Worst Flash you can own. Stay away!

Many eBay sellers advertise this flash unit for a specific camera with different prices. It makes the consumer think it's a dedicated flash unit. It is not. If you look closely at the bottom of the shoe, there is only one contact pin in the middle, which means it can be triggered by any film or digital camera with a flash shoe. That’s about it. Your camera can not communicate with this flash unit to make sure the settings are correct, and vice versa.

Many photographers review this flash unit as if it is to be used for general everyday photography, comparing it with other flash units. It is not, and cannot be used for general everyday photography. Even though this flash unit has many advanced features, the company forgot to put a TTL function, or at least an AUTO function to make it useful for general types of photography required by all photographers. They just copied the outside appearance to make it look like it has all the functions of the more expensive original.

The main purpose of this MANUAL flash unit, with its built-in features, is for a SECONDARY flash. In other words, it's a SLAVE FLASH UNIT. Mount it on a stand, and set it on S1 or S2 slave, and you can fill the background or the main subject...no problem.

As a main flash for everyday use? You and your subject will be very frustrated waiting for you to MANUALLY make power level adjustment, MANUALLY adjusting the zoom head, MANUALLY moving the flash to the correct distance, MANUALLY adjusting your camera aperture and ISO, MANUALLY adjusting your zoom setting, etc, and then making another TEST if the first exposure was off. If you get lucky and obtain the correct exposure the first time, you might still have to adjust your camera shutter speed to compensate or override the ambient light. By that time, the bride and groom walking down the aisle is gone, the giggling facial expression of a child is now pouting, and the baptismal photo in the church which does not allow for retakes because it can only be done once…is finished. You just missed your once in a lifetime photo because you were fiddling with this very clumsy MANUAL flash unit!!!

If you really want a good flash unit with TTL metering, AUTO focus assist, AUTO setting of shutter speed and aperture, and a high guide number of 92 at ¼ the price, then go to Walmart and get a DEDICATED Sunpak DF3000. Then you can concentrate on the event and not worry about setting your flash MANUALLY and missing the shots. Got the picture?

For NEX camera users this is the best of camera flash to get.

I am using NEX 5N, with Sigma A-mount lenses and beside Sony kit flash i have Sony HVL-F20S flash for NEX camera so i will make comparison of YN560II and Sony flashes on my lens-camera setting.
If you are user of NEX camera with lenses that are Sony/Minolta A-mount and filter size 72 mm and greater size only solution for you is YN560II or some other brand of speed-lights, Sony kit flash and Sony HVL-F20S both are useless with this type of lens-camera setting they are creating ugly shadow in bottom of the picture.
compare to these Sony flashes with YN560II you will get:
1. more power - 58GN (Sony kit flash is 7GN and HVL-F20S have 20GN)
2. battery life of your camera will be much longer because it uses own batteries
3. can regulate output power
4. haw 4 modes - master, slave 1, slave 2 and multy, in master mode you can use it on jour camera if you buy hot shoe adapter for NEX, in S1 and S2 you will use it if you use kit or HVL-F20S on camera then it will fire same time as on camera flash fires in my case worked every time, multy will provide you strobe effect.
5.sound signal when ready to fire very useful because you will get best results if using it as of camera flash and than sound signal will tell you when flash is ready with out any need to go and visually check flash status on display.
6. focus motor to set light angle with view angle of your lens.

To use this flash in master mode you will need to get hot-shoe for it and to buy wireless trigger (this will cost you around 50$ on eBay) you can put it in hot-shoe directly on jour camera but i am not sure that this is great idea since holder on camera is so thin and it will probably break at some point with that size flash attached.

When using wires flash triggers on my NEX for everything to work properly shutter speed should be 1/100 and lover but i think this must be convected with wireless triggers.

What i didn't like on this flash is display because if you are not looking at it under 90° degrees most-likely you wont be able to see settings on it.

Value for money ratio for this flash is great for NEX users, i doubt that you can buy anything better for 70$ with all this fictions.

Great manual flash for money paid. I wish I have one more.

I bougt it because I need second flash. This one is perfect because it cost cca 75 $ and for this money you get powerfull and reliable flash with a lot of options. Swiveling and rotating head, built-in reflector card, you get hotshoe stand, build quality is great and it is very easy to use it. However - it is important to know - this is NOT TTL flash. If this is not a problem for you - buy it, you won't be disappointed. It have manual mode, 2 slave modes and multi flash support (up to 8 flashes in second, depending on flash power). It have a nice, big display, you can work in total dark with it. Power controls are very precise, you can shoot wit full power or you can lower flash power up to 1/128 plus you can adjust every step with extra fine tuning. My other flash support only 1/16 power and it is even stronger than this one so I have problems when I need just a little flash power. With this flash I can set it as I like. Charging time is great, It takes about 1-2 second. Flash zoom covers focal lenght range from 24 to 105 mm. Control buttons are also very good and precise. It is very strong but for working outside there's never too much power.

What I don't like about it about this flash: It dooesn't have any pre-flash that helps you focus in low light situations. You should have a battery in your pocket to help you focus. I know it is almost identical copy of Canon flash so therefore the size is almost the same, I wish it is a bit smaller but it's just a minor disadvantage.

The best inexpensive strobist setup i.m.o

Having bought most of my other lighting equipment in this brand i bought two of these based on the quality of the other things i own

I have currently used it to light portrait setups and some waterdrop photography.
I'm triggering them with Yongnuo rf-603s and they work a treat, easy manual setup each and every time.
Total reliability and not a single misfire in my use.

I would totally recommend this cheapo setup for anyone getting into strobist photography, they're a bit weaker in power than the top branded ones but really nothing you'll notice whilst using them, the 560 does'nt have the ttl-features but you're better off using manual mode anyways

Fantastic flash at low cost

The YN56011 is a fantastic flash at great value. I purchased this item for good power output.

The flash unit has fast recycle times, and zoom feature. The unit can connect to power pack for faster recycle times, while keeping the unit cool and ready to continue shooting.

The unit can be used full manual only and cannot be used in TTL mode. The unit cannot sync faster than 250th of a second, preventing it from being able to better handle harsh sunlight.

With any negatives mentioned this unit costs only a fraction of the price of a unit that has better performance.

In full manual mode this product handles just as good as the best cameras on the market.

This is a fantastic buy..