Why won’t my Canon 60D detect a Yongnuo YN-560 III in the flash control menu?
Asked 3/24/2015
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I’m using a Canon 60D with a Yongnuo YN-560 III speedlight. When I open the camera’s Flash Control menu and choose External Flash Function Setting, the camera says the menu cannot be displayed because the flash is incompatible or turned off. Is there a way to make the camera recognize this flash, or is there a limitation with this model?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
11y ago
2 Answers
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Your camera's menu cannot recognize the flash, but it will still work. If you put the YN-560III on the flash hotshoe and push the shutter button, the flash will still fire in sync with your camera shutter. But you have to set/adjust the output power manually on the back of the flash. If it's not firing, check the batteries, and that the flash is seated correctly on the camera hotshoe (yes, it's possible to put the flash on backwards or mis-seated so the pin doesn't hit the sync contact).
The YN-560III is a manual-only flash. If you look at its foot, you'll see it only has a single pin. That pin is for the sync ("Fire!") signal of the flash.
All other communication requires the additional four pins/contacts of the Canon hotshoe. TTL, HSS, 2nd-curtain timing, and communication via the camera menu all happens on those other four pins your flash lacks. All that camera menu message is telling you is that the camera isn't sensing anything on those four contacts. Only eTTL-capable flashes can talk to the camera menu.
But not all eTTL-capable flashes. I own Canon's 580EX and 430EX (Mark I) flashes that were created before the Digic 4 processor and the flash control menu was introduced in Canon cameras. Either of those flashes cannot be controlled via the menu, either: my Canon 580EXII and Yongnuo YN-568EX can.
If you want to control the flash through the camera menu, you have to get a flash that has this feature.
Originally by user27440. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user27440
11y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
The YN-560 III is a manual-only flash, so this is expected. Your Canon 60D’s flash control menu can only communicate with flashes that support Canon’s dedicated hot-shoe communication. The YN-560 III uses only the center sync pin, which tells the flash when to fire, but it does not support camera-menu control, TTL, HSS, or other advanced Canon flash communication.
So:
- The camera will not “recognize” it in the menu.
- You must set flash power manually on the flash itself.
- It should still fire normally when mounted correctly on the hot shoe.
If it is not firing at all, check:
- batteries in the flash
- that the flash is powered on
- that it is fully seated and aligned correctly on the hot shoe
In short: you can use the YN-560 III on the 60D, but not through the camera’s external flash settings menu.
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