Yongnuo Wireless TTL Flash Trigger Query?

[gavin rankin]

Can someone tell me if the Yongnuo YN-E3-RT wireless flash trigger is compatible with a Canon 60D camera or do I need a different wireless trigger and if so which one?
Thanks

[Acorn]

I think you will find that the Yongnuo range of radio transmission triggers have dedicated models according to the manufacturer of your camera. In your case you will need to look for the appropriate model dedicated to the Canon range.

[Manfred M]

As Barry states, wireless triggers are camera brand specific. The one you are looking at is specific to Canon bodies, so you should be fine, as long as you stick with Yongnuo flashes with built in receivers or use Yongnuo receivers. Every "smart" radio trigger manufacturer seems to use a proprietary approach. In my experience the Yongnuo will not communicate with Godox, Phottix, PocketWizard, etc. receivers. You will need to purchase the appropriate Yongnuo flash or Yongnuo flash receiver for this unit to work.

The other thing to watch out for is to match the transmitter frequency to the receiver frequency. North America and Europe, for instance, have different frequency ranges that have been assigned to use unlicenced radio bands. A 433 Mhz transmitter will not work with a 2.4 GHz receiver; so make sure that your transmitter and receiver run in the same frequency band.

The most "universal" triggers on the market right now are the PocketWizards, as they seem to build units for multiple camera manufactures and multiple flash manufactures. A number of studio flash manufacturers either support these or are compatible with their "smart" receivers. I can even fire off my flashes with the PocketWizard compatible radio in my Sekonic flash meter. These also happen to be the most expensive units on the market

[Hanginon]

From Yongnuo USA -
"The YN-E3-RT controller is designed to be used with the Canon and Yongnuo 600ex-rt speedlights. This wireless radio controller will work seamlessly with both brands and allow you all of the controls you need to be able to use the speedlights off camera. This system is the very best that is offered to Canon Users."

I believe it is almost a clone of the equivalent Canon controller. The downside, as Manfred alluded to, is it locks you into Canon's RT system.

[gavin rankin]

OK thanks Acorn, Manfred M and Hanginon.

[Manfred M]

is it locks you into Canon's RT system.

I suspect you meant Yongnuo, rather than Canon.

I can use my Godox flash with any brand of camera. I need a different transmitter for Canon than I need for Nikon, Sony, Fuji, etc. as the electrical contacts on the camera flash contacts are different and these vary from brand to brand. These "smart triggers" integrate with the camera's metering system to control exposure.

Things are a bit different when I use a "dumb" trigger, i.e. on that does not integrate with the camera's metering system. Here I can use the trigger with any camera body, but I do have to adjust the flash output manually.

[Hanginon]

I suspect you meant Yongnuo, rather than Canon.

Not really. Yongnuo's RT system is a virtual clone of Canon's - https://www.blog.jimdoty.com/?p=9679

...but that's it's problem, it's only compatible with the RT system, and is not compatible with anything else, including Yongnuo's other systems, like the 622.

Godox isn't playing that game - all there stuff talks to each other.

[Manfred M]

Not really. Yongnuo's RT system is a virtual clone of Canon's - https://www.blog.jimdoty.com/?p=9679

...but that's it's problem, it's only compatible with the RT system, and is not compatible with anything else, including Yongnuo's other systems, like the 622.

Godox isn't playing that game - all there stuff talks to each other.

Thanks for the clarification. It looks like the good news is that one can mix and match the Canon and Yongnuo RT gear interchangeably. That is unusual, but certainly gives the Canon shooters a bit of choice at a far lower price. That fact that it is not compatible with other Yongnuo gear is not surprising given that it is compatible with Canon.

What is disappointing is that Yongnuo's product quality continues to be problematic, although the article is a 2-1/2 years old. They have long had a reputation of poor quality, but there have been hints that they have gotten better and then one reads about more quality issues.

It looks like I am stuck using transceivers from PocketWizard (I use those on my Nikon Speedlights and my Paul C Buff Einstein 640 flashest), my Godox triggers for my portable Godox Witsro AD-360 light and Paul C Buff when I shoot at the photo club studio.

[inkista]

Can someone tell me if the Yongnuo YN-E3-RT wireless flash trigger is compatible with a Canon 60D camera or do I need a different wireless trigger and if so which one? ...

Just to confirm, the YN-E3-RT will work with both Canon and Yongnuo -RT flashes, and is compatible with the 60D's hotshoe. You really only have to worry with the 80D / 5DMkIV and later models, where Canon made some change to the hotshoe protocol, which screwed up a few 3rd-party triggers.

The Canon RT system has been cloned by a number of 3rd-party manufacturers, so Yongnuo's RT gear isn't your only choice, just probably the least expensive most popular one. Other candidates would also include the Jinbei/Orlit RT gear (the Jinbei Caler 600EX-RT was good enough of a clone that some unscrupulous (non-Jinbei) folks were making Canon forgeries out of them) and Phottix's Laso triggers (and their RT-compatible Indra).

However. You don't have to get RT-compatible gear to be Canon-compatible. And if you think you may expand your lighting gear past speedlights, or your camera gear past Canon, there are other systems that aren't quite as closed-ended. Many of us have moved to the Godox X system (Godox, like Yongnuo, is a company in Shenzhen China), as it includes built-in radio triggers, TTL/HSS/remote power control capability, but unlike Yongnuo allows for TTL and manual-only gear to work together in the same system; supports TTL/HSS for Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fuji, and MFT with system switching (i.e., the same lights can be used as off-camera TTL/HSS radio slaves for all five systems); and has bare bulb flashes and studio strobe options as well as speedlights within the system.

You may want to price out a Godox TT685C or V860IIC and XPro-C against the YN-E3-RT and YN-600EX-RT II. And then realize that you can add a $65 TT600 to your Godox setup, but you can't add a $65 YN-560 IV to the Yongnuo RT one without giving up TTL/HSS or stacking triggers.