Can a manual off-camera flash be triggered by my camera’s built-in flash?
Asked 12/22/2017
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I’m looking at a manual Yongnuo-style flash for simple low-light portraits and want to use it off-camera. I know I can mount a flash on the hot shoe, connect it with a PC sync cord, or use a radio trigger. But can a remote manual flash also be triggered by the camera’s built-in flash, or is that only possible with TTL-compatible flashes?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
8y ago
2 Answers
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Most Yongnuo flash units have a built in slave mode that will trigger the flash to fire when it sees any bright flash of light. This includes both TTL and non-TTL Yongnuo flash units. (the YN685 does not have any optical trigger but uses the YN622 radio system instead)
The ETTL "pre-flash" used in the built-in flash of most cameras can cause a regular optical slave to fire too early. Yongnuo flash units have a second slave mode to deal with this:
S1 works with any normal manual flash as a master. (no ETTL preflash)
S2 ignores the preflash and will synce with your camera's flash properly.
From the YN560 manual
Originally by user39427. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user39427
8y ago
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Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Yes—if the flash has an optical slave mode, a manual off-camera flash can be triggered by your camera’s built-in flash. This is not limited to TTL flashes.
Many Yongnuo and similar flashes include optical slave modes such as:
- S1: fires on the first flash it sees; use with a manual master flash that has no pre-flash.
- S2: ignores a TTL pre-flash and fires on the main flash.
The remote flash’s power is still set manually on the flash itself; the built-in flash only triggers it unless you’re using a dedicated wireless TTL system.
Limits of optical triggering:
- It needs to “see” the triggering flash.
- Bright ambient light can make it unreliable.
- Distance, obstructions, and sensor direction matter.
- Some models do not include optical slave mode.
So: yes, a built-in flash can trigger a manual remote flash, as long as that flash supports optical slave triggering and you use the correct slave mode for whether your camera emits a pre-flash.
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