Yongnuo YN 560 III Professional Flash Speedlight Flashlight, GN58 2.4G Receiver, Built in Trigger Receiver System, YN560 III YN-560III YN560III for Canon Nikon Pentax Olympus Camera

I shoot Canon, professionally. I wanted a system where I can trigger 2-3 of these flashes on stands with one flash siting on my camera and these flash guns are just perfect. So far so perfect (quality wise, as everyone is concerned with that) but read on...If you get these triggers (Yongnuo RF-603C II -- see the addendum on these, at the bottom of this review -- VERY IMPORTANT!), all you need (if you want to radio remote trigger these flashes) is have one of those triggers on your camera, one flash on top for fill-in (or bounced as needs be) and have 2-3 YN560III's on stands and have those radio triggered remotely. The creative light you can come up using these, is spectacular! If I shoot in the studio and I'm the only photographer using a flash guns then I can set these as optical slaves as well but when shooting a wedding, I don't want them triggered by other flashes (people take pictures all the time which will set these off when set as optical slaves) so I keep them on radio-trigger only. They work like a charm. LIKE A CHARM!These are manual only flash-guns. There's no TTL, eTTL or anything like that. But what is great about them is that for those photographers who love flash and only shoot manual, if you know how to work with them, you can create dramatic lighting situations (both indoors and outdoors). They have a simple and easily accessed menu. Fully compatible with the aforementioned radio triggers as radio triggered slaves (wireless capability is built in, which is fantastic!) as well as optical slaves as S1 and S2. Practically, unlimited possibilities. And if you are a beginner at using on or off camera flash, don't be afraid to take chance on these. In fact, shooting in manual and learning by trying different lighting situations , will teach you far more than using TTL or eTTL. I find that using flash with or without ambient light is different for every shooting situation and setting these manually yields the best results. I love the perfect flare they give which I like to capture when I shoot the couple during their first dance, at a wedding.As far as how well they're built and how long they'll last, the jury is still out. However, I will say that they feel solid in the hand and every detail seems nicely designed. The tilting mechanism is crisp and precise. Easy and simple menu layout. Every option that a professional manual flash should have. Buttons are soft, precise and responsive when pressed. Output wise are pretty much at par with Canon's comparable product (580EX ii). I've use both. I can't honestly tell the difference in terms of output.Someone mentioned here something that I must agree with -- no flash will last when blasted at FULL POWER for hours. As a professional photographer, using these flashes in tandem are very much like a dance -- I use them at lower power and create the optimal lighting conditions. I always anticipate what and when I want to shoot and when I think is the best time to hit the shutter. Part of the game. But even with a low or mid margin of quality issues (as I noticed that people have issues with them from time to time), the price I paid for what I'm able to do with them, is worth every single penny. I have a total of 4 units now. When shooting professionally, having backup gear is a must, regardless of brand. If one goes bad, its price would have been amortized if only used at one single shooting session. I've read reviews from photographers who used these for a very long time. Also, I must add, these new flashes are re-designed internally (better electronics). Seems that Yongnuo listens to customers' complains. Customer service, seems to be OK or non-existent (as per many reviews) though I noticed a few replies from Yongnuo to some negative, issue driven reviews here, on Amazon. It's a start. Also, the instructions are poorly written as it's the same with just about any other Chinese product out there. English isn't their strong suit, but with a little common sense and patience, you're able to figure things out. I find that to be a trend even with American companies, nowadays.RE Yongnuo RF-603C II triggers -- BE AWARE that an earlier version of these, without the "II" are being sold. They are compatible as well but read my review on those atrocities. They are HORRIFIC design wise, though technically, they are the same triggers and do the same exact thing!! The RF-603C II's are significantly improved as Yongnuo finally listened to unhappy customers who purchased the previous version of those triggers. One important change is a locking mechanism that allows the triggers to latch firmly into the hot-shoe of your camera, especially when you use an on-camera flash which is then, sits into the trigger's hot-shoe. The previous version did not have that -- major oversight. So that's fixed, along with a re-positioned on/off tx/rx toggle button, which now is in a the right place on the trigger unit. Overall, this system is something which I'm enjoying very, very much!

The Sony flash for my camera retails new at nearly half a grand - that's ridiculous. I ended up getting a used HVL-58AM afterward too, but after losing many auctions for one (and refusing to pay blood money for a new one), thought I'd try the YN 560 as an interim flash. It really is spectacular, and even though I now have both, it still gets used a LOT. The levels of adjustment all the way down to 1/128, the many slave modes, and the multi setting make it very hard to give up, so I'll just keep it. For Sony it does need the Minolta to Standard Hot Shoe adapter, but I already had that, and nobody makes a 602 or 603 trigger compatible with Sony yet, so there is some degree of McGuyvering needed, but the results are well worth the effort.I now use it as a back/box/fill light or hair light a lot, and the flexibility of it is superb. The only downside in my mind is the lack of HSS, but my main light will sync at up to 1/8000 so it isn't the end of the world. It syncs fine up to 1/250, so for anything in studio it's fine, and for outdoor daylight I use the Sony. I only use the big strobes off camera, as either of them are just unwieldly on top of the camera (and the YN on top of the adapter to boot), but the built in acts as a controller and is capable of groups with the right triggers, so it works out quite well. TTL obviously won't function on a Sony camera, but I don't use it anyway, but I'm sure it could come in handy for a Canikon inclined person.The buttons/menus are a little cryptic, but google is your friend, and in a day's time you can know it inside out, and a couple more days you can make it play nicely with your dedicated units. For manual off camera use, it is every bit as good as the Sony, and at less than 20% of the new price, which make it a no-brainer. For my purposes, it's like having another 58, but for pennies on the dollar, especially as you can only have one act as controller anyway, and the two combined are more than capable of some pretty elaborate lighting.For under a c-note, you can have a great flash AND some eneloops, and really turn your creative options up a notch - or ten. Buy it - at the price, it would be silly not to.4/2014 Have never updated a review, but had to this time. On location last month, I had this flash on a monopod as a slave and bumped it against the ceiling. The attachment on the bracket I was using let go and the flash fell almost 10 feet to a ceramic tile floor. The batteries shot out and flew well over 20 feet, the flash itself bounce a good 2 feet high and I was absolutely sure it was destroyed. I gathered the batteries back up, put them in and turned it on and it hasn't missed a lick since. Less than 2 weeks later, I had it on a light stand, well over 7 feet up and one of the models lost their balance, grabbed for the stand to catch herself and took it tumbling down the seawall with her, mangling the stand and sending the flash crashing onto and down between the big boulders. She was battered, the stand was totaled, but once I dug the flash out and put new batteries in (the ones in it were gone and we never found where they flew), it STILL works perfectly, gouges in the side and all. I have several $500 speedlights and NONE of them work any better (obviously in manual) than this unit, and while I don't want to test it, I suspect NONE of them would have survived either, much less both of these disasters. Built in radio receiver, highly variable power, dependable slave modes, multi mode .... this will do it all if you know what YOU are doing.Every poor review due to this flash not working in full auto mode make me want to scream. Anyone with even an ounce of ability would never even CONSIDER 'automatic' flash anyway. Cheap Chinese junk? B, please! It's a tank and outperforms all my 'name brand' flashes by a huge margin, dollar for dollar. I'll buy a bag full of YN's before I ever spend another penny on an overpriced 'name brand' speedlight again.