Yongnuo YN600ex-rt Thoughts

I had been looking at the forums here & at Fred Miranda actually

I also have three Yongnuo 600's + transmitter. Purchased in late 2015. They have worked well. The system did not work with my 5D4 until I updated the firmware in the transmitter and flashes. It now works with the 5D4 using the transmitter on the 5D4, but not with one of the flashes on the camera in master mode. I got a Conon 600 RT II and it will control remote Yongnuo 600's.

Another + for YN. I'm heavily leaning towards them for the RT in the 600's. Not sure if I should wait to see how the version II is since it just got released.

Can anyone provide feedback about using the yn-e3-rt transmitter on my canon 80d to control 2 yongnuo yn600ex-rt off camera? From what I have read there are some issues.

I have a few YN600RTs and Canon 600RTs (all Ver I) plus a YN-ST-E3 and a YN-E3-RT receiver and I've had no issues at all on my 7D2 and 5D3 as far as wireless or battery issues are concerned. I did have one overheat on me once when I first got it, but to be fair I was outdoors shooting a wedding around noon in full sun, so it was getting used pretty hard. I was using two cameras, so I just swapped to the other one (using a 580EX II at that point) and kept shooting. The YN was fine after a couple of minutes to cool down. My only nitpick is that the AF assist light on YN's suck. If you depend on that, then get a Canon or some other brand. If just using for OCF then you'll probably not really notice a difference between the two (assuming they're compatible with your newer camera).

Anyone have the Yongnuo transmittter not work on their Canon 80d or have the AF Assist not work with the transmitter/flashes?

From what I am reading this is an issue

Tnelson04 wrote in post #18267796
Anyone have the Yongnuo transmittter not work on their Canon 80d or have the AF Assist not work with the transmitter/flashes?

From what I am reading this is an issue

Not me as I don't have YN but others have had some issues. Any YN gear manufactured before Aug of 2016 will have to got to them for serving to work correctly with the 80D and 5D4. Maybe other newer cameras as well. I know that the AF assist won't work for sure and have read some issues with ETTL. FW update won't do it.

Okay thanks for the info. That's similar to what I read as well. But searching online you don't many things on it.

Tnelson04 wrote in post #18267813
Okay thanks for the info. That's similar to what I read as well. But searching online you don't many things on it.

I wish I could provide more detail. AF assist light I can guarantee is an issue. ETTL I'm not sure about.

No I appreciate what you did add. Basically I'm looking to use off camera flashes that will not cost too much. I've been spoiled by user other people's Canon 600ex-ft flashes with the E3-RT Transmitter on my Canon 50D & was looking for something similar (but cheaper). I have since upgraded to the Canon 80D & will he using that instead. I'm also partial to Canon's locking mechanism.

There my story basically.

Also, is there much of a benefit to the radio transmission (rt) over the Optical transmission if I'll be in the same los at the flashes & not too far away?

Tnelson04 wrote in post #18267887
No I appreciate what you did add. Basically I'm looking to use off camera flashes that will not cost too much. I've been spoiled by user other people's Canon 600ex-ft flashes with the E3-RT Transmitter on my Canon 50D & was looking for something similar (but cheaper). I have since upgraded to the Canon 80D & will he using that instead. I'm also partial to Canon's locking mechanism.

There my story basically.

Also, is there much of a benefit to the radio transmission (rt) over the Optical transmission if I'll be in the same los at the flashes & not too far away?

I am a big 600EX-RT fan boy but, I would consider a close second to be the Speedlites in the Godox X system series of flash units. The only thing keeping me from selling all my 600EX-RT's and switching completely to Godox is in the design of the Godox flash head swivel, which I have stated in this forum several times. From experience I can tell you the YN600 is a poor excuse as a substitute for the Canon 600EX-RT and once again my feelings and experience with them are well documented.

The main problem with the Canon Wireless RT system is that up until recently you could not really expand much outside of using Speedlites. Sure you could trigger other flash units with one of the RT receivers and I have been using the Godox AD360II's with Phottix Laso receivers to do just that but, your choices have been limited. The Godox X system is a complete system of different flash units that all work with any of the X system transmitters or Master flash units. Even the older Godox Manual only flash units will work with the new system and a lot of them can be picked up rather cheaply.

