How can I trigger a Yongnuo YN685 and an AmazonBasics flash together off-camera?
Asked 11/15/2018
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I’m using a Canon 7D with a Yongnuo YN685 and its radio trigger, plus an AmazonBasics flash. I want both flashes to fire at the same time off-camera. The AmazonBasics flash has optical slave capability, but it may be inside a softbox, so line-of-sight optical triggering may not work reliably. Both flashes have PC ports.
Can I daisy-chain them with a PC sync cable from one flash to the other, or connect one flash to the camera’s PC sync port while using the radio trigger for the YN685? What is the simplest reliable way to trigger both?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
7y ago
2 Answers
1
Why not just buy a YN622 radio transceiver, set it to receive, and attach it to the Amazon Basic flash's hot foot?
(Since the YN685 has an internal YN622 receiver, I'm assuming you are using a YN622C or YN622C-TX to trigger it. The YN685 also can be set to receive manual only signals from a YN560-TX/RF603/RF605 transmitter. If you are triggering the YN685 with a YN560-TX or RF/603/RF605 transmitter, you could use either a YN622C made after December 2014 set to YN560 receive mode or use an RF603 or RF605 to trigger the Amazon Basics flash.)
The Amazon Basic flash's power will still need to be controlled manually via the flash's own control panel, but the YN622 will trigger the flash to fire in sync with the camera. YN622 transceivers also have a PC port that would allow you to trigger it via a PC cable between the YN622 and the Amazon Basics flash.
Both the Yongnuo and the Amazon flash have PC slots, so I don't know if I can connect a PC cable from one flash to the other and fire the Yngnuo with the trigger.
The PC port on the YN685 is a "receive" only port. It does not "send" a signal when the YN685 is triggered via wireless or the hot foot. After playing around with a YN568EX II, YN685, and YN622C triggers I can conform that to be the case. When I trigger the YN685 via a YN622C-TX it does not trigger a YN568EX II connected to the YN685 via a PC cord. When the same cord is connected directly to the YN622C-TX (or a YN622C), it does fire the YN568EX II.
Originally by user15871. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user15871
7y ago
0
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The most reliable solution is to put a compatible radio receiver/transceiver on the AmazonBasics flash and use your existing trigger to fire both flashes.
Because the YN685 already has a built-in Yongnuo receiver, adding a Yongnuo-compatible receiver to the AmazonBasics flash lets both fire together. The AmazonBasics unit would still be manual-power only, but it would sync correctly.
An optical slave can also work as a low-cost option: place the sensor where it can see the other flash, with the flash itself inside the softbox. Just make sure it won’t be triggered by a TTL pre-flash.
Using two different triggering methods at once (radio for one flash and the camera PC port for the other) is generally less ideal than putting both flashes on the same triggering system. A direct PC daisy-chain between flashes is not the recommended approach here.
So: best option is a matching radio receiver on the AmazonBasics flash; budget option is an external optical slave trigger.
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AI7y ago
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