Yong Nuo RF-602 Flash Triggers

Evening all,

A while ago I mentioned that I was using the Yong Nuo RF-602 flash triggers and promised I'd put up a brief reviewonce I'd had some time to play around with them. So this afternoon I took a few pics of the second lot I've had delivered and thought I'd write something up.

I've just bought another transmitter (as a spare) and two more recievers so they must be going alright. I ordered these about a week and a halfago and they arrived today - pretty speedy for outback Aussie.

Total cost for two recievers and a transmitter was less than US$60 (not bad if you ask me).

Basically the RF-602's are fully manual. By that I mean they don't support ETTL metering and therefore you need to adjust flash power output on the flash itself. This has only ever botheredmeonce when using an (old... and free) Canon 420 EX Speedlight as it does not have manual power control. On the 580 EXII and Yongnuo YN465 speedlights, power adjustments are easily made.

Here's what came in the mail. Nothing too unexpected. All boxed up nicely and packed well.

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And here's what you get:

1 x RF-602 TX Transmitter

2 x RF-602 RX Recievers

4 x Duracell AAA batteries

1 x CR2 Lithium battery

2 x Reciever to 3.5mm jack chords (assuming for studio strobes?)

1 x Reciever to Camera remote plug (3 pin)chord

2 x 3.5mm to 6.3mm jacks

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So you pretty much have nothing to do except whack in the supllied batteries and it's all ready to go. It'snice to have something come with all the parts you need.

I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the build of all the components. Everything feels solid. It's only a plastic cold shoe adapter at the base of each reciever but I've never been concered that I'd damage it.The only issue I have with the build is that I can't get to the power switch with the reciever fitted to my 580 EXII as the AF assist light is too big. This isn't an issue on any other speedlights I've used.

This is what the reciever looks like attached to my 580 EXII and Speedlight Prokit diffuser. The chord at the back does not need to be attached - I'll explain why I keep it attached in a sec.

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... and attached to my Yong Nuo YN465 Speedlight and umbrella.

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The RF-602 RX recievers are able to work off 4 seperate channels which can be changed with some small switches on the top of each reciever/ transmitter. I've never had the need to worry about this feature but I'm sure others may find it useful in different situations.

The system also has a nifty feature to remotely trigger the camera by attaching the reciever to the camera hotshoe and plugging the shutter release cable into the remote plug on the side of your DSLR. I've used thisquite a few times and it works flawlessly. The shutter is released by pressing a button on the top of the transmitter. It has "half press" and "Full press" so you are able to use autofocus remotely as well.

Range

I tested the range of the recievers tonight by placing three flashes on the dashboard of my ute and walking down the road firing away until they stopped. Left to rightthey were the Canon580 EXII with a blue gel, Yongnuo YN 465 bare and Canon 420 EX with red gel. The 580 EXII and YN 465 both had triggers attached that have been used (original batteries) since January and the 420 ex had the new (fresh batteries) attached. The transmitter I used had been in use since January as well so the CR2 battery is not completely full.

To be honestI was astonished at how far away I could get.

This first shot was taken at 85m. It's not an exciting shot in any way, shape or form but that's not the point here. You'll notice that only one flash has fired.

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Stepping forward to 80m this is the result. You'll notice all three flashes have fired. Pretty good if you ask me!!! I might leave this as a permanent fixture in the ute and give out a few fake speeding fines I think. [:P]

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There's not a whole lot more I can tell you about these triggers except that the best thing I have done in a long time was to get my flash off camera and I'd recommend it to anyone. The Yongnuo RF-602's have worked flawlessly for me since I bought them and they are a bargain for the price. It's a good way to get into strobism.

Hope this helps some of you guys if you are trying to make the move into off-camera flash. These triggers certainly don't have all the features of the top-of-the-line kits (such as ETTL compatibility/ metering). They are what they are, and you get what you pay for (+ a little bit more in this case in my opinion) and they're a lot of fun.

Thanks for reading.

Cheers, Ben.

Re: Yong Nuo RF-602 Flash Triggers

Thanks for the write-up Ben. I look forward to seeing what you can do with this strange, off-camera flash idea.... ;-)

Re: Yong Nuo RF-602 Flash Triggers

Hey Ben,

Thanks for the post. I've been also wanting to know about these Yong Nuo RF-602 triggers as I start to think about off-camera flash. Nevertheless, they don't support ETTL metering and Ihave no clue for adjustingthe flash output power. I wonder if it is complicated to manually adjust? I have Canon 430 ExII, used with 450D.

Thanks again for sharing!

Re: Yong Nuo RF-602 Flash Triggers

Quote:

Originally Posted by Htet Kyi

Nevertheless, they don't support ETTL metering and Ihave no clue for adjustingthe flash output power. I wonder if it is complicated to manually adjust? I have Canon 430 ExII, used with 450D.

Adjusting flash power manually is not complicated--it can be time consuming, and a bit tedious, though. However, once you get the hang of it, you can go through a photo session like clockwork. With a bit of experience, it becomes rather easy. In fact, even after getting my 7D (enabling me to control my 580EX through the pop-up), I find myself still controlling flashes manually because it's almost as easy to walk over to a flash and adjust its output manually as it is to adjust it using the camera.

Re: Yong Nuo RF-602 Flash Triggers

Ben,

Great write up and nice product picks.

How has the Yongnuo 465 Speedlight been working?

Any noticeable color temperature difference compared to the Canon speedlights?

How's the ouput power compared to your 420 EX?

What kind of recycling times are you getting.. say, at1/2 power? 1/8? 1/16? full? Do you ever find yourself waiting on it?

Great stuff here....Thanks mate.

Re: Yong Nuo RF-602 Flash Triggers

Hi Chuck. I've only had the Yongnuo flash for a few days so I haven't done any significant work with it yet. I'll do a few tests tomorrow and post something up.

So far though it works well. Appears to have a fairly similar power output to the 420 ex (obviously no where near the 580 exII's output) and recycling is definately faster than the 420 ex.

Better get some batteries on charge tonight by the sounds of things!

Het Kei - Sean's pretty much said it all there mate. It's a simple process but can be a little tedious at times. I don't mind though as it helps me learn as I go. The Yongnuo speedlight is actually the easiest of the lot to adjust as it's just a dial on the back instead of having to press a button, dial, set and keep shooting.

Re: Yong Nuo RF-602 Flash Triggers

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<p class="MsoNormal"]<span lang="EN-US"]Nice review.<o:p></o:p>
<p class="MsoNormal"]<span lang="EN-US"]I am also going to buy this kind of
trigger.<o:p></o:p>
<p class="MsoNormal"]<span lang="EN-US"]But there is one thing I don't
understand clearly. <o:p></o:p>
<p class="MsoNormal"]<span lang="EN-US"]If the receiver will be connected to
the flash and sync cable will go from the same trigger to a monolight will it
work?<o:p></o:p>
<p class="MsoNormal"]<span lang="EN-US"]I mean it is clear that trigger will
work with one flash, but can it give signal for 2 flashes (one on a hot shoe,
one with sync cable)?<o:p></o:p>

<span lang="EN-US"][View:http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/6845/yongnuorf2d00602oncanon.jpg]<o:p></o:p>

Re: Yong Nuo RF-602 Flash Triggers

Red, it