Yongnuo Flash Not Firing On Older Canon 300D Rebel?

I've got a bit of a puzzle trying to get a YN565exII flash to fire from the hot shoe of an old Canon 300D Rebel. The flash seems to work fine on my 60D however. What I'm seeing online is that the flash should work with any Canon with ETTL flash metering, which the 300D has.

Oddly, the flash does try to work at least to the degree that there is some communication between the camera and flash thru the hot shoe. The display for the zoom on the flash will change when you change focal length on the lens. And with the flash attached the pop up flash can't be deployed. But it refuses to fire the flash. Also, the pop up flash on the 300D does fire when needed.

The only other hot shoe flash I have is an old Vivitar with way too much trigger voltage, so I'm still looking for another flash to test on it. Or is it just possible that the 300D is so old that it's not fully able to communicate with the newer Yongnuo flash?

Have you tried using it in manual? My 10D has no issues with my Yongnuo units, but I only have the full manual ones.


If manual works then I'd say it's not compatible with it's ETTL.

THAT'S just the kind of thinking I'm looking for! Only why didn't I think of that? Though I did think to try hooking it up with a sync cord...But with no better results.

I'll give it a try in manual and post the results.

I think it'll work manually (as above), however the YN flashes appear to be built with only ETTL II protocols, if you look at the compatibility lists they don't list the older cameras.

My mate bought a YN flash for a 300d, and I ended up swapping them with an old 550ex

I think I may be flogging a dead horse here. I tried connecting the flash to a Canon G5 as well and though it will fire the flash in some modes the flash timing is off and everything looks like the flash didn't fire at all. And that's with the flash set in both ETTL or manual mode.

Both the 300D and the YN flash are ETTL. And they're both type "A" ETTL. But the flash is ETTL II and neither the 300D or the G5 are rated as such. I think I'm trying to make too big of a jump over the technology gap between the two ETTL versions.

Thanks for the suggestions though and if I discover any kind of a workaround you'll be the first to know!

BurnUnit wrote in post #17883864
I think I may be flogging a dead horse here. I tried connecting the flash to a Canon G5 as well and though it will fire the flash in some modes the flash timing is off and everything looks like the flash didn't fire at all. And that's with the flash set in both ETTL or manual mode.

Both the 300D and the YN flash are ETTL. And they're both type "A" ETTL. But the flash is ETTL II and neither the 300D or the G5 are rated as such. I think I'm trying to make too big of a jump over the technology gap between the two ETTL versions.

Thanks for the suggestions though and if I discover any kind of a workaround you'll be the first to know!

The 300D is ETTL II. ETTL (the original) was a film system because the flash was measured as it bounced off the film. The type A designation is regarding the lack of an internal communications channel in the body that allows flash settings to be controlled by an internal flash menu. That menu was introduced until the 40D.

gonzogolf wrote in post #17883887
The 300D is ETTL II. ETTL (the original) was a film system because the flash was measured as it bounced off the film. The type A designation is regarding the lack of an internal communications channel in the body that allows flash settings to be controlled by an internal flash menu. That menu was introduced until the 40D.

Nope. That's not correct, ETTL II came with the 20d and the 580ex. It allows for reporting of crop factors for the zoom function and reporting back WB changes from the flash as the flash duration changed. (Canon camera museum verified)

As I posted above, I've come across this issue personally, Yongnuo's specs are sketchy but most resellers who list compatible cameras for YN ETTL flashguns don't list cameras older than the 20d.

The answer for the OP (if they don't want further gambles) is to pick up a s/h 550ex, all they'll lose is fast recycling.

I think Phil V's version is the way I understood it. The "A" and "B" version had more to do with whether it was used with a film or digital camera.

An accessory flash for this camera is not a must have. I picked it up as part of a package deal as a sort of back-up, low profile knock-around camera but I'll just keep my eyes open maybe for a workable used flash. Even a non-ETTL automatic flash would be OK with me.

This gives you sort of an overview of the muddled mess that might be involved with trying find an ETTL flash unit for the older Canon digital models. Clear as mud, eh?

