Review of Yongnuo RF-602 remote flash trigger / shutter release

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Archive 2011 · Review of Yongnuo RF-602 remote flash trigger / shutter r...

jzucker
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p.1 #1 · Review of Yongnuo RF-602 remote flash trigger / shutter release

Bought this based on the recommendation of some folks here.

This is a 2.4GHz RF remote flash trigger in which the transmitter sits in the hotshoe and the receiver sits on a stand or bracket with a speedlight atop. It also comes with a cable to trigger a studio flash with either 1/8" or 1/4" female plugs. Another feature is that it can work as a wireless shutter trigger with the OEM-specific purchase option. In my case, I bought the canon version which is pictured with a RS-80N3 cable. This cable connects the receiver to the wired shutter adapter and then the transmitter acts as a remote/wireless shutter release.

Using it in this mode with a manual flash and my Canon 5d MK II worked well. Very reliable and able to work over distances. (Longest I tested was 20' away).

Unfortunate its shortcomings outweigh its benefits.

First of all, it did not come with the RS-80N3 adapter cable even though this is pictured in the ad. Secondly, it does not trigger the shutter on my 5d. When you press the transmitter button half way, the autofocus is activated but when you press the trigger all the way, the red LED blinks on the receiver but the shutter does not fire. An additional thing to note is that there is no thumb-wheel to tighten the trigger or receiver to a hotshoe so it just sits loose in the hotshoe.

Then on top of everything else, when I hooked up the receiver to my studio flash, it would not fire. NOTE - A studio flash sync is not a sophisticated device. It simply requires the two leads to momentarily short. You can even trigger a studio flash with a push-pin across a 1/4" guitar cable! But...It doesn't work on this unit.

As they say...Back in the box it goes.

Dec 16, 2011 at 01:25 AM

pr4photos
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p.1 #2 · Review of Yongnuo RF-602 remote flash trigger / shutter release

Sorry to hear of your experience. I have the same kit for my Nikon and it all works perfectly. I use them with numerous hot shoe flashes, and studio flashes. And the remote shutter works perfectly as well

Dec 16, 2011 at 10:21 AM

jzucker
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p.1 #3 · Review of Yongnuo RF-602 remote flash trigger / shutter release

pr4photos wrote:
Sorry to hear of your experience. I have the same kit for my Nikon and it all works perfectly. I use them with numerous hot shoe flashes, and studio flashes. And the remote shutter works perfectly as well

Ironically, the $22 cowboy studio setup works better for me though it offers no remote shutter capability.

Dec 16, 2011 at 11:48 AM

jzucker
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p.1 #4 · Review of Yongnuo RF-602 remote flash trigger / shutter release

just got an email back from yongnuo. They asked me to try the remote shutter trigger with the lens in MF mode. It does fire the shutter in that mode when you press the transmitter button half/way but does not fire shutter with lens set to AF mode.

I asked them if they wanted to send me a RF-603 to try. Maybe being a newer unit will have updated firmware? Who knows at this point?

Dec 16, 2011 at 12:16 PM

dedsen
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p.1 #5 · Review of Yongnuo RF-602 remote flash trigger / shutter release

Are you sure that the half button press is truly activating the focus? Do you have the focus function of your camera moved to the back button? This will cause the focus not to work and then the camera will not fire since it is not in focus.
I rather doubt that there is any firmware involved with either of these triggers. They are both pretty dumb devices and more on the order of garage door openers. The RF-602's are several year old technology though.

Dec 16, 2011 at 07:11 PM

jzucker
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p.1 #6 · Review of Yongnuo RF-602 remote flash trigger / shutter release

dedsen wrote:
Are you sure that the half button press is truly activating the focus? Do you have the focus function of your camera moved to the back button? This will cause the focus not to work and then the camera will not fire since it is not in focus.
I rather doubt that there is any firmware involved with either of these triggers. They are both pretty dumb devices and more on the order of garage door openers. The RF-602's are several year old technology though.

YES, i'm sure it's activating focus. No, I don't have focus function moved to the back button.

Dec 16, 2011 at 08:24 PM

cwebster
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p.1 #7 · Review of Yongnuo RF-602 remote flash trigger / shutter release

Also make sure the camera is able to achieve focus. When I'm shooting tethered, if I forget and leave the lens in AF, in the dark studio it won't auto focus, and consequently the shutter won't fire.

<Chas>

Dec 17, 2011 at 03:12 AM

jzucker
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p.1 #8 · Review of Yongnuo RF-602 remote flash trigger / shutter release

cwebster wrote:
Also make sure the camera is able to achieve focus. When I'm shooting tethered, if I forget and leave the lens in AF, in the dark studio it won't auto focus, and consequently the shutter won't fire.

<Chas>

Yes, I made sure it achieved focus. Remember also that this wouldn't trigger my studio flash so it's either a defective unit or the design is flawed.

Dec 17, 2011 at 03:18 AM

cordellwillis
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p.1 #9 · Review of Yongnuo RF-602 remote flash trigger / shutter release

jzucker wrote:...so it's either a defective unit or the design is flawed.

