Cheap manual flashes

Hey guys,

I'm looking to spend about 100$ on flashes and was wondering what would you recommend. So far i've been thinking about couple options:

YN-460II and YN-560II

What would you get: two YN-460IIs or one YN-560II?

I have my trusty Metz for ettl on camera stuff but i want to have some more lights to play with when putting them of camera. I know three lights are better than two but are 460s good enough to be worth considering? I know these flashes are not the most reliable but I need to start somewhere.

What other options are there on the market?

I don't know much about the newer Yongnuo flashes but I do know about some older flashes. As far as reliable and dependable I have a couple of Vivitar 283 that are over twenty years old and still going strong. The Vivitar 285HV is still made today and at a decent price.

If you don't mind used, there are some excellent bargains on older flashes on the used market.

The 283s are like tanks; take a beating and keep on going. Great for remotes triggered with optical slaves, which should be able to handle the potentially high triggering voltage of some of the older units. I have used them for lighting basketball courts with very good results.

I have two of the HV 285 Vivitar flashes and they have served me very well. When the YN 650 came out I bought one of them and the Vivitars have not been out of the bag much since.

It is not that the HV 285 units are bad, but because of features of the YN 560 they serve me better.
The Vivitars only have 4 manual power settings. Full -1/2 - 1/4 - 1/16. Not sure why they skipped 1/8? This leaves the only option for adjusting power as moving the flash closer or further away from the subject.
There are only 2 zoom setting. This has never been a big deal to me. They are slow to recharge.

The YN 560 has much more power selections from Full to 1/128 in easily adjustable settings. They have several zoom settings. They recharge faster with the 4 internal batteries and then there is an option to plug in an external pack for better recycle times. The YN flash is the same size as my Canon 580ex so all modifiers and accessories fit both units. They are very close in power and this makes figuring ratios much easier.
I like the YN flash adjustments being on the back of the flash and easy to see. The Vivitar adjustment in on the front and in low light situations it is hard to see the numbers where the YN flash is displayed in LEDs.
I have had zero problems with either unit. To me the YN flash is just more up to date and easier to use.

Hey, thanks for the replies so far

I heared newly made Vivitar flashes aren't as good as they used to be also i'm not sure how to handle high voltage flashes so i'm a bit afraid to burn something out.

I'm actually looking at the 560II version of the flash but if 560 is great why 560II shouldn't be

I'm not sure why the 560ii would be worth the extra price over the 560. There are some extra features that are nice, but with the recent price of $45 I've seen on Amazon for the 560 means you can get a couple of them for just over the price of one 560ii.
I've had zero issues with any of my YN flashes though (460ii and 560)

BrickR wrote in post #15094728
I'm not sure why the 560ii would be worth the extra price over the 560. There are some extra features that are nice, but with the recent price of $45 I've seen on Amazon for the 560 means you can get a couple of them for just over the price of one 560ii.
I've had zero issues with any of my YN flashes though (460ii and 560)

I can second that, I have have zero problem with my 560 and will probably be buying two more to add to the arsenal. Great flash for the price!

sircanon wrote in post #15094766
I can second that, I have have zero problem with my 560 and will probably be buying two more to add to the arsenal. Great flash for the price!

+1...

The yn560 will be more powerful then the yn460 but it's also larger

I'd say get the yn560 II if you mush have an LCD and the yn560 if you want to save money and don't care about the LCD screen (honestly the LEDs on the back are very easy to use)

I find no better value than a YN560 for strobist work. I've had no issues with mine and I'm tempted to buy a couple more, I see no reason for a 560II. Before I bought it I was worried about the quality issues I've heard with Yongnuo and was going to go for a vivitar or older canon model, I'm glad I didn't

Nikon SB-27's are pretty cheap, are well built, and have a unique design that keeps the light closer to the middle of the umbrella. I'd trust a used Nikon flash over a cheap Chinese one, any day.

get 2 yn560's. you don't need the lcd. If you can't figure out the LED's you won't figure out OCF. and you will figure out ocf, so you don't need the lcd.

I used the Vivitar 285HV when I was first starting out. It served me really well when I was experimenting with off camera lighting. I learned a ton using just the 285 and an umbrella. The modern 285HV is not the most well built flash but for under $85 I would not complain to much.

nes_matt wrote in post #15096439
get 2 yn560's. you don't need the lcd. If you can't figure out the LED's you won't figure out OCF. and you will figure out ocf, so you don't need the lcd.

What he said ^^^

Thanks for the feedback guys! It seems whatever I get it'll be good enough for my needs as long as it works

I thought 560 and 560II had more differences than just the LCD. Of course leds would be no problem. I'm already using my Mets off camera with triggers but i'd like more lights to play with.