Speedlite Flashes

[gofer1971]

I'm looking to by a flash for my Canon 1000d (entry level) DLSR. I don't want to - or more to the point - can't afford to go for an original Canon speedlite so have been looking at the YONGNUO YN560 III.
Has anyone purchased this model and can recommend it for an entry level photographer like myself?

cheers in advance, Gordon

[bambleweeney]

Yep, I have a YN560 and it's a good powerful flash. Manual only so no auto or TTL ... so a bit of research on guide numbers vs distance will be required (plan B invest in a flash meter).
This is my main speedlight, my SB Nikon TTL lacks the power I need and my old Nikon SB25 ditto. I use mine (sometimes all three) on Yungnuo wireless remotes in conjunction with a flash meter and all in manual mode - no problem at all.

[Carl in Louisiana]

I have two of them. They are powerful, dependable for the past year, looking forward to the next year. I use a Canon 580 EXii as my main light (factory refurb). The YN622's are awesome and more affordable for me also. You'll want to check out the following links. A must go through everything on both sites and you'll walk away with a better understanding of how to use your flash in manual mode.

http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/03/lighting-101.html

http://neilvn.com/tangents/index/flash-photography/

[rpcrowe]

If you are shooting multiple flashes, you will most likely be using manual so the lack of auto exposure will not impact you.

However, for day-in and day-out photography using a flash with through the lens exposure control is IMO far more pleasant and productive.

I cut my teeth on manual flash, in fact I cut my photographic teeth using flash bulbs so I can certainly work with manual flash exposure. However, when I tried my first automatic exposure control flash (thyristor exposure control) I decided that auto is the way to go for most applications.

I bounce my flash in almost all situations and modify the light with a Joe Demb Flash Diffuser Pro. Using Canon flashes I get about 98% of my images well exposed and the oddball 2%, or so, is usually due to operator error.

There are TTL capable flashes that are less expensive than most Canon models. In fact, Yongnuo has an flash or two with TTL exposure control.

Other less expensive third party manufacturers which provide auto exposure flashes that will work with your camera are:

Bower, Metz, Vivitar, Sigma, Flashpoint (house brand of Adorama in New York City), Targus, Nissin, Sunpak, and I would expect several others. I am not necessarily recommending any of these third party flashes; just giving you an idea of the brands available...

The parameters of the flash that I would want are: TTL exposure metering for Canon + manual; tilt capability; and swivel capability. I also like high speed sync capability since I frequently use my flash for fill outdoors and I don' like being constricted by a maximum 1/250 second shutter speed.

If you are set on Yongnuo, you might consider getting a flash such as the Yongnuo YN-565EX which I believe is the next model up from the 560EX and has TTL exposure control but, doesn't cost a king's ransom...

[gofer1971]

Thanks Folks! Great info and I'll be sure to check out the other 3rd party flashes.
Cheers!

[jcuknz]

To me the advantage of YongNuo is their incorporation of an optical trigger at a reasonable price. This makes the 'others' questionable when you add in the price of an optical trigger to fire them.

[inkista]

This is just my opinion, but save up until you can afford a Canon--even if you end up going 3rd party, you can get a better one that way. A flash is very much like a lens--and in some ways can transform your photography even more than a lens, so it may be worthwhile to get one that you know will have great future/backwards compatibility [most of the cheaper 3rd parties reverse engineer the communication protocol between the flash and the camera, so while it may be compatible today, if you upgrade the body in the future, it may no longer be compatible--and if you get a 3rd party flash that allows you to upgrade firmware (Metz, Nissin), then price-wise, you're not that far off from a used 430EX or new 430EXII].

I would also recommend as a first/only flash unit that you plan on possibly using on-camera as well as off, that you do NOT go with the YN-560 flashes, because they are manual only. This means you have to adjust the power level manually on the back of the flash. If you are in a run'n'gun event situation (parties, social shooting, etc.) and plan to use the flash, where you going to be shooting under changing lighting conditions, you'll want eTTL-II. Think of it as the flash analog to having Av/Tv/P modes on your camera. eTTL-II is using the camera's metering system to set the flash's power, and like the auto exposure modes, can get you in the ballpark, if perhaps it isn't perfect. Just as you use M on the camera, on a flash you also use M for consistency and precision. But just as you use Av/Tv on the camera for speed, you use eTTL-II on a flash.

Most TTL-capable flashes are also capable of M mode; the reverse is not true. If you plan on attaching this flash to your camera, and not doing off-camera Strobist work with radio triggers/sync cables all the time, then this automation is good to have, and the flash can still be used off-camera.

A YN-560 makes a terrific second, third, or fourth flash. You'll note those of us own/use/like them will mention how many of them we own.

If you must go lower-cost, I'd recommend looking at a YN-468II, YN-565EX (as Richard says), or YN-568EX if you can't pay Canon prices, or consider going used with a 430EX or 580EX (rather than the MkIIs). But be aware that these cheaper flashes tend to be cheap for a reason: lower copy consistency and having to mail units to China for warranty support being among them.

[inkista]

To me the advantage of YongNuo is their incorporation of an optical trigger at a reasonable price. This makes the 'others' questionable when you add in the price of an optical trigger to fire them.

Actually, most of the Nissin flashes also have "dumb" optical trigger modes that can ignore a pre-flash. For me, the Yongnuo advantage is typically price. Their constant model/updates churn can be seen either as an advantage or disadvantage, depending on your POV, but the fact that they've just come out with a half-priced ST-E3-RT clone that I'd actually prefer to the Canon model (if I owned any 600EX-RTs), is kind of astounding. [I'd prefer it over the Canon version for four features: 1. second-curtain sycn, 2. Don't need a 2012+ body to use the 2012+ features, 3. latest firmware upgrade means I could use it on any ISO-compatible hotshoe [Fuji X, µ4/3, Pentax, etc.] as a flash triggering system with remote manual power control , 4. AF-assist.]

[DanK]

I agree with Richard and Kathy--it is hugely helpful to have an E-TTL flash for all of what I do. I don't use flash for staged portraits. I use it for candids, which means I don't want to be slowed down by having to calculate flash levels. Like Richard, my standard is a bounced flash with a Demb Flip-It bounce card. With an E-TTL flash (I use a Canon 430 EXII), I can usually forget about the flash level and concentrate on composition and depth of field. There are situations that take more work, e.g., a background that is too far back, but even there, a TTL flash is very helpful. I just bounce the flash further back. I rarely get bad exposures, and when I do, they are often close enough that I can adjust in post.

And like Richard, I started with flash bulbs and bought my first electronic flash (a vivitar, which I still have) more than 40 years ago.

[RustBeltRaw]

Concur regarding OEM flashes. Canon has a refurbished selection with pretty good turnover. A 430 EX II is usually available. I owned a Vivitar DF-383 TTL flash, which was powerful, but bad enough that I literally threw it away. Build quality was terrible, and the TTL function eventually died.

If you're going manual-only, the LumoPro LP180 is worth a look. Manual simplicity with killer build quality and a huge array of sync options. I haven't gotten my hands on one, but the Strobist crowd is atwitter about this light. On the other hand, it's just $40 less than a refurbished 430EX II (which can only be synced through the shoe or IR receiver). If you're doing manual, off-camera portraits, I'd lean toward the LumoPro. For run-and-gun off-camera TTL, the 430EX II is a better option. Note that if your camera has a built-in flash, it may be able to do infrared, remote TTL communication with the 430EX II, which can take some of the pain out of the learning curve.