YONGNUO flashes compared to CANON

I have a Canon 70D and am looking to get a on camera flash. I was looking at the Canon 430EXII unit. Do the Yongnuo flashes work as good as the Canon? They sure are a lot cheaper than the Canon units. Is this a case of you get what you pay for? I have no problem saving money as most of us if the money is well spent. My use of the camera will be outdoor wildlife, some indoor sports etc and some indoor people and animal photos. FEEDBACK APPRECIATED Thanks
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Bill

Yongnuo makes a good product. They will do a good job for you. As for whether they are equal to canon in some ways and in some models they are close. The YN build quality has been a bit behind, but I havent handled their newest models personally so that may have improved.

I own an older canon 580 ex along with multiple YN-568ex II, and one YN-565ex. In my experience thus far, there have been no problems with the units I purchased. I have multiple buddies that have had similar experiences.

There have been issues with some YN flash units, so make sure you purchase YN gear from a seller that is going to honor the warranty. I would buy YN gear again, but would definitely make sure the seller stood behind the product. (Amazon or B&H)

The top of the line YN600EX-RT seemed to hit a particularly rough spot at one point. It may very well be OK now, but make sure you are getting product where someone in the US will back the warranty.

Regards,

110yd

Yes thats an important point, find a US reseller, there are some in amazon. When YN's quality wasnt good as it is now there were instances where the cost and time involved in returning a unit to china for warranty service was impractical.

Yongnou and Godox both seem to generally be well-made and reliable brands. However the build quality and QA isn't quite as good as Canon, but is well within acceptable limits given the difference in cost. From the build quality perspective, things such as the feel of switches and buttons aren't as good as Canon, though they are still quite usable. On the QA side there is a higher percentage of defective flashes (and in the case of Godox, batteries) than one would see from Canon, and this is the reason why you want to deal with a reputable US seller that provides local warranty support rather than have them shipped from off-shore. You need to ask the reseller how warranty service is handled because even those based in the US will often tell you to contact Yongnou directly, which can take weeks.

Given the fact that you can get equivalent features and performance (or even better features and performance) from these third-party brands for a fraction of the cost of OEM, I feel they are a good buy. For example, the 430 EX II costs $259. You can get two YN600-EX-RT flashes for the same price, or one Godox V860C plus FT16 triggers and a spare battery pack.

I have 2x YN-565's, 2x YN-560's, a YN560-TX and 4x RF-603C and have had zero problems with any of them.

I have owned 5 YN flashes. They have all worked well for me. I agree with the above comments to buy from a US vendor if possible but my first YN came directly from China.

I have a year old 568EX. I'm on my third battery door. One broken door I drilled a hole aligned with a hole in the case to insert a thumb screw to keep the door shut for when the third door breaks. The unit fires a very weak pulse when set to 1:1 manual power HSS. Variation between stops is noticeably greater than the variation in my five year old 580EX II and six year old 430EX II. My 380EX, eleven years old, still works as expected.

Other than those nitpicks, it's a great flash.

For hobbyist usage, a Yongnuo is probably a good choice. But you have to rely on the retailer selling it to you for warranty/service, because direct communication with Yongnuo can be hit and miss. Most of us wait until you can find a "fulfilled by Amazon" unit, rather than just purchasing directly from China or off eBay.

The cheapness has to come from somewhere, and it's typically in terms of QA, service, warranty, and copy/component consistency. In the early days, a number of new units would be DOA, or had faulty capacitors that blew very quickly. For the handier and more electronics-fluent folks, it was no big deal to unsolder and replace the capacitor. For others, not so much. They eventually figured out the issue and those type of DOA issues are rarer, but with newer models, a lot of early adopters may inadvertently become beta testers. For example, the new YN-600EX-RT has a lot of folks reporting about battery drain issues, dead lines on the LCD, etc. etc. As a Yongnuo shopper, you become very familiar with hidden versioning and how to find those stickers with the production date on it.

That doesn't mean you'll get a lemon. Most folks who get Yongnuo gear don't. But you don't exactly have the recourse for dealing with a bad unit as you would if you bought OEM. And because the technology is reverse-engineered, both backwards and forwards compatibility is not a solid as with Canon gear. I have a YN-568EX that works great on my 50D and 5DMkII. It won't even fire on my Powershot G9's hotshoe. My 580EXII works fine on all three, and can even have its power level controlled by the G9's menus. The compatibility of Yongnuo flashes with 1-series cameras or film cameras is again, less. A YN-600EX-RT is a great unit at low cost, but it's not identical to having a Canon 600EX-RT: you can't use it as an optical master, it has no external sensor, etc. Resale value on a Yongnuo is nowhere near that of a Canon. If you are a professional shooter who stresses their equipment with heavy usage, then a Yongnuo may also not be for you.

