Yongnuo 560

First things first, this flash is manual!

   I thought I'd mention this first because it is the most salient feature - or lack of feature! - prospective buyers should be aware of when considering purchasing this product. The fact the flash is manual shouldn't put you off though; in some ways it can be a virtue while in another way it is a hindrance.

   The hindrance - if you need operability or speed in shooting - is that is doesn't do e-ttl metering meaning you have to set the power yourself. Stop reading this review if you need this feature! This is a double edged sword though.  If you need speed and convenience you can attach the flash and fire away happily - and also pay double the price of this manual flash. If however, you are comfortable with power ratios you can dial in a flash power ratio and then shoot away happily as long as the conditions remain the same - and, here is a big asset of a manual flash for me, the flash exposure will remain consistent. This would be as long as your settings remain the same and the ambient light stays stable.

   In order to alleviate this hindrance/virtue in disguise, you can of course change the power setting on the flash as well as fine-tuning it further. My version of the Yongnuo 560 is the first version. If you were to purchase the quite-new second version, the practicality of fine tuning the power settings is enhanced with a couple of new features.

   Firstly, on the Yongnuo 560 II (the newer version), there is the presence of an LCD screen showing different power settings etc. Also cleverly implemented with this flash is the fine-tuning power settings overlap so you can run through one full power setting to the next one while fine-tuning, which wasn't possible with the first version that I own. For this reason alone I have heavily considered getting the second version as well.

   If you were willing to give up the convenience of e-ttl then you would be left with a very functional flash. The recycle time on its full power (which is pretty bright) is about 2 seconds. At lower powers the recycle time is much shorter; you would be ready to take the next shot as soon as your shutter finger would be ready. In fact there is even a high-speed option for continuous bursts.

   Then there were the small additions and attention to details that made the flash such an appealing proposition for me. These included a diffuser and bounce-card for different lighting effects, a recycle indicator that could be turned on or off, the option of rear-sync flash if selected on-camera and a robust feeling and efficient-to-open/close door for the batteries. The type of batteries it accepted were either AA alkaline or rechargeables. I would recommend rechargeables. Last but not least the flash could be triggered by other flashes (at pleasantly long distances and in daylight), the camera's in-built flash (in a slave mode that ignores pre-flash) or on-camera. Also the flash can be triggered by a trigger - transmitter and receiver combination - one kind of which I hope to review soon.

   Max flash sync-speed on this flash I found was 1/250 on my Sony a55v, which was higher than the maximum sync-speed of the camera and in my experience was a useable limit on such a cheap flash (compared to a flash capable of high speed-sync).

   So altogether this was a solid outing although with no major weaknesses in my eyes. However, if possible it might probably be better to get the newer version.