Advice for buying Flash Triggers for Canon

Ellen · 22 Dec 2016

Hello, I was wondering if anyone could offer advice regarding Flash triggers for Canon. I'm want to buy some flash triggers which will work with both a Speedlight and a studio flash head. I only have a Speedlight at the moment (430 II)but I'm aiming to buy a studio flash in the future. I'm looking for mid-range product (not too cheap but not majorly expense). Does anyone have any recommendations?

HoppyUK · 22 Dec 2016

Lots of options, but short answer would be Yongnuo 622c plus 622Tx master unit for full auto-TTL control - about £35 each on Amazon/ebay. Or Yongnuo RF603c (about £25 per pair) for basic manual triggering (cheaper, smaller/lighter).

I think the 622 comes with all the necessary cables for studio heads and remote camera firing, too. Not sure about the 603 - make sure you get the right ones for your camera (Canon has two types). You don't need any cables for speedlights.

redsnappa · 22 Dec 2016

HoppyUK said:
I think the 622 comes with all the necessary cables for studio heads

I bought a set of YN622 triggers a few months ago. They did not come with the cables required to fire studio heads. These cable are inexpensive and easy to source.

User.82148 · 22 Dec 2016

HoppyUK said:
Lots of options, but short answer would be Yongnuo 622c plus 622Tx master unit for full auto-TTL control - about £35 each on Amazon/ebay. Or Yongnuo RF603c (about £25 per pair) for basic manual triggering (cheaper, smaller/lighter).

I think the 622 comes with all the necessary cables for studio heads and remote camera firing, too. Not sure about the 603 - make sure you get the right ones for your camera (Canon has two types). You don't need any cables for speedlights.

Probably a silly question but what does the 622TX master do? The RF603c triggers do not need a master unit but the 622c do?

mickledore · 22 Dec 2016

Archie747 said:
Probably a silly question but what does the 622TX master do? The RF603c triggers do not need a master unit but the 622c do?

With the 603 they merely fire the flash. If you want to adjust the flash units you have to adjust each one individually.
With the 622 you have the ability to adjust flash settings from the TX on the hotshoe. Plus you can have flash units in different groups so get different lighting patterns. All controlled from the hotshoe. You can do this with 603 but you have to walk all around your space and adjust each one individually. Makes life so much easier.

HoppyUK · 22 Dec 2016

Archie747 said:
Probably a silly question but what does the 622TX master do? The RF603c triggers do not need a master unit but the 622c do?

You don't actually need the Tx master unit. 622s are transceivers (both transmitter Tx and receiver Rx in one) so it'll all work with two 622s, controlled from the in-camera menu. The Tx master does the same thing, but has its own control screen and is much faster/easier to use than diving into the camera menus all the time.

603s are also transceivers and can also be paired with the YN560 Tx master controller, but since there is nothing to control there's no point in that. 560Tx is primarily designed to be used with the 560-series flash guns.

Ellen · 27 Dec 2016

redsnappa said:
I bought a set of YN622 triggers a few months ago. They did not come with the cables required to fire studio heads. These cable are inexpensive and easy to source.

I've been looking at the YN622 triggers and they look good, basically when I start using the studio heads all I need to do is buy a cable and they will work this the studio heads? How have you been finding them?

RL355 · 27 Dec 2016

I am pretty new to flash lighting myself.

I had a camera and a canon speedlight 430exII to play with initially. I sold the canon speedlight 430 exII and started afresh and purchased 2x Yonguno YN600EX RT speedlights and Yonguno YNE3 RT controller as a set as this provided a flash setup that uses radio trigger technology which offered a lot more flexibility (no need for line of sight to get the flash to trigger)

Once I get a bit more experience I am planning to get the Lencarta Smart flash kit. I believe this kit comes with all the required triggers for a studio setup. If I need to use the two YN600EX RT speedlights with the Lencarta studio light setup the YN600EX RT speedlight can be set to optical slave too so that it can be triggered by the Lencarta smart flash optically.