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YongNuo YN-560 III – Review – Changing the GameMay 9th, 2013Hotshoe Flashes, REVIEWS, YongNuoFlash Havoc 51 Comments

The YN-560 III is the latest version of YongNuo’s flagship manual speeedlite, and its the first all manual

speedlite with a radio trigger receiver built in for firing the flash reliably off camera. Compatible with both

the existing and very popular RF-602 and RF-603 radio triggers.

This is one flash I really don’t need to talk up, as YongNuo have had are hard time keeping up with

demand as it is. And for good reason.

Canon where basically the first to recently introduce radio based remote triggering into their own speedlite

system, which has been extremely successful. But that is a relatively high priced full TTL system, where

the YN-560 III is just a simple manual flash with a basic receiver (just to fire the flash) built in, and selling

from around just $85 each.

The built in receiver of the YN-560 III has big practical advantages, because you simply don’t have a lot of

extra pieces of gear and extra batteries to constantly transport, organise, set up and manage. That’s all

built into the flash. So all you need is the one small transmitter unit to fire as many flashes as you like. Of

course it saves money too without all those extra receivers and batteries.

Another big advantage is that you don’t have anything mounted to the foot of the flash making it higher in

umbrellas and generally less stable. Or alternatively extra cords (to go wrong) and receivers dangling

around.

I say this flash is changing the game, not only due to the practical conveniences mentioned above, but

also because its already having an impact on the way people consider their gear and radio trigger

selection as well.

And furthermore, built in triggering is one thing, but many people are also waiting for remote manual

power control in a simple manual flash like this. There’s no question that is coming sooner or later, but

(although this is only my speculation) there are strong indications that may even already be built into this

flash unit, just waiting for a new trigger capable of enabling that feature. More on that below, but I should

note the impression I’m getting from YongNuo is that any new compatible triggers may be a little while

away yet.

 

Power and Recycle Time

The YN-560 range of speedlites are full power flashes generally around just 0.2 to 0.3 of a stop lower

power than the top end Canon Nikon alternatives. With pretty fast recycle times around 2.8 seconds at full

power, and 1.2 seconds with an external battery back (for which they have a High Voltage battery port).

Power adjustment range from 1/128th to Full, with 1/3rd or 1/2 stop fine adjustments. Also full zoom head

from 24mm to 105mm.

 

Overheat Protection

One important thing I did note straight away, (at least over the MK I YN-560, I’m not sure about the MK II),

is that the overheat protection is much better on this model. The 560 III will fire 20 full power shots

consecutively, and then slow down to a 15 second recycle before you can take 3 more

shots consecutively, and then a 15 second break again. Where the original 560 goes straight into a long

shut down if you hit 20 shots continuously, which can be a real problem. For me this update alone is

enough practical reason to seriously consider the YN-560 III over the original 560 model.

 

Interface

 

Compared to the YongNuo’s current YN-568EX Flagship TTL speedlite, the YN-560 III doesn’t have quite

as big a screen, and it is rather more busy. But its still quite nice, and reasonably easy to see the power

levels, which are really the main thing you would be concerned about in general use.

Looking a little closer at the display there a couple of new additions over the previous MK II model. In the

top right hand corner is the new RF trigger symbol showing the built in radio RX receiver mode is

enabled. And in the lower left corner is the radio channel selection number and corresponding dip switch

graphic (also indicating the RX mode is enabled).

As usual I put the this unit to the idiot test (I’m the idiot), to see how far I could get navigating the interface

and operating the flash without looking at the instruction manual first. The added trigger modes do start to

make this a little tricky, considering this is really just a simple manual flash. But I did manage to muddle

my way through everything, except for the custom functions which are a bit hard to guess. Even there I

found the RF-602 / 3 selection which is the only thing that’s vital really to be able to use the flash.

 

Manual Power Adjustments

Manual power adjustment is made in full stops via the left and right curved buttons, and 1/2 and / or 1/3rd

stop fine adjustments are independent using the up and down curved buttons. These are hard plastic

buttons now which work well, the days of mushy rubber buttons are fortunately over. They are still a lot

more fiddly than an off camera should be these days (where you simply want to bump the power levels up

and down as easily as possible), but they do the job fine.

