Photo Jottings

Yongnuo YN560-II flash review

The made in China Yongnuo YN560-II is for manual use, meaning it’s meant for people who will most likely use it off-camera, or in full manual mode where the operator determines the power output and zoom settings.  I bought it as a low cost alternative to the expensive Sony factory flashes that work great in full auto mode with Sony cameras, but I never use auto mode, so why pay extra when you don’t need those features?  After I received the Yongnuo and put it through a few quick tests, I had high hopes of it possibly replacing some of my tired Sony flashes that are $500 a pop.  Unfortunately, after a couple of photography jobs, the Yongnuo had some undesirable shortcomings.

First off, the flash is made well, and the head adjusts to different positions without having to unlock or push a button, and they stay put too.   Also, there’s a screw lock PC connection for radio triggers using off-camera flash, so all you need is the proper connector to the trigger, that saves on having to buy a hotshoe adapter with a connector which I have to do with the proprietary Sony hotshoe flashes made before 2013.

The flash puts out a lot of light; in fact it puts out just a hair more than the Sony HVL-F60M or HVL-F58AMwhen tested at 28mm. Also impressive are the eight full power settings, with 1/3 and 1/2 stop adjustments.  The recharge rate for a full power 1/1 pop is about 3-4 seconds, not bad!  It comes with what sounds like a cool slave/wireless capability, but I didn’t test that feature.

However, all is not well with the Yongnuo YN560-II.  The LCD is fine when you look straight at it, but when viewed from a hard angle, it can be hard to read, or unreadable; that sucks when it’s on a light stand, you have to lower the stand so you can read it, then re-adjust it.  Another issue: the batteries are warm when the flash is on, but not being used, that draws unnecessary power, and shortens battery life.  I’m not sure why this is, but the owner’s manual says to remove the batteries after turning the power off, that’s weird!  Finally, the worst offending issue; the flash wants to turn off for some reason after a few full power, or even half power pops, and it won’t restart again until it cools down.  I never have this problem with factory flashes, even after using full power for an hour or two.

I’m not sure if the above issues are ‘normal’ or I got a bad copy.  I might try another one in the future.  Right now, I’d steer clear of this flash unit unless you can live with the problems I’ve pointed out.

Warranty coverage; if it breaks after 30 days, throw it in the trash can, or send it to China with your own money and wait six months for them to contact you and tell you it was abuse, and is not covered.  That’s what you get with dirt cheap electronic equipment.

For the money, the Yongnuo YN560-II could be a potential super bargain at about $59, but due to the power shut down after mild use, it has no use in my bag.

Update:  I tested the newer YN560III model, and it didn’t make it much farther than the older model.  The hotshoe connection became inoperable after about a month of use, so at that point it’s basically worthless, unless you want to use it solely for the optical slave function.

Specifications and general information.