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

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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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For a cheap knock-off of an overpriced hotshoe flash, this thing is surprisingly not terrible. On a practical level its a 3/5 star item, but for the price its easily a 4/5. You will not find a better value at this price point, period. Pros: Powerful output Reliable wireless system when using Yongnuo triggers Works as well as expensive, first party flash units Cons: Doesnt play well with Pocketwizards/Cactus V6 wireless triggers Build quality could be better Easy to overheat when using an external battery pack I currently own 3 of these flashes, having owned 5 over the years with 2 being broken by falling off a stand or being dropped. These flashes are finicky when used with triggers not made by Yongnuo. Just this past weekend I was using one of these lights with my Cactus V6s and Alien Bees at a wedding and the flash refused to fire out of the blue when triggered by the Cactus triggers. Turning the flash off and on again generally fixes these sorts of issues, but this time I had to restore the flash to factory settings before it would trigger again. My Alien Bees continued to fire reliably while the speedlight just decided it was break time. That said, I have had zero issue getting these flashes to fire remotely with Yongunos triggers As for build quality, Ive broken 2 of these flashes in the space of year by having them fall off a stand or get dropped. You NEED to handle them carefully. Dropping one from standing height could easily break it. That said, theyre still tough enough. I dont care how much your flash costs, dropping it the wrong way will probably break it. Really, my only build quality complaint is the rubber gasket that reinforces the locking mechanism falls off constantly and is required to ensure the flash is locked down tight to stands and cameras. Im sure some glue would fix it, but thats assuming you can find the gasket once it falls off on the dance floor. Finally, you will overheat these flashes quickly if firing at anything more than 1/8th power while using a battery pack. Without a battery pack, TTL mode also tends to overheat them when used for extended periods. This is mainly due to the pre-flash and generally high output that TTL typically delivers in dark environments. Basically, if you need a lot of light, youll get about 30 or so minutes of shooting before the flash starts warning you with overheating indicators. Its not uncommon for speedlights to overheat, especially more powerful ones like this unit. But itd be nice if it had a mode that slowed the recycle times down a bit when getting close to overheating so you can keep shooting without the flash shutting itself down as quickly. Overall Id recommend these flashes to anyone who needs a speedlight and is willing to buy into Yongunos trigger system. For the money, its tough to beat them unless you go with a company like Godox.

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I like how it works, but it is not durable, I bought 2 if these and the 2 of them failed, flash was firing by it self and it suddenly stopped working ],it just flashing, seller said the flash is no longer eligible for return, manufacturer warranty is only valid if you purchase on their web site. Im so mad, waste of money!

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Its as close to perfect as a budget flash will get. What it does miss, as most other people have pointed out, is the lack of a lock button for the flash head. I use Bowens adapters that grip the flash by the head, which means the body sometimes whips down and hits my hand while adjusting. The head has small amounts of grease on it, which is noted by others here as well, but I did not find it to be "dripping" and perfectly acceptable for use. Also, the flash shares the same issue with the original Canons: the built-in diffuser and bounce card are hard to get out. My friend echoed this with his diffuser-already-broken Canon 600EX-RT, and Im seeing the same issue with this Yongnuo. Finally, it does not ship with a clip-on diffuser, which I sorely miss from using Nikon SB-900s. Im not sure if its compatible with diffusers built for OEM Canon, but knowing Yongnuo Id assume so. Other than that, it works fine. HSS works, zoom communicates fine, recycle time is as advertised.

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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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After rocking 5 copies of the 1st version of this flash, I got two copies of the Yongnuo YN600EX-RTII from two different sellers, both had to be returned within the week. The first copy was still firing, but no matter what power you set it at, it was barely putting any "umph" out (less than the 1/128 power setting on the version 1 of the flashes). The second just died mid-wedding reception and wouldnt come back to life no matter what I did (thats why you keep backup copies - hallelujah). Ive gone back to ordering the 1st version again and having much better results. Really disappointed by this version.

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Bought two of these at one time. I have two Canon 600EX-RTs, but wanted some cheaper flashes to put on light stands at a wedding reception. Also, I use the Yongnuo YN-E3-RT transmitter, which is great. But the Yongnuo flashes seemed inconsistent in how they communicated with the transmitter. Sometimes they would pair and sometimes they wouldnt, and Im talking about at a range of about a foot. Also, the silica gel packet had burst in one, and you could hear it rattling inside the flash. I tried to get them all out but couldnt. I returned both and opted for a Canon 430EX III-RT instead.

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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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