 

GRP Mode

In the image above you can see between the “MODE” button and “TRIGGER Mode” button (the 2nd & 3rd

buttons in the row of 4), there is GRP printed (meaning group). This group function currently has no use,

and is one of the reasons a new transmitter unit (also enabling groups) is very likely to come at some

stage.

 

Triggering Mode Button

Pressing the TRIGGER Mode button (the 3rd button in the row of 4) scrolls through the method of

triggering the flash, M (or manual) is triggering through the flash foot or PC sync port, S1 is basic optic

slave, S2 is basic optic slave with TTL pre-flash ignore, and the last is the built in RX radio receiver mode.

 

MODE Button

Once you are in the Radio Trigger Mode (where the the channel dip switch graphic is always displayed)

you can then press the mode button to scroll through M – manual, Multi – strobing mode, and the mystery

“- -” mode.

The mystery “- -” mode currently has no function -

So this is the mode we suspect may well be enabled down the track via a new transmitter unit, very

possibly allowing remote manual power adjustment. Again this is only speculation at this point, but there

are strong signs there.

The impression I’m getting from YongNuo though is that any new compatible triggers may be a little while

away yet, hopefully within this year though. So it may be a while before we actually get to find out what

the YN-560 III is really capable of. If remote manual control is of interest to you though, I think its really

much more of a gamble to not go with this MK III over the other models, just in case. The built in receiver

alone is already a great advantage.

 

Channel Dip Switches

The Channel dip switch graphic indicator is a clever idea, showing you clearly how to set the dip

switch positions on the RF-602 or 603 transmitter unit to correspond with the channel number. As you

adjust the channel up and down on the flash the dip switch positions change to correspond. Click on the

animation below to see the full 16 channel position table.

 

RF-602 / 3 Selection

To select either RF-602 or RF-603 radio trigger compatibility, you will need to go into the custom functions

and change the selection there. RF-603 is the default setting. The flash does remember your previous

choice though, so you don’t have to keep setting this.

 

Range

 

I’m really quite surprised to say the range with the YN-560 III’s built in radio receiver, is at the least as

good as the external receiver, and I’d have to say most of the time even better.

I set the YN-560 III up with an RF-602 receiver attached to the flash foot, and both the internal receiver

and the RF-602 receiver easily reached 100 metres line of sight. But placing the transmitter behind my

back (only about an inch away) sorts out the better performing triggers pretty quickly, and the built in

receiver in the YN-560 III fairly consistently outperformed the external RF-602 receiver. Both were still

getting at least 50 meters there, which is still very good range while obstructed.

So building the receiver into the flash body doesn’t appear to have had any negative effect on range at all

that I can see at this stage. My other concern was that low battery power levels in the flash may cause

lower reliability with the triggers, but I ran the flash until the batteries were empty and this didn’t cause

any misfire issues. The built in receiver looks to be a very convenient advantage so far.

 

Ports

 

The YN-560 III has the same High Voltage battery port, and PC sync port as the previous YN-560

models. The HV battery port is very welcome, as an inexpensive external pack can speed up recycle to

just 1.2 seconds, and run for 400 to 500 shots. The Flagship YN-568EX TTL flash is unfortunately missing

this important feature, so its really a big advantage to have this HV port in an inexpensive manual flash.

This HV port uses the Canon compatible plug and cords.

The PC sync port is the standard screwlock PC sync. YongNuo have moved on to miniphone sockets in

the YN-568EX, so this is a bit out of date, though with the inbuilt radio receiver it may not get used too

often now anyway.

 

 

The battery compartment and door has been well sorted out since the first 560 model, its very fast and

easy to operate having its own sliding track. Batteries are the standard 4 AA’s. NiMH or Eneeloops

perform the best.

The flash foot is a single firing pin, and strong metal base with a nice large and simple locking ring and

locking pin.

Another big advantage of the built in receiver is the lack of any extra receivers on the flash foot, which

normally add height and leverage, creating a weak point and stress on the foot when mounting the flash.

Mounting directly to the foot frees up the flash to be mounted in any position, on its side etc without any

stress.

The bracket shown above is the new Multi Boom 16″, which is my own design now produced by Phottix.

The Multi boom allows you to mount flashes in a number of different combinations, as well as allowing

fast and easy tilt motion in Apollo style umbrella softboxes.

