bkyser Loc: Fly over country in Indiana

I noticed from the first time I used the YN 685, that while taking one of the 2 I have off the trigger, that it was just a little finicky.

Well, I had a photo shoot for a 4 year old, who's parents wanted her to have her photo taken while riding on her bike. It was bright sunlight, so I decided to throw the 685 (just grabbed the one in the front) on my D-500.

Well, guess what, when that part of the shoot was over, and it was time to do photos of just her, and then her with the family, uh.... the 685 would not budge. I've gotten spoiled with using the Yongnuo flash system, and remember NOTHING of the Nikon CLS, so I couldn't use the 685 as a master to the other flashes, so I ended up just doing my best with an on camera flash with a flash bender, and a reflector. I got home, and after about 2 hours of trying to not ruin my D-500, I ended up carefully taking the screws out of the bottom of the flash, then disassembling the entire foot, to get the thing off. I put it all back together, and it works... it even comes off my YN triggers easily like the other one.

My lesson here is, this could have been disastrous to my new camera body, or worse yet, during a wedding. This is why:
1. We always need to carry a spare body and extra flashes
2. (new lesson) if something is "finicky" send it back right away, or fix it before you use it on a job, any job...especially weddings.

Thankfully, all's well that ends well, but sometimes we get a little to complacent in thinking that our equipment will work, because "it always did before".

Special note to Tim Stapp. You may want to check your 685s, because I know you are a fan too. I don't know what did or didn't happen with that pin, but it's pretty scary when it gets stuck. I'd rather get it stuck on a light stand, than my camera body again, so...no more on camera flash, at least with those beauties.

bk

crazydaddio Loc: Toronto Ontario Canada

Same.
All my Yongnuos are a little finnicky but never had this issue. Yikes
The triggers are also but not as bad....

Moving to Godox system (need the monolight strobe for longer distance day shots....otherwise I would stay with Yongnuo)

Tim Stapp Loc: Mid Mitten

Thanks for the heads up BK! I've got a wedding coming next Saturday. I anticipate using the YN685 on the rental body, especially for the evening beach front formals (will be backlit). I'll check it out on both before hand.

bkyser Loc: Fly over country in Indiana

The good news is, with your technical know-how, at least you won't be quite as nervous about disassembling the foot from the body, removing the wires, and the little control panel in the foot, to get to the pins.

I have no idea why it works flawlessly now. I'm still tempted to file the locking pin down just a little, so it will keep it in place, but will hopefully not stick down so far into the foot that I can't remove it. I was honestly a nervous wreck. I didn't care if the flash didn't work any more, but glad it does.

By the way, there should officially be a house on our lot on Wednesday, but it will still be about 6 weeks to get the mechanicals and stuff done and get the occupancy permit. Getting exciting now. (and expensive)

bk

bkyser Loc: Fly over country in Indiana

This is the first time I've had any of them be "sticky" on the shoe. I have 5 flashes and 6 622 triggers, (even though the 685 has radio, and doesn't need a trigger...... You know how it is, good deal on ebay, but I ended up with more than I need.

I'd be interested in hearing your experience with Godox after you have used them for a while. I know the 685's are a lot more powerful than my Nikons and I generally put 2 to 3 on a stand with a softbox when shooting outdoors, but one Godox is probably as powerful as 2 of the YN685's (guessing)



bk

Tim Stapp Loc: Mid Mitten

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

As some of you may already know, I used to have a side business dealing with repairs, custom builds and modification of electronic flash gear.

From experience, I can tell your that much of the Chineses built flash gear and triggering devices are well designed, and generally well made but there are oftentimes quality control issues. Sometimes a few lemons escape into the marketplace. Sometimes the defects won't show up on a new unit but problems can surface later and usually at the most inopportune times. When things get "finicky" it's best to take the unit out of wedding service and either replace them or send them in for repair. Usually, intermittent short circuits, insulation breakdowns or bad contacts don't go away by themselves and will most likely get worse or lead to a complete malfunction.

The "foot" at the bottom of theses units used to be just to secure the unit to the hot shoe and make synch contact. In fact, there were aftermarket metal feet to replace the weaker and more troublesome plastic ones. Nowadays the wiring and contacts in those feet are more complex, what with TTL dedication and other "command" features and if there is a short circuit or some other problem, the camera can be physically or mechanically damaged if the unit get stuck on the hot shoe, or worse, a defective unit can send damaging current into the camera's circuitry and cause significant damage. At very least, a faulty speedlight can cause no synchronization, bad exposures and failure to trigger off camer lights.

Good preventative maintenance can preclude some of theses perils. Keep the contacts very clean and make certain that any spring-loaded contacts are receiving the proper tension. A small amount of electronic contact cleaner/lubricant- the type used to clean volume control knobs (potentiometers) and rotary switches, sprayed on a soft lintless cloth and applied to the contact of the flash unit can prevent sticking.

When you disassemble and reassemble theses feet, sometimes they kinda fix themselves by restoring tension and contacts but the problem may occur again if you don't get down to the root cause and replace faulty springs or other parts.

I certainly like some of the new Gordox and othere Chineses units- they look and seem great for the money. For weddings, I kinda stick to my old Q-Flash, Lumadyne and Pocket Wizard gear. They seem to take a lickin' and keep on tickin'. Some of my units are in service since the 1980s and still work very reliably.

bkyser Loc: Fly over country in Indiana

Good point, I marked that unit, so I won't be attaching it to any hot shoe or trigger. With the built in receiver, it will still work, but I won't trust it not to happen again.

bkyser Loc: Fly over country in Indiana

She who must be obeyed said "no housewarming." She made a good point. With very little parking, it would just tick off the neighbors. We'll probably just have people over a couple at a time.
Of course we'll let you know.

crazydaddio Loc: Toronto Ontario Canada

Decided to buy the Canon 35mmF1.4L lens instead. Will wait a little longer for the Godox shift. Have 2 weddings coming up and dont have time to shift systems and get "lights out" confident on a new system.

...just wish Yongnuo would come out with a monolight system. Godox speedlights are in the same price range as Yongnuos. Their monolights however are competitively priced (meaning expensive !).

But wow, for daytime fill flash, even 3 youngnuos in a small softbox still does not throw close to the same amt of light as 1 AD600 ... for those beachshots of the B&G walking and backlight...gotta have it :-)

bkyser Loc: Fly over country in Indiana

HA, not many "beach weddings" in the center of Indiana. Some nice corn fields maybe...

Actually, several years ago, Yongnuo announced a moonlight, and there were even photos of it on Flash Havoc, but they never actually got released, at least here in the states.