Sylvester The Photographer Potter

Impressed for the price

***NOTE*** THIS IS A MANUAL FLASH...YOU CANNOT USE YOUR CANON CAMERA FLASH MENU TO CONTROL THE FLASH.I must say, I didn't have high expectations for this flash. I checked some of the reviews and they were mixed, but reviews are a small part of the reason I make a purchase. The flash is pretty well built for the price range, and seems like it will last for a long time. The optical slave NEVER misses, and it's extremely sensitive even when it's turned in the opposite direction of the master flash. Even though I'm a professional Photographer...to me...Light is light no matter where it comes from. If your flash cost you $500...can I use this flash an create the same image?...You bet I can...How you use your equipment is more important than what equipment you have. Don't get me wrong though...more expensive pieces of equipment usually have more options and allow you certain freedoms, but ehhh...learn with the cheap stuff, and once you see your limits with this equipment...move on from there.******************************************Update!!!!: 9/11/2013First of all (today is 9/11) my condolences to those who have lost loved ones as I did in the attacks)It has been ALMOST 2 years since I've purchased 3 of these flashes, and they are still working PERFECTLY!!!I'm not a fan of spending money on things that will breakdown in the future, and these flashes have been banged around and thrown all over the place yet they still continue to produce excellent light for my photography needs.I usually use them for background, hair lights, and sometimes as a filler when it's needed and they have been great. The construction is solid, ease of use is key, optical slave is super sensitive and reliable. When you have good batteries in them...the recycle time is quick. I recommend VERY good rechargeable batteries (eneloop and powerex have never failed me).******************************************Update: 12/9/2013I ordered another one today to use as another slave...the other 3 that I have are still working perfectly fine and I have never had a problem with them at all. for such a cheap product...it's pretty shocking that they last this long and contunue to fire on command in slave mode without a miss!!!! I might be getting 2 more of these for a total of 6...some of my light setups are very elaborate, and I've learned the distance to power ratio in my studio of these flashes and never need to meter tham...they add light just where I need it when I have a snoot on each one. PERFECT!!!Ver más

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Mommymili

17 de enero de 2012

This flash is awesome!!

I bought this a few weeks ago and I must say it feels like I won a million bucks! I paid only $39.95 plus free shipping on this item.So I tested this flash on my Canon 60D right away and it sure worked just as expected. It is a manual flash so I set my camera on manual mode and after playing with it for a few minutes I was able to set the power setting pretty fast to get a well exposed photo. In a way this manual flash will give you a better understanding on how to use your camera in full manual mode. If your the kind of person who likes it the easy way and doesn't have the patience to figure things out then maybe you need to look for an E-TTL flash. Also, I like that it swivels all the way around, that gives it flexibility. I also likes to point it up the ceiling and it gives a more natural look on my subject. You can also set it to Slave mode so you can take it off your camera and trigger it via your camera flash. Just set your internal camera flash to the lowest setting to trigger the TT560 and it will be just fine. This item also comes with a pouch and a stand which is cool. I love it so far and I will definitely buy at least 2 more to complete my strobing equipments.UPDATE: 02/04/2012I recently used this flash for one of my clients special event to fully test out it's capabilities. I did not have any problem at all using this flash. Recycle time was fast and no misfires. It fired the whole time and my Sanyo NEW 1500 eneloop 8 Pack AA Ni-MH Pre-Charged Rechargeable Batteries did not run out after 400 flashes. I was really pleased that it handled just like my other expensive flashes. I ordered another one.Update 8-26-2012I have used this flash extensively and still works until today. I read some reviews that theres did not last and died after a month.. I guess I got lucky. For the price it is really worth it. If you get a lemon too bad. You get what you pay for.Ver más

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Bryan

Insane value, I LOVE this flash.

