Flash at a budget

[SpAcE126]

Hi everyone,
I was just surfing around looking at a fairly cheap flash (as I just spent 500$ on a lens), I was wondering if anyone had any experience with the Yongnuo brand. I see it all over Ebay, and saw a couple of decent reviews (you buy what you pay for type of deal)? Is it worth investing, or recuperate a bit, and go for a Canon or Sigma flash?

Thanks in advance!

[DelCan]

I have never heard of that brand myself. I'd stay with Canon.

[inkista]

Yongnuo is one of the cheapie darlings of the Strobist set, and from everything I've read, if you get a good copy of one, it'll be worth the tiny amount you spent on it. Every year, they seem to add things any flash-happy camera geek wants. The best source for information I've found on the multitude of Yongnuo YN flashes is speedlights.net. I don't own any of their flashes, but I do have their RF-602 radio triggers, and have been very happy with them.

The biggest downsides to going with Yongnuo are that they sell via eBay, not a storefront, and they're in Hong Kong, so it's a pain if you get faulty equipment and have to send it back. They do, however, offer a warranty, which other eBay sellers of their stuff don't. The biggest issues folks have had are with copy variance and build quality.

But right now, they seem to be in a bang-for-the-buck sweet spot, particularly if you shoot Canon.

My take is, if you need to save the cash, you're not too worried about future compatibility (they are reverse engineering their stuff, after all), and your'e willing to risk getting a wonky copy, and you mainly want the flash for off-camera work, then it may be worth it--particularly if you want a little e-TTL.

If you just want an all-manual flash exclusively for off-camera work, then the Lumopro LP160 might be a better buy.

If you want a flash more for on-camera and eTTL work, then maybe sticking with Canon is best. Don't forget that you can always go for a used 550EX, 580EX, or 430EX, instead of heading for the brand-new 430EXII or 580EXII.

[SpAcE126]

Thanks a ton inkista, that was of great help! I suppose I'll wait a couple of months and go for something steadier, as I don't use any flash for shooting right now. They look like their decent little things for cheap, but not really made for testing out or for durability.