Yongnuo yn-560ii ?

I rarely use my built in flash as I very rarely take pictures requiring flash. Mostly landscape or night time so tripod mounted. I have a Gary

fong puffer to tone down my built it whenever using it candidly. That being said my question is has anyone used the Yongnuo Yn-560ii as

an on camera flash? I am having a baby in 4 months and would like to have a cheap flash that I can use for bounce and I guess have

more control of. I have a Nikon d70s and have never used hot shoe flash. Any advice on this flash or even lighting infants would be

grately appreciated.

Thanks

I'm not familiar with this flash, so thanks for bringing it to my attention. Thoughts: most important consideration, it seems that this flash is not compatible with Canon or Nikon TTL systems. Do you really want to try to master manual flash while getting some snaps of the baby? (keeping in mind sleep deprivation, diaper changes and all the other great time consuming stuff that comes with being the parent of a newborn) Sometimes TTL isn't all bad. Supposedly, they have the 565 that does allow for TTL (at least with Canon, you'd have to check Nikon). Best of luck (with flash and baby)

<p>I would look at the 565. I have that as well as an SB-900 and it works very well in TTL mode. If you haven't worked with flash before than I would shy away from trying to master manual. Especially since all of your work before was with the TTL pop-up flash. Be sure to purchase the flash before your baby is going to arrive and get some photos of your pregnant wife and also learn how to use the flash for when you child arrives. Enjoy, it's a very fun time!</p>

<p>Your new child is only going to be a baby once, so you'll want to get the nicest possible pictures of them. I'd avoid using hotshoe mounted flash because the lighting it gives is horrible. No matter what modifier you add, it's always going to give nasty, full-on frontal lighting. My advice is to budget a little more for a lighting stand with hotshoe tilt/swivel adaptor to place the flash away from the camera, and an umbrella to soften the light. The softer light will also be kinder to your baby's eyes than a direct flash. The D70's built in flash + puffer can be used in manual mode at low power to trigger the YN560II, and to add a bit of axial fill light.</p>

<p>Hope everything goes well for you BTW.</p>

<p>It gets good reviews in the strobist circles.</p>

<p>It depends on how you want to work Tyler ... manual, then the 560ii will be fine but if you want TTL then you may need the Nikon version of the 468. It comes in Canon and Nikon versions from what my manual says. I don't know the 560ii so there you may need a Nikon version of that and maybe it does TTL .. sorry I'm not up with that model. <br>

The YN units seem to all have tilting and twisting heads along with built-in optical triggers so for bounce light that Tyler suggest was wanted I don't see much difference between on-camera or lighting stand. [The 560 and 468C do anyway]<br>

There is no need for any extra syncronising system becuase one can use the camera flash masked off with a bit of card to hide it from baby but letting a small amount escape to trigger the remote flash's optical trigger. If the flash is mounted on the hot shoe the camera will trigger the unit directly.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>"I don't see much difference between on-camera or lighting stand."</p>

</blockquote>

<p>The difference is in the controllability of the light and the ability to move the camera position without resetting the flash angle or exposure. I'm sure that Tyler doesn't want to be limited to taking pictures of the baby in a completely white painted room, and bounce flash can be very hit-and-miss unless you set up a fixed reflector. In which case you might as well substitute an umbrella for the reflector and put the flash exactly where you want it. Having a fixed distance from the light to the subject also makes i-TTL unnecessary and gives totally repeatable results.</p>

<p>There's no cost saving to be had in just using a reflector either, since a proper reflector is slightly more expensive than an umbrella. And lighting stand or reflector stand - what's the difference in cost there?</p>

Thanks guys. I agree I probably would rather TTL vs manual. In looking at the

468ii it seems to be TTL and still be under $100. I don't think I'm willing to go with wireless flash on a stand. I live in a

small apartment and having a summer baby I'll have good natural light through out. I think the 468ii would meet my needs.

<p>With YN you don't have to have wireless but can still have the flash on a stand as the flash's optical trigger will work off the camera flash partly masked to avoid camera flash on baby. The YN also, if it is like my models, have a pull out reflector which directs so light 'directly' at the subject while most is bounced with the unit pointing vertically.<br>

Before you choose between direct and bounce check the color of your ceiling or reflecting surface.<br>

If you are using ambient light you will find the YN has numerous settings to reduce the strength of the flash to balance it, perhaps as a fill light job, with daylight.<br>

I have a miniature ball head fitted to my stands so I can point the flash downwards<br>

It is nice of YN to produce their range for those who don't want to 'spend' :-)</p>

<p>With YN you don't have to have wireless but can still have the flash on a stand as the flash's optical trigger will work off the camera flash partly masked to avoid camera flash on baby. The YN also, if it is like my models, have a pull out reflector which directs so light 'directly' at the subject while most is bounced with the unit pointing vertically.<br>

Before you choose between direct and bounce check the color of your ceiling or reflecting surface. :-)<br>

If you are using ambient light you will find the YN has numerous settings to reduce the strength of the flash to balance it, perhaps as a fill light job, with daylight.<br>

I have a miniature ball head fitted to my stands so I can point the flash downwards<br>

It is nice of YN to produce their range for those who don't want to 'spend' :-)</p>