 

PERMALINK

Radio Triggers

 

The YN-560 III is really changing the game here, if it wasn’t already tricky enough to choose a radio

trigger system, the YN-560 III is making that decision even more interesting.

RF-602 / RF-603 Compatible Triggers

If you’re already using RF-602 or RF-603 radio triggers then you’re already set, just add the YN-560 III

flashes to your existing set up and you’re good to go. Or simply use your existing RF-602 or 603

transmitter to fire the YN-560 III’s alone.

Using Other Radio Triggers

If you already own another set of manual radio triggers, there’s no need to panic either. Many of the good

flash triggers have a pass through hotshoe on top of the transmitter, so if you already have Phottix Strato

II, Commlite T320, Cactus V5 etc, you can simply add one of the directly compatible RF-602 / 3

transmitter units (listed below) on top of your existing transmitters pass through hotshoe. So you can still

fire your existing flashes and receivers, as well as the new YN-560 III flashes all together.

If you don’t have a pass through hotshoe on your existing radio triggers (like the PocketWizard Plus III /

II / X) you can use the Meyin RF-604 transmitter (discussed further below) on the camera hotshoe, and

mount the PocketWizard etc, on top of the RF-604′s pass through hotshoe as shown here. Again firing all

your existing flashes and receivers, as well as the new YN-560 III flashes all together.

 

Directly Compatible Transmitters

Canon /  Nikon Cameras –

If you’re simply after a transmitter unit to fire the YN-560 III flashes, its just a matter of choosing one of the

3 currently compatible transmitter options below. Any of these 3 transmitters will fire the flash reliably, and

the differences between them are detailed below.

Other Cameras - 

Although the YongNuo RF-602 and RF-603 have dedicated Canon and Nikon versions, this is mainly for

the flash wake up feature, and they will often still work on other non Canon / Nikon cameras. The RF-603

have more compatibility issues though, so RF-602 are a better option if you do need to use non Canon /

Nikon cameras as well. For Sony, and Olympus / Panasonic, the Meyin RF-604 have dedicated

versions available for those cameras.

RF-602 Vs RF-603

The RF-602 were the first really good inexpensive flash triggers, but the 602 and the later 603 version

are fairly dated now, and they always had some issues and limitations. YongNuo have a much better

engineer in charge of radio trigger development now though, and he has already said there will be a new

RF-602 / 3 compatible trigger coming at some stage, likely within the year.

So for now the choice is between the YongNuo RF-602, RF-603, and Meyin RF-604. Many people are

happy with the current RF-603, but even though they have some advantages over the RF-602 due to

being transceivers, I would personally still choose the original RF-602. Mainly because the 603 have

lower sync speeds, meaning you may have to drop your shutter speed back at least one third of a stop

below X-sync to retain a clean frame without shutter (or black band) showing in the image. So on a Canon

5D for example, as low as 1/125th shutter speed may be needed to attain a full clean frame. The other

main issues with the RF-603 are that you can’t test fire the flash (for light meter use etc) unless they are

attached to the camera hotshoe, and they have more compatibility problems with non Canon / Nikon

cameras. Neither RF-602 or 603 have locking rings on the foot, but the 602 tend to stay in place better as

they are smaller and lighter then the 603.

Rikon Meyin RF-604

The third option are the new Rikon Meyin RF-604, which are generally better triggers than either of the

YongNuo RF-602 or 603, but their functions are limited when used as an RF-602 compatible trigger to fire

the YN-560 III. They are limited to transmitter use only (so any extra receivers would need to be YongNuo

RF-602 anyway), and they only operate on one channel (channel 16). Also their handy group function

is disabled. They have faster sync speeds than the RF-602 and 603 on their own, but when used with the

YN-560 III the sync speed is exactly the same as the RF-602. Overall the Meyin RF-604 are likely the

best transmitter option currently compatible with the YN-560 III, though the RF-602 mostly do the job as

well still. The Meyin RF-604 are sold as separate units, so you can buy just the one transmitter unit. They

also have Canon, Nikon, as well as Sony, and Panasonic / Olympus compatible versions available. If you

want to fire another transmitter unit like Pocketwizards, the pass through hotshoe on the Meyin RF-640

can be used to allow that.

 

PERMALINK

YonNuo RF-602

Around – $35 a set (Tx & Rx)

Separate transmitter and receiver units – sold as a set.

Available in Canon & Nikon versions.