I got one of these and the wireless triggers, after a day of shooting portraits I bought another flash.Works great with my Panasonic GH4, Canon 80d, and Canon 5d3.For portraits, weddings, and products these things are amazing for the price.Insane value compared to the hundreds of dollars for other flashes.At full power these things are pretty bright, not as bright as some strobes I've used, but bright.Doubled up (see photo) they are throw a lot of light around, great when using a lot of diffusion.Though this is not necessary for normal shoots. In fact, I don't usually do this.Just thought the photo looked cool so I uploaded it.Battery life is so good I don't worry about it. (I use high cap rechargeables.)Overall build quality is good, hot shoe mount is solid enough.They are made of hardy plastic. I dropped one on my foot from about 10 feet up, and while it hurt my foot, the flash was fine.Note these are fully manual so you kind of have to know what you're doing, but it's easy enough to pick up.Using fully manual camera, lenses, and flashes, teaches you a lot about photography.The only real CON is that the wireless triggers don't work if they are within about 2 feet from the transmitter.Which is a pain if you want the flash off camera, but still quite close.For example I wasI found if I covered the transmitter with my hand it would fire, but without covering it it wouldn't. Strange.But that's really a knock on the transmitter, the flash works great.If you're just getting into flashes, I'd recommend starting here.For $35, it's a steal.Ver más

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DuckeeDoug

7 de agosto de 2013

Good Flash, But Leaves some Things to Be Desired

This flash is an good flash, and is certainly affordable. It has worked on my Canon Camera during testing and is working fine so far. The camera does have two issues so far that are related to build quality. The first issue is that the cover for the PC socket is junk. It is made out of some type of rubber but does not fit the socket at all and continues to fall out of the PC socket. If it was not for the fact that the cover was tethered to the flash it would have been lost on the first day of receiving the flash.The second issue is more serious and will require some modification. This issue has to do with the battery compartment. The flash's battery compartment has a design flaw that may present some NiMh batteries from making contact with the contact plates in the flash's battery compartment. This in turn will prevent the flash from powering up. Normal AA Alkaline work fine so no issue there. The battery door contacts seems to be a issue for quite a few owners of this product. I have attached my response to another reviewer that is having the same issue that I have encountered. Other then these two issues I can confidently recommend this flash without hesitation.My response to another review:I received my flash yesterday. I encountered the same issue as you. while using NIMH rechargeable. Prior to reading your review I had just thought that the rechargeable batteries were dead. I tried regular Alkaline batteries and they worked fine I then tried the rechargeable again and nothing. I then tried the rechargeable batteries in my camera and they worked without issue. Next I opened the battery compartment to examine what was going on and it was apparent that the batteries were not making contact with the door. If you are are having the problem as described you can push down on the door while it is closed with the problem batteries inserted. While the flash is turned on you will want to push down on the door's left side right above the battery which has the negative contact facing the door. For further identification of where to push, the door has a 6x4 grid of grip dots on it and you will need to push on the four left dots right above the words batt/push. with enough force you will see the flash panel light up. When you remove the pressure the flash's panel will go out.Now for the solution. I originally raised the four contacts at the bottom of the battery compartments. This can be done with a large paper clip bent so as to grab the contacts and raise them up however this did not resolve the issue SO DON'T bother with trying this solution. Now if you notice with the battery door of the flash open that the design flaw is that the contact for the lower left battery has a small dimple especially compared to the dimple for the upper right contact. To resolve this what you will need is a small paper clip. With the large loop and small loop(inner) of the paper clip pointing down bend the inner loop slightly away from you. What you are attempting to do is bend the inner loop so that it will fit behind the contact plate with the small dimple, and the large loop will fit on the outside of the contact plate, which is the side with the dimple that will also contact the batteries negative side. The large loop of the paper clip should contact the small dimple ever so slightly and continue around this dimple with no other modification needed. You want the paper clip to hug the dimple or otherwise it may move or change position which would not be a good thing and will just cause aggravation.If you installed the paper clip correctly you will now be able to use the batteries that were causing the issue without any problems whatsoever. There will be no need to remove the paper clip when using alkaline or other AA batteries you can just leave it in place. There may be slightly more resistance when closing the battery door but it should not be a issue and provides a semi-permanent solution. This solution should not be required if the contact plate was designed correctly but it is what it is at this point.