If it is designed to work but doesn't means it's simply a defective unit. If it's not designed to work that way it's not a design flaw. Sounds like you have a defective unit.

Dec 17, 2011 at 07:41 PM

jzucker
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p.1 #10 · Review of Yongnuo RF-602 remote flash trigger / shutter release

No Cordell,

It could be that it was not tested with enough cameras. A design flaw could be in firmware as well...

Dec 18, 2011 at 12:40 AM

gpop
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p.1 #11 · Review of Yongnuo RF-602 remote flash trigger / shutter release

have you tired new batteries? when the receiver batteries are low they wont always fire, but they will display the red/green led to indicate signal.

I have about 8 sets of these. not a miss so far, but I did manage to kill one of the cables.
I use them to trigger all sorts of old and new speedlights, bees, and remote shutter on many different bodies (1d,1ds,1ds2,1ds3,1d3,5d,5d2,7d,450d,10d)

perhaps try another channel?
does the hot shoe function normally? if so, perhaps the issue is with the cable or socket. it can be difficult to secure the cable into the receiver with its little twist lock.

one thing I noticed is that channels can bleed into each other if your using a few channels at once.

hth.

and if it works with the lens in MF, it seems that the issue is with the camera body, the studio lamp could be another issue.

fyi, the body will not autofocus with back-button af on. I know you don't use back-button, but just for testing info.

Dec 18, 2011 at 05:28 AM

jzucker
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p.1 #12 · Review of Yongnuo RF-602 remote flash trigger / shutter release

The batteries were new that I put in it. Since it can trigger autofocus in the camera, it should be able to trigger the shutter. And since it can fire a hot shoe flash, it should be able to trigger a studio strobe. As I've said several times, it requires no voltage to trigger a studio strobe. All it requires is momentary shorting of the two leads. I'll say it again, I can plug a guitar cable into the slave jack of my strobe and fire the flash with a screwdriver. The battery power has more to do with the radio signal. As long as it can remotely detect the data from the transmitter, the receiver should do its job.

I suspect that at this price point, there is no testing on the units and I just got a bum one. At any rate, I've got a Phottix Odin on the way but it may be overkill for what I'm looking for so I may consider another order set of the Yongnuos but the lack of a tightening mechanism I see as a design flaw.

Dec 18, 2011 at 03:07 PM

Allynb
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p.1 #13 · Review of Yongnuo RF-602 remote flash trigger / shutter release

Try the new RF603's they work all around with no problems at all and autofocus and trip the shutter. Haven't had a problem yet, even with Monolights.

Dec 18, 2011 at 03:35 PM

jzucker
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p.1 #14 · Review of Yongnuo RF-602 remote flash trigger / shutter release

I may try the 603s but as mentioned before the 602s were very loose in the hotshoe. That's a concern. I wonder if something could be rigged up?

Dec 18, 2011 at 04:11 PM

focus
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p.1 #15 · Review of Yongnuo RF-602 remote flash trigger / shutter release

jzucker:

A couple of questions:
- What RS-80N3 adapter cable did you use if it didn't come with the package?
- Between manual flash and the studio flash, do you connect them differently to the receiver? Is manual flash on hot shoe and studio flash on PC cord?

I don't have exact same setup but I bought one a couple of years ago from a different manufacturer. I got almost exact problem for the shutter relase part. I managed fixed it by myself.

I think you either got a defect RS-80N3 adapter cable, or internally the recevier was wired wrong. RS-80N3 got 3 pins, one common pin, one AF pin and one shutter pin.

In you case, when lens at AF mode and the shutter button was fully pressed, the receiver blinks but shutter won't release. When lens is at MF and the shuter button is pressed halfway, the shutter is released. The only explanation is the AF pin was wrongly wired to Shutter pin.

In AF mode, for camera body the AF has higher priority than shutter. The shutter won't be released before AF is locked. When the pin is wired wrong, there is no AF signal transferred to the body hence AF never locked and hence shutter won't be triggered. Then at MF mode, AF is no longer priority than shutter so shutter can be triggerred any time when there is a signal comes. So the half press (should be AF signal but was wired wrongly to shutter pin) will trigger shutter.

You can verify one more thing: Pre-focus the lens, then set lens to AF. In this case although AF is still higher priority than shutter, since the AF is already locked, you should be able to get the shutter triggered.

Dec 19, 2011 at 08:28 PM

jzucker
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p.1 #16 · Review of Yongnuo RF-602 remote flash trigger / shutter release

I used the C3 adapter (purchased separately) which has the thumbwheel socket on the RF602 side and the 5D wired remote socket on the camera side.

Manual flash was off a thumbwheel socket on the receiver which goes to an 8th inch plug and then a supplied 1/4 adapter though I tried it with my AB flash (1/8) and my Photogenic (1/4)

If the receiver 3 pin connector was wired wrong that would explain why it couldn't trigger the studio flash too.

I can't try it now because I returned it.

Dec 19, 2011 at 09:10 PM

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