YONGNUO YN600EX-RT II Wireless Flash Speedlite with Optical Master and TTL HSS for Canon

Short review, just wanted to get one on here since none have been posted yet! This is the second iteration of the YN600EX-RT, and is therefore the equivalent to Canons second iteration of their 600EX-RT (which is the 600EX II-RT). Im an amateur experimenting with flash photography and got a single 600EX II-RT to start. I quickly moved to off-camera flash. Optical control using my Canon EOS 80D as a master worked fine, but I really wanted the on-camera TTL control of all the flash settings, which requires radio. I couldnt afford to buy another Canon 600EX II-RT at their price point and Id seen Yongnuo flashes everywhere, even among well-known professionals, so I decided to check them out. I almost bought the YN600EX-RT but thankfully thought to just check their official website to see if they had an update to match Canons update, and sure enough they did - this YN600EX-RT II! Being so much cheaper than the Canons (1 Canon = 4 Yongnuo), I decided to buy two to use as radio off-camera slaves and use my Canon as a radio master. They all work wonderfully (Canon master, Yongnuo slaves). As expected and as others mentioned for other Yongnuo models, build quality isnt quite on par with Canon. Theres no push-button release for rotating or angling the flash head; rather, you simply have to apply enough force to overcome the notches. The amount of force required makes you second-guess yourself at first, wondering if youre about to break something. Given this design, it makes sense to find some kind of grease between the body and flash head. Its not excessive and leaking all over things, but I did notice it was there you might be able to swipe some off the edges with your fingers. Overall build quality is fine though. Not tanks, but not overly cheap either. Quick list: - No push-button release for rotating and angling of flash head; requires a lot of force to turn - Set button in center of selection wheel rotates with the wheel (so "Set" can be upside-down, etc.) - Flashes arrived at maximum LCD contrast; clearing settings and resetting to default actually sets medium contrast which is pretty weak/hard to see and might make you wonder if your screen just "broke" during your reset.. it didnt, just go bump the contrast all the way back up. Again Im no professional, but overall I think these are great especially considering four of them can be had for the price of a single Canon 600EX II-RT. Unless these all fail very soon, this definitely seems to be the way to go unless your pockets are just overflowing with cash. So thanks, Yongnuo! The various official steps for updating the firmware seemed inaccurate to me. The first comment on this review contains steps that worked. I updated my firmware on two flashes from 1.10 to 1.12 (downloaded from YONGNUOs official website; unable to navigate via the site, I instead found the official product page via Google search and the firmware link is at the bottom of that page).

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This has worked great for my Canon 5D Mark IV. I did not have to update any firmware, I guess mine came in with the latest firmware that works. The only difference youll find in this and a Canon branded one is build quality. However, these are built well, they can survive being dropped more than likely however not as much as the Canon. As far as what it actually does, you cant tell a difference. The light is just as bright, its just as fast, it performs very well. Although this is radio triggered, it can also be triggered optically. It can also be radio triggered from your camera with a trigger on it, while making other slave flashs go off optically if they are not radio equipped. You can radio equip your other flashs with the Yongnuo YNE3-RXs which run about 39 bucks. I also have those and they work flawlessly. I use the Yognuo YN-E3 trigger, runs about 77 bucks to trigger all of these. It works great as well and the screen on it means you dont have to go into the menus. High Speed Sync works very well, I dont really notice any exposure differences between shots using HSS. I have had zero problems.

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I got this flash to backup the Canon 600EX-RT, and to use in off camera groups with a Yongnuo YN-E3-RT trigger. (which by the way is a great trigger!) It was fairly reliable, and, for the price, I was more than happy with how I was using it. It would seem to not fire, or fire too hot once in awhile (maybe once is 50 shots). But, I gotta tell ya, since I installed the latest firmware level on the flash (V1.29) this thing has been rock solid! It has been so dependable that Im going to get another copy. Now, is it slower to recycle than my Canon? Maybe a hair. Does it eat batteries like crazy? To be honest, I havent seen a difference between this and my Canon when I shoot them with the same settings in a group. Just shoot good rechargeables, and have plenty of spares. Does it make noise? You can custom configure it to not make annoying beeps. But, it still makes a loud grunt sort of thing when you first power it up... Im use to it. So... the big question... Which flash do i grab when I just need one to make a shot? I still grab the Canon. But, my trust in the Yongnuo is growing.

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I bought for use with my Canon t3i and I have been extremely happy. I have been wanting to expand my photography skills and experiment with off camera flash. Pairing this with the Yongnuo YN-E3-RT is a great way to do this without breaking the bank. The alternative setup like this from Canon would cost 4 times as much. Since this purchase I have added another YN600EX-RT II and plan on adding 2 more down the road. All of these together will still be less costly than one flash and one transmitter from Canon. Maybe these wont be perfect for a professional but for a hobbyist like myself these are a fantastic option.

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Guys this is the best speedlite you can get for $109 bucks. It is identical! To the canon 600 rt ex 2. Identical! Use one of each on my 2 umbrella diffusers and I can’t tell which is which. Trigged then by the yongnuo rt trigger. Note that this speedlite doesn’t include the diffuser which canon does include in their 600. So just go get the Sto-fen bounce diffuser which is better anyways. Btw it has a battery level which I love! The light is noice, it beeps every time you flash and beeps again to let you know that it’s ready to fire again. So just turn it off if it annoys you. This is a 100% clone of the canon speedlite RT EX 2.

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After my second 580exii died I decided to try a cheaper option. I wish I had gone this route the first time. These flashes are wonderful! They sync painlessly without any additional hardware. Output is strong. My only issue is battery life with my eneloop rechargeables varies quite a bit even though I typically have my flash set to 1/4 power. I definitely recommend this flash. Edit: after several months and weddings I have noticed one big flaw. They have trouble focus assisting in the dark during a reception. Not a deal breaker, but less efficient than the Canons I used to own.

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This is now my BABY!! or Ill say babies since Ive bought two of them now. I had a canon version. Broke it by accident. Didnt want to spend the $500 on a new canon one. So I took the chance on this one and honestly Ill never buy another canon one. These are great and for the price you can afford to have a pair of back up flashes. The money you save on these, you should buy a good softbox and stands to go on it. I ended up buying a new softbox and Octabox since I saved so much money on these.

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I dont care what any bad review says. I am very critical of off brand products normally and generally prefer only to buy Canon products. But I gave these a shot. I bought two of them and the transmitter. They work great, the light quality is great, and the quality seems to be great as well (not quite on par with Canon, but really not far off!). I would buy them again in a minute.

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This is my 5th Yongnou speedlight. It may not be quite as robust as the Canon version but it is 99% identical in function. I am usually really gentle with my gear and I can now do away with the cord even on my grip with the Yongnuo equivalent remote. I have not had the first one fail. I have four fully manual speedlights from them that are my travel set. Love those 560iis as well.

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Ive bought two of these and Ive been using them for quite some time now. Previously, they were not syncing well with the YN-E3-RT (creating shutter lag shadow), but a much later firmware update fixed that. And I do love that you can hook this up via usb and update the firmware. Im extremely happy with these and glad that I didnt have to spend a ton on the Canon version. It does everything that I need them to.

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