Stoney

4 de diciembre de 2014

> A Review & HOW TO USE THE TT560 FLASH

FEATURES> Uses 4 AA batteries> "Mini-stand"---may be used as a stand, or as tripod adapter. However, if you want a short stand, I suggest Vivitar VIVMPT100BLU 6-Inch Table Tripod (Blue)> Standard sych socket, and standard hot shoe> Power input socket--I have not found a specific battery pack charger for this unit.>> It looks like the rechargeable battery pack NEEWER PB3000 3000mAh Speedlite External Portable Flash Battery Pack backup power source for CANON 430EX 540EX 550EX 580EX 580EX II or the less expensive 8 AA cell power pack NEEWER® External Portable BATTERY Pack Backup Power Source for Canon 600EX, 580EX II, 580EX, 550EX would work.> Velvet-like storage bag.PROS> Powerful> Versatile: head rotates up/down and sideways. Built-in option defuser.> 8 easily selectable power levels, equal to a range of 8 f-stops; from full power down to 1/128th power.> S1 or S2 selectable. Many modern digital cameras have a "preflash" before the main flash. S1 syncs with the first flash, S2 syncs with the second flash.CONS---general> Practically speaking, this is strictly a manual slave flash. That is, there is no TTL metering etc. In these days of digital photography, that isn't too much of a drawback, but it does mean that you have to guess at the settings. However, if you are consistent with your settings (ISO and F-stop) you'll be surprised at how quickly you are able to "guess" the correct power level (on the flash) the first time.> Large--7" x 2 3/4" X 2"--you need a big gadget bag to carry it around in with your camera.> Works fine in very heavy shade or a inside, but in sunlight or even in bright shade, the slave doesn't fire (presumably because it doesn't see the weak in-camera flash). Often one needs flash lighting to fill-in shallows in bright light. In shade one often needs flash lighting to improve saturation, to improve color balance, to show off texture, and to isolate the subject from the background. The solution is a sync cord, which I now use all the time NEEWER® TTL Off-camera Flash Hotshoe Connector Cord for Olympus Panasonic Camera Speedlite. Just set the flash on "M" using the mode button when using a sync cord.FOR MACROPHOTOGRAPHY> The TT560 is heavy---about 16 ounces with batteries. Much too heavy for my macro-light bracket Neewer® Macro Shooting Flexible Dual Arm Dual Hot Shoe Flash Bracket with A Mini 2D Level Gauge for All Camera Flash EXCEPT Sony, Minolta> A tiny, inexpensive, PLR Studio Series Pro Slave Flash Includes Mounting Bracket For The Panasonic Lumix Digital SLR Cameras works well for macro work. However, you have to change the distance, ISO, or F-stop to change the light level.> I find that the TT560 is by far the most convenient flash for macro work, because I can just set up my camera for highest quality (e.g., ISO 200, F16, etc.) and use the power levels of the flash to adjust the light level.> Using a sync cord (instead of the built-in flash to trigger the TT560 as a slave), also avoids the built-in flash from washing out detail in macro-work.RECOMMENDATION> If you have the luxury of working at your own pace, then the exactly predictable output of the TT560 is better than that of a (Nikon, Canon, Lumix, etc. branded) TTL version of the same flash unit at 10x or 15x the price, because sometimes the TTL circuitry works against you. But, if you must work fast, or only have one chance to catch a shot, then the TTL circuitry (of more expensive models) is worth the exorbitant price.> The TT560 flash unit has no metering circuits, and your camera will NOT adjust to the flash. So, you have to adjust your camera (mostly the aperture and ISO) and/or the power level of the flash to get properly exposed photos. Unfortunately, modern cameras resist such manual adjustment. Even if you set the shutter speed and aperture manually, your camera will probably pump-up the ISO indoors etc, defeating your efforts. So you also have to set the ISO manually.Details:> Your lens will probably be sharpest between f5.6 and f11. The larger the number, the wider the depth-of-field. Usually, you'll want a wide depth-of-field. So, set your camera to manual or aperture-preferred, and the aperture at f8. For macro work, you probably need the extra depth of field at F16.> IMPORTANT: Set the ISO manually at 200 in your camera.> Take a picture at full power. If the picture is too dark, you can increase the ISO up to ~800, if that isn't bright enough, then open your aperture to 5.6. Alternatively, (in manual mode) you can set the shutter to a slower speed (say, down to 1/30 sec) to use more of the ambient light.> If ISO 200 at f8 (your aperture) results in a picture that is too bright, then reduce power level of the flash.> To get the unit to work as a slave, you may need to set your in-camera flash to "force flash" and highest exposure compensation if you have that option. Alternatively, the use of a sync cord is easier.FLASH VS FOCAL LENGTH> This (and most other) flash units will cover the angle of standard wide-angle lens (28mm lens in 35mm format; 14mm in 4/3rds format; etc.), especially if you use the built-in optional diffuser. So with the same ISO and aperture, you can illuminate more people with a wide angle lens (or a zoom zoomed to wide angle). However the result will look like a flat flash picture. For a very large group or a small room, you may have no choice than to use a wide angle lens, but if you can step back, with a narrower-angle lens (without sacrificing too much in aperture or ISO), you'll get a better photo:> A "normal" lens (50mm in 35mm format; 25mm in 4/3rds format; etc) etc. corresponds closest to the view of the human eye, and therefore the brain translates 3D information from such a photo. If illuminated by flash, a photo taken with a "normal" lens will have greater "depth-of-illumination" (e.g. the ears will be nearly as brightly lit as the nose) than the same photo taken with a wide angle lens, so the photo will have greater depth and look less like a flash picture. Indeed, most pros have a (non-zoom) normal lens to take pictures of groups or children, etc.> A moderate telephoto (75-135mm in 35mm format; 40-70mm in 4/3rds format; etc) is best for portraits, babies, etc., and pretty much essential for flash-illuminated portraits to be evenly illuminated. That is, the depth-of-illumination will be even greater than with a normal lens. Noses will appear smaller, and in general the photos will be more flattering.> These comments also apply to zoom lenses: In general, stand back and use a narrow angle when you can, at the lowest ISO and smallest aperture (up to f11) that you can. Usually that will require a relatively powerful flash, which is what your buy a TT560, or similar flash unit, for.> Click on “Stoney” just below the product title to see my other reviews, or leave a comment to ask a question.

