Yongnuo 565 EX speedlight - poor penetration.

[Nathaniel]

I don't know what I am doing wrong but I find that the flash penetration of the yongnuo 565 is weak. I don't seem to get bright images using this flashgun compared with the Canon 580EX. This shows up when I take photos of large groups(choirs) -say 4 rows deep. I find that the pictures are much clearer and brighter without flash using my 6D on auto ISO with the 24-105mm lens- manual TV 160,AV 4.5-5.6,auto WB. Using the flash, I seem to only brighten up the images on the one two rows of a choir whilst the back two rows are on the dark side. I have tried adusting the zoom range but this has not helped.

I hope that those members who have got this flashgun could advise me.

Many thanks.

Nathaniel

[the black fox]

Re: Yongnuo 565 EX speedlight - poor penetration.

can't be that specific nat ,but i have had no problems with mine at all .could be something in the menu though ,just a thought have you enabled your camera menu to recognise thats theres an external flashgun fitted .and it might ? also be the batterys your using they tend to vary a lot in output .

[Paulstw]

Re: Yongnuo 565 EX speedlight - poor penetration.

I heard that the Yongnup stuff gives off less light than it's Canon cousin. Some have said it's a whole stop. I don't know.

[CountDavid]

Re: Yongnuo 565 EX speedlight - poor penetration.

Nat - check out the guide numbers of the 2 guns - that should tell you if there is a power difference that would account for the performance variations that you have experienced.

The 2nd point is that flash guns generally sense the light hitting the subject and turn the power down or off, so having caught the first row of subjects the gun may well power off so there is not enough light to get past and illuminate rows 3 and 4.

You may be between a brick and a hard place here - I guess the ceiling is too high to use to bounce off and if you set the gun to manual you may well burn out rows 1 and 2. Sounds like the solution is what you have already done and forget the flash.

Hope this may shed some (not too much!) light on your issues

David

[Nathaniel]

Re: Yongnuo 565 EX speedlight - poor penetration.

Thanks folk for your good advice. I think Paulstw is perhaps right and it looks like a whole stop,that I am losing. The GN for this and the Canon is 58. Yes, I also use the flash in buildings with a very high roof/ceiling like in the cathedral. I note that with a low ceiling and using bounce flash the image is excellent. I must also mention that I had used the flash with my camera on manual mode. Perhaps I should switch to non manual and see what happens. Fortunately I am able to take crystal clear shots without a flashgun- so far!!!!!! The battery I use is Duracell (Alkaline).

[Alan_H]

Re: Yongnuo 565 EX speedlight - poor penetration.

Just a thought Nat, if you have four rows of people you want illuminate put the center focus point towards the center of depth of the group and press the AE/FE button on the rear of your camera and the flash will fire a pre flash for this distance, recompose and take the picture I think the camera only holds this setting for about 6 secs hope this helps

Alan

[Nathaniel]

Re: Yongnuo 565 EX speedlight - poor penetration.

Just a thought Nat, if you have four rows of people you want illuminate put the center focus point towards the center of depth of the group and press the AE/FE button on the rear of your camera and the flash will fire a pre flash for this distance, recompose and take the picture I think the camera only holds this setting for about 6 secs hope this helps

Alan

Thanks Alan. This is not a critical matter for me as my 6D is a wonderful camera for low light photography, without flash. However I will try what you have suggested and see what happens.