As long as you understand that you're not getting an exact equivalent of a Canon flash, you'll be happy. But my advice tends to be that for a first or only flash, if you're going to be using this flash heavily or plan on keeping this flash through your next three camera bodies, consider getting used OEM gear, or at least a 3rd party flash that allows for firmware updates (Metz, Nissin, Sigma, etc.). Yongnuo becomes a no-brainer for your 2nd, 3rd, and 4th flashes in a Strobist setup. Especially if you go cheap-cheap and minimal-feature with the manual-only flashes, like the YN-560III/IV, where there's less tech to go wrong.

Not a chance.

https://photography-on-the.net …/showthread.php​?t=1426877

I use three YN560 IV flashes off camera and am very happy with their perfomance, can't complain for the price. For a single flash on camera my Canon 580 EX I I is still superior, but I'd certainly buy Yongnuo again.

I've had 4 of 5 Yongnuo flashes work perfectly out of the box (the 5th one was exchanged hassle-free because it was purchased through Amazon). I actually decided to buy a couple of backups because I had no idea how long they'd last, but it turns out not to have been necessary. Tens of thousands of shots over a 3 year period, often with 2 or 3 slaved strobes, and not ONE misfire that was caused by the strobe itself. I've used them in ETTL mode, manual, and a combination of the two; on-camera and slaved via YN622s. Compared to my lone Canon flash, I can't say that the quality is any different (the battery door on my 430EX is in fact much worse than the Yongnuo), and I've spent less on my entire set than on a single Canon 580 or 600-series.

Spend more money if you feel you must, but unless you have to have a Canon-branded strobe for some reason (compatibility with existing Canon units via optical or RF command?) don't get in a lather about it.

St Bernard wrote in post #17620834
I have a Canon 70D and am looking to get a on camera flash. I was looking at the Canon 430EXII unit. Do the Yongnuo flashes work as good as the Canon? They sure are a lot cheaper than the Canon units. Is this a case of you get what you pay for? I have no problem saving money as most of us if the money is well spent. My use of the camera will be outdoor wildlife, some indoor sports etc and some indoor people and animal photos. FEEDBACK APPRECIATED Thanks
------------
Bill

Heya,

I haven't bothered with Canon flashes because other makers make excellent lights. Yongnuo makes really good bang for buck lights. The 565EX II and 568EX II are very feature rich for their cost and give you everything for like $100~120 that most $300+ flashes come with, and they're still well made, and have the power output you'd expect, so they're quite good. For me, a 565EX II with TTL on is my favorite bounce flash for on-camera bouncing when I'm not taking time to setup a shot, but rather, spontaneous shooting or can't get a 2nd chance. A good TTL flash is a must for those times for me. The Yongnuo's haven't let me down yet. They work excellent on and off camera. I use a fleet of speedlites often, including older 560 II's and now replaced with 560 III's which have built in wifi receivers and are still excellent lights. I only use the more feature enhanced models (565EX II for me, I have two) for the TTL function when I know I need it. Otherwise, I shoot on all manual anyways.

The reality is, you're paying a lot more for Canon's name, than the quality of the light.

The Yongnuo's are excellent for the cost. Can't go wrong there.

For you, it sounds like a 565EX II or 568EX II would be a good way to go (TTL, AF assist beam, can be used with a Better Beamer for wildlife, and great TTL bounce for sports and indoor stuff).

Very best,

I have both the Canon 430EX ii and the Yongnuo 565EXii flashes, and IMO, apart from a $200 price differential , there is not a lot of difference between them

Sure, the Canon build quality feels "better", but functionality and performance wise, both flashes do what they are supposed to do

I have had no issues with the Yongnuo 565 , over the 2 years I have had it, and,if you are looking at a cost effective way of getting into flash/strobist photography, these will do the job

I have also recently purchased 2 x 560III flashes plus the 560 TX controller, and so far, so good, works great

I purchased a Yongnuo 560II a few years back, and was delighted. I now own 4 560IIIs and 603 triggers. No complaints

I own a couple of both, and the build quality on the Canon flashes are clearly much better than the Yongnuo. That said, the Canon units are probably over built for occasional or hobbyist use. The Yongnuo flashes I have are great and I wish they'd been around when I got my 580EX II, I'd have saved a bunch of money.