Yongnuo YN560-TX - Available soon!?

Phal · 21 Jul 2014 at 19:08

I'm rather noobish when it comes to flashes as I've never really bothered reading up on them... What exactly do these controllers do that the camera can't do already?

mrk · 21 Jul 2014 at 19:43

^Control the power/zoom etc remotely of each flash individually or in groups etc.

My 2x YN-560 IIIs arrived last week but the TX is still in transit

Having had a play with the 560 IIIs though I can tell they're going to get more use than the 560 Is I had before. The RF602 trigger I have triggers them out of the box so once my 560-TX arrives I can set to work with some creative use of manually controlled and used in conjunction with elements of the RF-602 kit.

Phal · 21 Jul 2014 at 19:51

Couldn't they build all that functionality into a flash? A master flash with all the settings that can control other slave flashes?

Raymond Lin · 21 Jul 2014 at 19:57

Phal said:
Couldn't they build all that functionality into a flash? A master flash with all the settings that can control other slave flashes?

The Radio Trigger element or the IR element??

The've had the Master/Slave thing on all top of the line Canon flashes, but IR only, RT is new and only about a year old.

mrk · 21 Jul 2014 at 19:58

To some degree that already exists just minus all the control features. The benefit of having it on a dedicated unit is that the unit can be taken off the camera and used in more creative ways.

Phal · 21 Jul 2014 at 20:29

Raymond Lin said:
The Radio Trigger element or the IR element??

The've had the Master/Slave thing on all top of the line Canon flashes, but IR only, RT is new and only about a year old.

Really took that long to get radio triggers over IR? :| I would have thought that it was a lot older than that.

Those YN-560 IIIs aren't the ones that were announced most recently are they? Been waiting for those to come out since they were announced and people got all excited but I didn't think I'd missed them hehe

Raymond Lin · 21 Jul 2014 at 20:38

Phal said:
Really took that long to get radio triggers over IR? :| I would have thought that it was a lot older than that.

Those YN-560 IIIs aren't the ones that were announced most recently are they? Been waiting for those to come out since they were announced and people got all excited but I didn't think I'd missed them hehe

Pocket Wizards for a long time are the standard in RT (and still am, if you pay attention in movies), not the ETTL ones, they are actually quite recent, last 5 or so years. The problem is people want ETTL off camera and the protocol between flash and camera is not open to the public and a bit like lens to camera, it has to be reversed engineered.

There are even flash triggers that uses RT but mixed with IR, as all old flashes uses IR, these triggers are strapped to the front of the IR, which converts it to RT. The IR part must be easier to crack than ETTL through the hot shoe!

In terms of built in RT, only Canon had them, the 600EX-RT are the first on the market. Now the Yongnuo, I don't believe Nikon or Sony has them yet. If you look at the old PW receivers then you'll realise why it took them so long, they are quite big so it needs to be miniaturised first I guess.

Phal · 21 Jul 2014 at 21:13

Looks like I'll probably be purchasing a 200-400 so I won't be buying much else any time soon!

jonneymendoza · 24 Jul 2014 at 17:43

Raymond, did pay your tax for this item?

Raymond Lin · 24 Jul 2014 at 17:44

It came from Germany via UPS, no tax within the EU.

PU7E · 24 Jul 2014 at 20:07

Sh4rkie said:
YN-560TX arrived and tested, really pleased

How are you getting on with it, what's the build quality like, how easy is it to use, can you control the zoom with it and what sort of range have you got out of it?

mrk · 24 Jul 2014 at 20:11

Mine is still in the mail, it "could" arrive as late as August 11th according to Amazon wtf!

PU7E · 24 Jul 2014 at 22:03

mrk said:
Mine is still in the mail, it "could" arrive as late as August 11th according to Amazon wtf!

August 11th is insane, I really hope they're just taking their usual pessimistic stance...

I was going to bite the bullet on the rainforest one, glad I waited. Seems like the best way is to get the flashes from the forest and the controller from the bay.

Sh4rkie · 24 Jul 2014 at 22:55

PU7E said:
How are you getting on with it, what's the build quality like, how easy is it to use, can you control the zoom with it and what sort of range have you got out of it?

It's excellent well worth the money

Build quality is the same as the 560 III flash, really good.
Controls zoom nicely and is near instant response.
Range is good, fired from my front room through two brick walls (one with french doors) it'll still fire the flash in my garden.

Once setup with the flash(es) it's very easy to use.

Sh4rkie · 24 Jul 2014 at 23:22

oh the only quirk i could find is the if you change the power / zoom on flash it doesn't register on the controller. The communication seems to be one way.

E.g. if i'm 105mm on flash which was programmed by the controller, if change the flash to 35 the controller doesn't see it. If i change the controller to another zoom the flash instantly snaps to the controller setting.

Not the end of the world as the idea is the i only ever have to switch on the flashes and not touch them again but is worth considering if you do fiddle with a flash the controller won't see the change.