YONGNUO YN560 IV YN-560IV Wireless Flash Speedlite Master + Slave Flash + Built-in Trigger System for Canon Nikon Pentax Olympus Fujifilm Panasonic Digital Cameras

This is not my first Yongnuo flash - I have several copies of this IV model, as well as a couple of each of the YN560 III and YN565 flashes.I am a professional photographer by trade - and a location photographer at that, so my equipment gets thoroughly tested, bordering on abused.The first thing to bear in mind is that this is a completely manual flash - you must decide what power and zoom settings you need for each shot.The second thing to bear in mind is that this is a radio controlled flash, and does what it is intended to do well. Very well.It is a remote transceiver flash - meaning it can both receive and transmit the radio signal. That doesn't mean you can't stick it in your hot shoe and use it on camera - you can.The reason I have several of these flashes is because I use multiple flashes, off camera and need to be able to both control and trigger them from behind the camera.What I like -As a flash, on camera (in the hot shoe):It is simple and does what I tell it to do. I can control the power and zoom settings as required, directly from the flash, while it is mounted on the camera. It does this well. There are no bells or whistles about this - just a reliable tool that does what I ask of it.As a flash, off camera:I can control and trigger this from a remote trigger on the camera, while the flash is sat somewhere else. I have two triggers of choice - 1. The Yongnuo YN650-TX; and 2. The Yongnuo YN560 IV (you read that correct). You can also use the Yongnuo RF-603 (of which I have four).1. From the YN560-TX, I can have full control of the flash - power, zoom, mode - all the settings for firing the flash. This is done by synchronising the YN560 IV flash with the YN560-TX trigger in a group. You can have up to six discrete groups (A-F). This is great for when you need to control the flash, but don't want to physically do so from the flash itself. Is that just lazy? Well, perhaps. But when you have several of these in different locations, it can save you a lot of time and energy.2. By mounting one YN560 IV on the camera, I can control other YN560 IV flashes in exactly the same way as with the YN560-TX trigger, as per above; except for one difference. Using the actual flash as a trigger limits the number of different groups you can control to three (A-C).Depending on my situation, I sometimes use method 1. above, and other times use method 2. I could go into the reasons for each, but that is not relevant to this review.The flash also has optical slave functionality, too. This is where it is triggered by the flash of light from another flash being triggered. Of course, you have to adjust the settings physically from the actual flash. I mentioned that you can also trigger the YN560 IV with the RF-603 trigger. This, triggers it remotely, like with the YN560-TX, except that you cannot control the settings remotely - you have to set them from the actual flash, as with using the optical trigger.I have been using these flashes since the Mk IV was released - prior to that I used the Mk III (which works in exactly the same way, except that it is a receiver only - you cannot trigger or control other flashes from the Mk III).Durability -I said above that my equipment gets thoroughly tested and almost abused. They take knock and sometimes falls - sometimes onto carpet, sometimes wood, and sometimes tile *cringe*. I have broken a couple of flashes when they have received one too many falls. Is that because it's poor quality? No. It is because they have received more impact than they are intended to receive. Would a Nikon or Canon flash take a bit more of a beating? Possibly, but I can't comment. If they can - would it be consistent with the price ratio? I highly, highly doubt it.In a nut shell, this is a very, very good piece of kit for not a lot of money. I have no hesitation in recommending this flash.

Used these extensively over the last week when photographing nocturnal wildlife. The flashes performed extremely well alongside flashes costing 8 times as much! If i'm to be honest the power management on these was actually a bit better. Obviously, in my setup all the flashes were used in manual mode with off camera flash triggers (Kaavie), but looking through the manual and playing with the settings they're definitely at the better end of the spectrum when it comes to ease of use. Would definitely buy again...well, actually I am going to buy again, I could use another couple for next years trip and see no reason to buy spend significantly more on a major brand flash when these do the job just as well and seem to have equal build quality.

I have recently purchase two Fuji cameras - the XT 1 and the X Pro 2 and needed a flashgun. After a lot of reading online, I purchased the Yongnuo YN560 IV and I am delighted with it. You do not get TTL when using it, but it works fine in Manual mode. I also use Manual mode with my cameras. I have a Canon Off Camera Flash Cord and it works well with this flash gun, enabling me to get the flash off camera. The flashgun is well made, easy to use and because it has Receiver and Transmitter capabilities, this will be very useful. It is quite large, about the size of the Canon 600EX flashgun. I still have to try it out extensively , but I am really delighted that I can use it off camera without having to buy triggers etc.

This is a very good and well built flash gun at a very reasonable price.It's great to have the built-in receiver.Using it in conjunction with the YN560-TX made off-camera flash realitively simple.The instructions are not the best translation and so time is needed to slowly read and understand how to get the two items to work together. Once mastered they work well.

I had an earlier version of this but it got stolen. I tried replacing it with a cheaper brand but it failed so I went back to Yongnuo and it is as good as ever. The new version has some extra features, mainly wireless remote control, but I can't get it to work with my Olympus camera's controller sadly. But if I ever buy another flash then it might be useful then. Meantime its a fine manual flash that has a reasonable reach and good battery life and fits snugly in my camera bag. I can't ask for more than that at the price.

I'm doing a wedding soon and I decided I'd better get a second flash to backup my SB600. I was intending lashing out over £240 on a SB700 so in the event one of my flashes failed I'd have another. The Yongnuo was going to be the back up ... not any more! Its more powerful, recycles quicker and I actually prefer manually setting it. The SB600 never seemed to get it right with TTL and setting the YN560 in manual is so easy. I knew this flash could be used as a slave with cheap RF flash triggers but what I didn't know was it also can be used as a slave with the Nikon optical CLS from my D700 controlling the flash. Only taken a few test shots but its looking good so far, for less than £50 what are you waiting for, its a bargain.