Amazon

MORE DETAIL - Click to Expand

 

PERMALINK

YongNuo RF-603

Around - $20 each (Transceivers)

Transceivers (can be transmitter or receiver) – available separately.

Available in Canon & Nikon versions.

Amazon

MORE DETAIL - Click to Expand

 

PERMALINK

Rikon Meyin RF-604

Around - $20 each (Transceivers)

Transceivers (can be transmitter or receiver) – available separately.

Available in Canon, Nikon, Sony, & Olympus / Panasonic versions.

Amazon

MORE DETAIL - Click to Expand

PERMALINK

YN-622C / YN-622N

By far the biggest question I already get, is what does all this mean for the popular YongNuo YN-622 TTL

triggers?. Are they compatible with the YN-560 III?, if not why not?. Should I buy the YN-622, or YN-560

III and RF-602. Click Expand below to see more about this.

MORE DETAIL - Click to Expand

PERMALINK

TTL Flash On Camera

 

MORE DETAIL - Click to Expand

 

Compatibility -

 

Being a single firing pin flash the YN-560 III is compatible with most cameras when mounted directly on

the cameras hotshoe .

Off camera, and using the YN-560 III’s built in radio receiver, compatibility will depend on the transmitter

unit used (as detailed under radio triggers above). Most cameras can be used with the RF-602 transmitter

unit though at least.

Virtually any camera with a sync connection could be used if using some other form of radio triggers to

fire the flash off camera.

 

Specs -

 

Circuit design - Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT)

Guide No. - 58 (ISO 100, 105mm)

Flash mode – M, Multi

Trigger Mode – On-camera, S1, S2 pre-flash-cancelled, RX 2.4GHz radio receiver

Wireless triggering distance – 100m(2.4G wireless), Optic 20~25m indoor, 10~15m outdoor

Channels - 16

Zoom range - auto, 24, 28, 35, 50, 70, 80, 105mm

Vertical rotation angle –  -7~90 degrees

Horizontal rotation angle –  0~270 degrees

Power supply - 4×AAsize batteries (Alkaline or Ni-MH are usable)

Lighting times - 100~1500 times (AA alkaline cell used)

Recycle time - approx 3s (AA alkaline cell used)

Color temperature - 5600k

Flash time - 1/200s~1/20000s

Flash control – 8 levels of output control (1/128~1/1), 29 levels of fine tuning

External interface - hot shoe, PC port port, HV battery port

Additional features – electronic flash head zooming, manual zoom, sound prompt, advanced

setting, automatically saving setting, PC port, power saving mode and over heat protection.

Dimensions – 60×73×190mm (Extended state)

Net weight - 350g

Accessories Flash light (1), protecting bag (1), mini stand (1) and manual (1)

 

Included -

 

YN-560 III Flash Unit

Padded Case

Mini Base Stand

Instruction Manual

 

Summary

 

There’s no question the YN-560 III is a great manual flash which offers a lot of convenience and simplicity

in an inexpensive package. And its already having an impact on the way many people consider their gear

selection, and that’s not even with any remote power control on offer as yet. If YongNuo do introduce

remote power control through a new transmitter this may become the most popular flash available.

PERMALINK

Price and Availability

 

The YN-560 III is priced from around $80, and they are now widely available on Amazon. Amazon

Fulfilled sellers are highly recommended as a method of purchasing these flashes if possible, as you get

the flash quickly to start with, and if there are any issues Amazon have an excellent fast and hassle free

30 day return policy. Buying from China otherwise can turn into months (and your expense) if there is an

issue and a return is needed.

YN-560 III - Fulfilment by Amazon – currently a very low $78

YN-560 II – (without built in receiver) – currently also a very low   $59

Radio Triggers

RF-602 – Canon – Nikon

RF-603 – Canon – Nikon

RF-604 – Canon – Nikon

(I would recommend RF-602 or RF-604 as a transmitter for the YN-560 III flash. RF-603 only if you

already own some of them).

These prices are currently less than most sellers shipping from China, so its a good time to buy if you’re

after these flashes. These low prices may not last for ever as Amazon prices fluctuate. The original YN-

560 went down to as low as around $45 for a few months, then suddenly went up to $65, and often

around $75 now. So if you’re waiting on more of a bargain still, just be aware when the prices are already

quite low they can also go up quickly too.

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