Generic Flash good bad or ugly: I started to have some issues with my Nikon Speed light. I did a little looking around and found that Neewer and Youngnuo flashes were significantly...

Coyote9269 Loc: USA

I started to have some issues with my Nikon Speed light. I did a little looking around and found that Neewer and Youngnuo flashes were significantly cheaper in price. I ordered both on Amazon, but I am finding that they get very hot with minimal use. Does anyone have any thoughts or experience on them ?

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Coyote9269 wrote:

I started to have some issues with my Nikon Speed light. I did a little looking around and found that Neewer and Youngnuo flashes were significantly cheaper in price. I ordered both on Amazon, but I am finding that they get very hot with minimal use. Does anyone have any thoughts or experience on them ?

I have no experience with Neewer, but Yongnuo has always worked for me. I use their manual flash and have been happy with it. Another third party flash that I think is pretty good is Nissin.

marki3rd Loc: Columbus, Indiana

Coyote9269 wrote:

I started to have some issues with my Nikon Speed light. I did a little looking around and found that Neewer and Youngnuo flashes were significantly cheaper in price. I ordered both on Amazon, but I am finding that they get very hot with minimal use. Does anyone have any thoughts or experience on them ?

Define "minimal use".

Coyote9269 Loc: USA

Gene51 wrote:

I have no experience with Neewer, but Yongnuo has always worked for me. I use their manual flash and have been happy with it. Another third party flash that I think is pretty good is Nissin.

Thank you.

Coyote9269 Loc: USA

marki3rd wrote:

Define "minimal use".

8-12 shots over several minutes and another few minutes before I went to remove it from the camera body. It was still rather hot.

frankraney Loc: Clovis, Ca.

I also just ordered Neewer. They have very good ratings on the net. You do know you can get a Nikon SB-700 form overseas for about $35 NEW. Nikon want $300 for it. And if it isn't the real thing, ebay will refund the money. I may order one for extra. The neewer is comparable to the Nikon SB-700.

Screamin Scott Loc: Marshfield Wi, Baltimore Md, now Dallas Ga

frankraney wrote:

I also just ordered Neewer. They have very good ratings on the net. You do know you can get a Nikon SB-700 form overseas for about $35 NEW. Nikon want $300 for it. And if it isn't the real thing, ebay will refund the money. I may order one for extra. The neewer is comparable to the Nikon SB-700.

Got to be gray market or knockoffs. The Nikon that is... While that low price shows up on eBay's "sold" listings, there are none anywhere close to that price on current listings. Not that I need any Speedlight as I have 2 SB 600's. One I bought new years ago & a 2nd I got for $35 from a thrift store.

rwilson1942 Loc: Houston, TX

I use a Neewer flash for my macro work and sometimes shoot 10-12 shots as fast as it will recycle using an external high voltage power supply (~1 sec. between shots) and have not experienced any heating.

OddJobber Loc: Portland, OR

Coyote9269 wrote:

8-12 shots over several minutes and another few minutes before I went to remove it from the camera body. It was still rather hot.

Define "rather hot".

Something's wrong here and it may be why you had issues with your SB-700. I've used Yongnuo flashes on five different Nikon models for several years and never had a problem.

To put it to a test, I just fired up a pair of YN-560III's with fresh batteries. 25 shots on one, 25 shots on the other and no part of the flashes are even moderately warm. About 3 seconds recharge between flashes at full power.

After about 10 shots, flash recycle time drops to about 10 seconds one time for cooling. Yongnuo have a built-in overheating protection circuit.

Best guess without more info is either an incompatible camera body or a short circuit if you're hot shoe mounted.

BebuLamar

OddJobber wrote:

Define "rather hot". br br Something's ... (show quote)

While I can't tell from photo on Ebay I can certainly tell if a SB-700 is real or fake if I have it in my hands. I don't think anyone can make a fake SB-700 that looks like the real thing for $35.

WayneT Loc: Paris, TN

I have 2 Yongnuo YN568n units and even after heavy use they have never been hot to the touch. The newest Yongnuo unit for the Nikon is the YN685 it comes with a built in radio receiver.

bkyser Loc: Fly over country in Indiana

I use Yongnuos for wedding photography, so yeah, they get a LOT of use.
The key with any flash to make it last longer is to shoot with a higher ISO, and stop blasting the things at full power. I never shoot more than 1/2 power at most, and can get a whole wedding's worth of photos, up to 2000 shots, out of one set of Eneloop pro batteries, and the flashes never overheat. .

frankraney Loc: Clovis, Ca.

BebuLamar wrote:

While I can't tell from photo on Ebay I can certainly tell if a SB-700 is real or fake if I have it in my hands. I don't think anyone can make a fake SB-700 that looks like the real thing for $35.

The pictures and data is exactly what is on Nikons site.....But like you say, when in had we'll know......and they are backed up by Ebay...we'll see...I do know the Neewer is good.....

blackest Loc: Ireland

Coyote9269 wrote:

I started to have some issues with my Nikon Speed light. I did a little looking around and found that Neewer and Youngnuo flashes were significantly cheaper in price. I ordered both on Amazon, but I am finding that they get very hot with minimal use. Does anyone have any thoughts or experience on them ?

Shooting them on full power is likely to be the issue 1 stop down and they shouldn't be getting warm and they will last longer too.

SS319

Are you shooting the flash in Manual - full strength? That will warm them up fairly fast. Shooting with the strobe function? That will warm them as well. Are you using lithium batteries (energizer Lithium)? Those carry a use warning because they are known to produce heat - look what they did for the hoverboard market....