, is it? well i might just have to accept that i will have to save up and get a quality brand one. Thanks for responses

[rpcrowe]

Hi and welcome to CiC.

I agree with Colin (I usually do) regarding matching the flash unit brand with that of the camera.

However, if price is a factor, I would suggest looking into a used 430EX (not the mark-II model). This unit is quite a good flash and it has High Speed Sync capability.

Since I frequently use flash fill outdoors, I really like not being restricted to a 1/250 second or slower sync speed.

[inkista]

In the case of speedlights, I think getting a Canon EX makes sense if you plan on using the flash mostly on-camera, or for both on- and off- camera use. But that if you can't afford one of those units, going with a 3rd party option like Metz, Sigma, Nissin, or Yongnuo is viable. You just need to know the risks.

A YN-460ii is really only good for off-camera use, and, well, the $45 pricetag has to come from somewhere. To me, popping off a dozen full-power bursts in a row on a speedlight is not "basic functioning" as much as it's stress testing, particularly when it's known with the YNs that they're overly sensitive to this issue (it's the flip side of the fast recycle time).

I use a YN-560 for off-camera work. It was better for me than getting another Canon EX, because it has a built-in optical slave modes, one of which can ignore a preflash, and I also get a PC sync port (something even my 580EX didn't come with). I tend to do off-camera setups in my living room as a hobbyist thing, so radio triggers not needed. And for the price of a 600EX-RT, I can get about 9 YN-560s, which leaves me with a lot of backups and lot more possible lighting setups. Or a lot more money for stands, backdrops, and modifiers. If I were a pro, it would be a different matter, obviously. YNs are known to be unreliable in copy consistency and build quality.

But my YN-560 has been good for a few thousand pops. I never had a firing/zooming issue with it, and I was fully prepared to have to find, discharge, desolder, and replace a bad capacitor and work on a jammed zoom motor should they happen. I also rarely need to use it at full power. For me, it was worth the $70 bet.

If you're repeatedly firing at 1/4 power at reasonable intervals and still getting the overheating, then I'd say something's wrong with the unit. But at full power, it's a known issue with YNs. David Hobby wrote it about it in his YN-560 review, where he basically panned the unit for coming with a broken zoom motor.

The other question is whether you have the metal-foot version or the all-plastic-foot version. The earlier plastic-foot ones are the units where a bad capacitor was happening far more often; but that would result in a dead flash, not one that overheats. Buying a YN is a gamble. For me, it was a tiny one. When my flash came, it had two quality inspection stickers and I found a third one on the inside when I went to mod it to add a 3.5mm minijack sync port.