A. C. Hepworth

4 de noviembre de 2013

It's rare for me to write a review, however...

I only write reviews on products that I'm especially impressed with. I won't go into too much technical detail because that has been covered in other reviews. I'm aiming my review at beginner flash users who might be wondering whether to "settle" for this much less expensive flash or whether to hold out for the name brand. Maybe you don't know whether you even need a flash at all and want to give one a try without making a big investment - if that's you, go no further!I actually bought this flash because a first time flash user I know used it (for one day before sending it back) and didn't like it. I was puzzled by that because the reviews had been so good by people who were obviously knowledgeable, so I bought the flash out of pure curiosity since the price is SO GOOD. I used it a bunch last night and today and actually REALLY liked it, and realized that the only reason my friend didn't like it is that she doesn't know how to use an external flash without getting that harsh, blown out, "flashed", look and she wouldn't have been happy with any flash. I own the Nikon sb-600 and the sb-800 and I like this flash every bit as well, if not better. Here are the reasons why:1. It is simple and straightforward. You don't have to be knowledgeable to immediately, intuitively, know how to use it. Just turn it on, hit + or - to adjust the power and there you go. Yes, there's no TTL, but I only use my flashes on manual anyway, so I won't miss it. The only problem for beginner users is that you need to make sure to set your shutter not to go faster than 1/200 or 1/250, or you will get shutter banding on the top and bottom of your images. TTL flashes automatically control this for you, but for me this is no big deal. I just set it on 1/250 and adjust aperture, ISO, and flash power to compensate.2. It has a rotating head (the most important feature in a flash for me because I ALWAYS bounce it off the wall, ceiling, or card) and you don't have to push in a button in order for the head to rotate, which can sometimes be a pain and slow me down with my name brand flashes. It feels very sturdy and solid; the head will certainly stay in place in whatever position you put it in. It also has the same pull out diffuser and bounce card that my more expensive flashes do, which is a huge plus for me as well.3. It has plenty of power and the recovery time (with high quality rechargeable batteries, as mentioned before) is at least as good as my Nikon flashes. It will fire continuously on the lower settings with no lag. I didn't work it too hard, but I fired it more rapidly than I normally would and it just kept poppin'. (At the higher settings there was some recharge lag, but no more than on my Nikon flashes.)4. I know this won't apply to most users, but I like the fact that it will go from Canon to Nikon because I actually own both. I've tried it on my Nikons (D600 and D700) and my Canon 6d and it worked the same either way. I've only owned the Canon for a short time and hadn't bought a name brand flash for it yet, and don't plan to now that I've got this one.Overall, I think this is the best deal in camera equipment I've found. I'm a big believer in full frame cameras and high quality glass, but the quality of light coming out of a flash is the same across the board - as long as the flash is sturdy and dependable (as this one seems to be) and has a few of the bells and whistles (like rotating head and diffuser and bouncer) that I require, I'm happy. And it works as a slave too? Ridiculously good deal. I'm tempted to sell my other 2 flashes and get another one of these.