Yongnuo YN-622C Controller Trigger

Had an interesting failure last night.

I was doing a bit of 622 testing in a variety of conditions. I was basically in my office, with a 580EXII+622 sitting on a wall outside the (closed) window, maybe ten to fifteen feet from the window.

Firing the camera wasn't firing the flash. I'd hit the test button, and it would sometimes fire the remote flash, and sometimes not. Basically, the triggering was very unreliable, and didn't work at all from the camera. I could see that changing the flash menu settings was getting transmitted as I could see the green radio transmission lights respond on the receiver as usual.

I'm guessing that in this scenario, radio interference or something else was causing the radio signal to degrade, but I would have expected it to work fine, as it wasn't very far away at all.

I brought the flash in and it was firing fine the, so it was definitely something about the positioning/radio signal causing the triggering issue.

I'll do some more testing on this...

are you using nimh batteries in the yn622s?

btmlinedan wrote in post #15221930
are you using nimh batteries in the yn622s?

Nope, regular Duracell non-rechargeable alkalines (new ones).

I just got mine today!!!! I'll post up after I try to figure out how things work... and I'm at work so I have to be a little sneaky.

3DZukini wrote in post #15222386
I just got mine today!!!! I'll post up after I try to figure out how things work... and I'm at work so I have to be a little sneaky.

I have just finished reading all the treads on the 622C, it's taken me several hours with other things to do as well, but all very interesting and I have copied a great deal of info for future reference.

After seeing Dan's excellent video, I decided to send off for 4 transceivers on the 4th October and they arrived on the 9th, so not bad and the cost was £33 each delivered.

Due to other commitments, I have only just started (yesterday) to try things out with my 7D and one 622, a 580EXii with 622, another 580EXii with 622 and a 430Exii, so groups A:B & C.

After some messing about I had the ETTL working and managed to change setting in the camera, but still need to work at it. The next thing I want to do is to try out the HSS and see if I can get up to 1/8000th as others have. Not sure of the settings yet, even after reading lots, but will need to go through the instructions again, unless someone kind can list the settings for me. Can I still use the same 3 speedlites for HSS?

Will come back with any additional info I find and will continue to monitor this thread with interest. There are a lot of great minds out there and mine is getting a little grey, so it takes longer to pick up than it used to............... old age!

Thanks for all the input you guys have made so far.

Malcolm

thegreekM3 wrote in post #15220832
I am using fill and main. I had the wireless enabled in camera. Does that make a difference?
And only one flash in the umbrella. Also I had the ambient exposure less than -2 stops.
I tried yesterday with average flash metering same result.
I will try exactly as you suggest and let you know.

Can you pair up both flash as main to get another stop of light? This may determine that lack of power was the problem.

talbot_sunbeam wrote in post #15221435
I was basically in my office, with a 580EXII+622 sitting on a wall outside the (closed) window, maybe ten to fifteen feet from the window.
Firing the camera wasn't firing the flash. I'd hit the test button, and it would sometimes fire the remote flash, and sometimes not. Basically, the triggering was very unreliable, and didn't work at all from the camera. I could see that changing the flash menu settings was getting transmitted as I could see the green radio transmission lights respond on the receiver as usual.
I'm guessing that in this scenario, radio interference or something else was causing the radio signal to degrade, but I would have expected it to work fine, as it wasn't very far away at all.

You are demonstrating a characteristic of 2.4GHz low-power transmissions. The signal does not have a good penetration characteristic. The materials used in walls can make a big difference. I cannot trigger an under-water flash in a clear waterproof box with the 622s, where I could with 3.14MHz triggers. But the high frequency is great for quickly carrying large volumes of digital data.

talbot_sunbeam wrote in post #15222215
Nope, regular Duracell non-rechargeable alkalines (new ones).

Alexam wrote in post #15222581
try things out with my 7D and one 622, a 580EXii with 622, another 580EXii with 622 and a 430Exii, so groups A:B & C.
...
The next thing I want to do is to try out the HSS and see if I can get up to 1/8000th as others have. Not sure of the settings yet, even after reading lots, but will need to go through the instructions again, unless someone kind can list the settings for me. Can I still use the same 3 speedlites for HSS? Malcolm

Hi, Malcolm.

Those flashes and most other Canon flashes over the last decade have the electronics to produce HSS (flat light), so the 622s can use it.

The camera calls for HSS when the shutter is faster than its x-sync. (A few do it -at- x-sync).