For what I paid for all my Canon 600EX-RT's and ST-E3-RT's, I could have bought a whole lot of Godox flash products, from big to small and still had money left over.

I have a couple of YN 600s. They're okay for the price. With one, the battery door broke on its 3rd use and isn't covered by the warranty. The plastic is really thin and flimsy compared to a Canon flash. Also the AF assist beam doesn't work on either of the flashes on any of my bodies. The radio system works well and so does ETTL on the 6D and 5D3. They also work well on camera with the 1Ds3 but taking them off camera gives me a world of problems with ETTL, but I think that's mostly since it's such an old body.

Tnelson04 wrote in post #18267887
Also, is there much of a benefit to the radio transmission (rt) over the Optical transmission if I'll be in the same los at the flashes & not too far away?

Radio is awesome compared to optical if you're going to be sticking your flashes in softboxes or if you'll be sticking your flash anywhere that line-of-sight is compromised. There are workarounds, like buying a long TTL cable, but that gets a bit cumbersome sometimes and only really works for one flash off camera in certain situations. Optical can also have issues if anyone else in the area is using flash (wedding reception, for example).

I wouldn't worry too much about the AF assist on the YN's, it's pattern is really hit or miss with canon AF points anyways (even on my 60+ AF point bodies). Where the Canon system uses a large "box of lines" for the pattern that covers most all of the AF points, the YN uses little hyphen-like marks that neither my 7D2 or 5D3 like focusing on consistently. That's why I own two Canon 600's for on camera use with AF assist. The YN's are pretty much off-camera only for me in any situation where I really need AF assist.

Near the bottom of this review, you can see a comparison and the gaps in the YN assist beam compared to Canon (and Shanny) at various focal lengths. http://flashhavoc.com …sn600sc-speedlite-review/

Tnelson04 wrote in post #18267887
No I appreciate what you did add. Basically I'm looking to use off camera flashes that will not cost too much. I've been spoiled by user other people's Canon 600ex-ft flashes with the E3-RT Transmitter on my Canon 50D & was looking for something similar (but cheaper). I have since upgraded to the Canon 80D & will he using that instead. I'm also partial to Canon's locking mechanism.

There my story basically.

Also, is there much of a benefit to the radio transmission (rt) over the Optical transmission if I'll be in the same los at the flashes & not too far away?

T.
Radio is leaps and bounds above Optical. No line of sight needed. Put one fash in another room for or behind you for larger groups of people. Consistency. Sometimes in harsh light, Optical does not communicate. Efficiency, don't have to try again as Optical did not see. More options for Modifiers. Westcott Apollo all have Speedlights inside with no direct line of sight. No problem with Radio.
So it sounds like you have been getting great consistent results with the Canon 600 Ex-RT, ST-E3 RT system. So what's the problem? The Price and you want something cheaper that has limitations.........
Don't complain about the cost of the tip at very expensive high end restaurant........its part of the meal....and a mighty fine one at that.
Do we buy "cheaper" bodies and lenses?

agv8or wrote in post #18267973
I am a big 600EX-RT fan boy but, I would consider a close second to be the Speedlites in the Godox X system series of flash units. The only thing keeping me from selling all my 600EX-RT's and switching completely to Godox is in the design of the Godox flash head swivel, which I have stated in this forum several times. From experience I can tell you the YN600 is a poor excuse as a substitute for the Canon 600EX-RT and once again my feelings and experience with them are well documented.

The main problem with the Canon Wireless RT system is that up until recently you could not really expand much outside of using Speedlites. Sure you could trigger other flash units with one of the RT receivers and I have been using the Godox AD360II's with Phottix Laso receivers to do just that but, your choices have been limited. The Godox X system is a complete system of different flash units that all work with any of the X system transmitters or Master flash units. Even the older Godox Manual only flash units will work with the new system and a lot of them can be picked up rather cheaply.

For what I paid for all my Canon 600EX-RT's and ST-E3-RT's, I could have bought a whole lot of Godox flash products, from big to small and still had money left over.

That is what I read about YN AF assist. Not that great. In a studio set up I used my Canon transmitter. For events I put a 600 RT on the cam and had the other two on stands. I would get good AF assist and could still bounce my flash. I was going to get a 4th flash, possibly the 430 RT for the cam but I got out of the game. The assist beam is not the same in the 430.