YONGNUO YN568EX II Master & Slave TTL Flash Speedlite with High Speed Sync

As a pro photographer, I use a lot of flashes on location shoots. I was looking for a little more reasonably price unit that would do what I needed and not break the bank. Man, was I in for a surprise! These flash units offer all the capabilities of the high end flash units at about a third of the cost. What really surprised me is when I did a side-by-side test of the Yongnuo 568EX ll and the Canon 580 EX. The Youngnuo was 1/10th of a stop BRIGHTER!Full ETTL functionality and high speed sync capabilities, as well. I Liked it so much, I ordered another the next week and then a third 2 weeks after that!Very highly recommend these flashes! The quality of light and the build of the unit is remarkable. All at a very reasonable price. Buy one today and you will want another one very soon after.

Only just received it, but the YN-568EX II performed flawlessly at a lengthy party shoot. So far, I couldn't be more pleased with its quality and results - and especially the price! Given my Canon 580 EXII has only consistently FAILED at embarrassing moments (I thought it was me, until it was too late) and has been a complete waste of money, this Yongnuo is a gem. So far.My Canon 430 EXII has always performed reliably. Seems I'm hardly the only customer disgusted with Canon's 580 EXII, yet pleased with the 430 EXII.If this Yongnuo holds up (seems others have had battery door issues), I'll definitely be acquiring more of them!UPDATE: I'm more than sold! I've used the YN-568EX II repeatedly and consistently for two months. Indoors at parties, direct and bounce. Outdoors for team shots (25 corporate teams, daylight, over 4 hours; using this for fill. Completely natural looking.). On the road for 10 days. Flawless, reliable performance in every situation. Perfect integration with my Canon 7D on-board controls. No battery "issues" whatever: they last as long as on Canon Speedlights. No issues with the battery door. At this price? A no-brainer. I'll be getting another.

EDIT:Had it for about two months now. The battery door is bulging out. Looks like the "teeth" on one side of the battery door broke off. Still works but I'm unhappy about that. That means I'm sure the other "teeth" will break off sooner or later as well. I am pass my return date and have contacted Amazon.Amazon instructed me to contact the manufacturer and provided me with the information to do so. I received no replies from them. This has confirmed my belief that their warranty is nonexistent.I went back to Amazon and asked if there is a way it can be fixed or if I can get another one. They can't provide me an exchange due to it being sold by a seller and only being fulfilled by Amazon. So my case would be reviewed for a refund. They emailed me saying they'll give me a refund and I'll have to send back the speedlight. Then received another email with a restocking fee attached. All of this was decided without my input.At the end of the day, I am sad that this speedlight didn't work out when I have had great success with their other ones. It also looked like many other people had the same problem with the battery door. It was a decently built flash but the weak link is the battery door.Yongnuo responded to one of their Facebook post saying they admit there is a problem with the battery door and suggest we buy a new version after October 2013 since a new batch is coming out. So basically anyone that bought one already is out of luck and will need to buy a replacement battery door.I would seriously pass on this flash. Don't buy it.Original rating: 3 stars.Original review:My Canon 580ex II stopped working and I was looking for a replacement. The 600-RT was just too much for me. I have 4 Yongnuo 560 II and love them. I decided to give this 568EX II a try. The primary thing I was looking for was an assist beam and TTL. I use this speedlite during weddings as my on-camera flash with the 560 II as my off-camera.The good:It feels beefy and it feels solid. Much more so than the 560. There is no "cheap" wobble. I love the build quality. The hyperspeed worked really well and the auto zoom did as well. I don't really use it as a master flash so I can't comment on that functionality.The bad:I am sad to say that I am disappointing with the assist beam. It does this criss-cross laser pattern. 1, it doesn't go very far. 2, You'll need a good focusing system to go along with it. I use a 6D and normally stay on the center focus point. It doesn't line up with the criss-cross pattern. Compared to the Canon 580ex II, the camera takes a few seconds longer to focus on it. I can possibly see the 5D Mark III do a little better if the focus point was set a little to the left/right.I also found the TTL to be inconsistent. I don't feel it reads the scene well. For the same shot, one would be nice, the next would be too bright. Or one would be too dark then the next would be to bright. I am not on bracketing either. I got too frustrated with the inconsistency that I just went back to manual.I decided to keep it. I like the hyperspeed sync, the auto zooming, the build quality, and rear sync. Honestly, I am keeping it because there is no other alternative for the same price.

Great product, at a great great price. I am so thankful that I came across this product while researching flashes on YouTube. This flash would be comparable to the Canon 580ex II. When I first decided to get into off camera flash, I foolishly bought two Canon 430ex II flashes ($250 each). In my naivety, I just assumed that, because I owned a Canon DSLR, I needed to buy a Canon speedlite. Big waste of money. Of course, I still use them, but all future purchases will be Yonguo flashes. I am that happy with them. At the time of this review, I see the Canon 580ex II for sale on Amazon for $470. With the Yongnuo at under $100, I can almost buy 5 flashes and fill my softboxes full of them. To me, knowing what I now know, this is a no-brainer. I will NEVER buy Canon flashes again. I really don't do (or try not to do) on camera flash. So, I trigger this flash with the Yongnuo YN-622C-TX E-TTL transmitter and YN622C receivers.Yongnuo, you have created a fan here. Just keep producing good, inexpensive products that do what they're supposed to do, and I'll keep buying.