Go to your camera's flash control menus, select external flash, and set sync mode to HSS instead of 1st curtain or 2nd curtain. Use camera Manual mode, not Av - the shutter timing is really messed up in Av mode!

CliveyBoy wrote in post #15222823
You are demonstrating a characteristic of 2.4GHz low-power transmissions. The signal does not have a good penetration characteristic. The materials used in walls can make a big difference. I cannot trigger an under-water flash in a clear waterproof box with the 622s, where I could with 3.14MHz triggers. But the high frequency is great for quickly carrying large volumes of digital data.

I think I would agree with this, but the 622 certainly has less effective range than the 602 in my user experience, maybe because of the more complicated communications. My house has two foot thick solid walls though.

CliveyBoy wrote in post #15222823
You are demonstrating a characteristic of 2.4GHz low-power transmissions. The signal does not have a good penetration characteristic. The materials used in walls can make a big difference.

Yeah, it would seem so. However, I can access the office WIFI from a laptop from that same position as the flash, which is also 2.4Ghz I believe, so I would have thought there would be enough signal penetration for the 622. Anyway, I'll do some more tests and see what I can make of the behaviour.

CliveyBoy wrote in post #15222823
I cannot trigger an under-water flash in a clear waterproof box with the 622s, where I could with 3.14MHz triggers. But the high frequency is great for quickly carrying large volumes of digital data.

Do PocketWizards have the same characteristics in regard to frequency/penetration etc? Or are they more solid? I seem to recall David Hobby triggering a cockpit flash in a hovering helicopter, which I would have thought would be a fairly challenging situation...

CliveyBoy wrote in post #15222896
Hi, Malcolm.

Those flashes and most other Canon flashes over the last decade have the electronics to produce HSS (flat light), so the 622s can use it.

The camera calls for HSS when the shutter is faster than its x-sync. (A few do it -at- x-sync).

Go to your camera's flash control menus, select external flash, and set sync mode to HSS instead of 1st curtain or 2nd curtain. Use camera Manual mode, not Av - the shutter timing is really messed up in Av mode!

Thank you Clive, much appreciated. Will give it a try. Do I leave the speedlites in ETTL, or switch them to Manual?

Malcolm

talbot_sunbeam wrote in post #15223160
Yeah, it would seem so. However, I can access the office WIFI from a laptop from that same position as the flash, which is also 2.4Ghz I believe, so I would have thought there would be enough signal penetration for the 622. Anyway, I'll do some more tests and see what I can make of the behaviour.

So, same test again. Even more interesting. The flash *is* firing. However, the exposures have no flash contribution in them. I'm 1/200th F5.6 ISO 400 at night time to nuke the ambient, and the frames have no light in them

Looking at it, I can see the flash is being triggered *later* than the shutter, so that the shutter has closed before the flash fires.

I even slowed the shutter speed down to half a second, and still no flash in the exposures. The flash menu is set to 1st curtain sync, wireless enabled, zoom 105.

I'm guessing there is some r/f interference going on, because clearly the trigger signal is being received ok by the remote 622, but it seems to be suffering from signal delay.

I tried the same test downstairs, with the same camera/remote flash positions, with an open door, and the flash was working fine as expected.

I'll see what else I can deduce...

Alexam wrote in post #15223167
Thank you Clive, much appreciated. Will give it a try. Do I leave the speedlites in ETTL, or switch them to Manual?
Malcolm

Malcolm, you leave them alone. Let the camera menus and the 622 make the settings. I presume that you are in 622 Remote mode (camera priority) and not Mix mode (flash priority).

Have you looked at my "The Other YN-622C User Guide"? See link in signature.

talbot_sunbeam wrote in post #15223199
I'm guessing there is some r/f interference going on, because clearly the trigger signal is being received ok by the remote 622, but it seems to be suffering from signal delay.

I tried the same test downstairs, with the same camera/remote flash positions, with an open door, and the flash was working fine as expected.

You have WiFi in the area? It has a more powerful stub aerial, compared to the internal aerial of the 622s. Even a garage door remote can interfere.

Timings are critical! Just ask Pocket Wizard, whose processor is too slow and the transmission band also, to cope with the high-speed of the 5D III.

CliveyBoy wrote in post #15223416
Malcolm, you leave them alone. Let the camera menus and the 622 make the settings. I presume that you are in 622 Remote mode (camera priority) and not Mix mode (flash priority).

Have you looked at my "The Other YN-622C User Guide"? See link in signature.

Thanks again Clive. I am in remote mode and not in Mix and will take another look through your great guide.

Malcolm