Found at: http://photonotes.org/​articles/eos-flash/


Type A bodies

Support for E-TTL flash, FEL and high speed sync:

EOS Elan II(E), EOS 50(E)/55
EOS D2000, D6000 (digital)
EOS IX, IX 7, IX Lite, IX 50 (APS)
EOS Rebel G/500N/New EOS Kiss, Rebel G II
EOS Rebel 2000/EOS 300/Kiss III, Kiss IIIL
EOS 300V/Rebel Ti/Kiss 5
EOS 3000N/Rebel XS N/EOS 66
EOS 3000V/Rebel K2/Kiss Lite
EOS EOS 300X/Rebel T2/EOS Kiss 7 (no TTL support)

As above plus support for wireless E-TTL flash ratios and modelling flash:

EOS 3
EOS Elan 7(E)/EOS 30/33/7
EOS 1V
EOS D30, D60, 10D (digital; no TTL support)
EOS 1D, 1Ds, (digital; no TTL support)
EOS 300D/Digital Rebel/Kiss Digital (digital; no TTL support)

As above plus support for E-TTL II:

EOS 1D mark II, EOS 1Ds mark II, EOS 1D mark IIN, EOS 1D mark III, EOS 1Ds mark III, EOS 1D mark IV
EOS 20D, EOS 20Da, EOS 30D, EOS 40D, EOS 50D
EOS 350D/Rebel XT Digital/Kiss N Digital
EOS 5D, 5D mark II
EOS 400D/Rebel XTi Digital/Kiss X Digital
EOS 450D/Rebel XSi Digital/Kiss X2 Digital
EOS 500D/Rebel T1i Digital/Kiss X3 Digital
EOS 550D/Rebel T2i Digital/Kiss X4 Digital
EOS 7D
EOS 60D
EOS Elan 7N/Elan 7EN/EOS 30V/33V/7S (film; includes TTL support)

Note: all digital bodies listed above support E-TTL only. They do not support TTL in any form.

Type B bodies

Support for TTL and A-TTL only:

EOS 600 series - 600, 620, 630, 650, RT
EOS 700, 750, 800
EOS 1
EOS 10/10S/10QD
First generation Rebel series - Rebel, Rebel S, EOS 1000 and all 1000 variants, Rebel II, Rebel X, XS/EOS 500/Kiss
EOS Elan/100
EOS A2(E)/5
EOS 1N, 1NRS
EOS 3000/88, 5000/888
EOS DCS3, DCS1 (first generation digital)

Neither type A nor type B

Canon EF-M

I'll probably try installing the "Undutchables" firmware for a couple of nice feature upgrades. Maybe the flash will work then too. Though I suspect I've got more of hardware issue than a firmware issue.

Heya,

YN565EX & EXII, etc and higher ETTL capable models don't work in ETTL mode for me on:

Canon 10D
Canon 1Dc
Canon 1DII
Canon 5Dc

My manual Yongnuo flashes and triggers work fine on these cameras. But ETTL flashes don't work on these cameras, even in manual mode I find.

Just my experience.

Very best,

Installed the Undutchables firmware hack and that all went smoothly. Not surprisingly, the YN flash still doesn't fire. But I've found another little glitch that kind of stumps me. I can't even test fire the YN flash when it's mounted to the 300D. I mean, that seems like one function that should have nothing to do with the camera it's attached to. It test fires fine off the camera or attached to the 60D.

But at least with the new firmware I can now shoot at 3200 ISO, can save RAW+jpeg of the same image and have a mirror lock-up function. And some other features I haven't sorted out yet. And it looks like there might be a smaller, older Meike TTL flash that will work with the 300D. Maybe I can fall ass-backwards into deal on one on Ebay sometime.

Yonguo is awesome!! love my flashes.

So far I like my Yongnou too, at least on the 60D. But I'm thinking I might like to get a third-party mini-flash of some sort for the 300d that might also work on a G5. These two seem to be pretty well featured, but in different ways.

Flashpoint- No bounce or swivel but claims ETTL/ETTLII and manual settings.

http://www.adorama.com …CA.html?RRref=p​roductPage

Xit - Bounce and swivel. Focus assist beam and 5 yr.? warranty? ETTLI & ETTLII but no manual settings.

http://www.amazon.com …-2&refinements=p_89%3AX​it

Anybody have any experience with these little "budget" flashes working on a "legacy" model camera?