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Yongnuo YN600EX-RT is a $188 Clone of the Canon 600EX-RT

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Yongnuo YN600EX RT Speedlite

Chinese manufacturer Yongnuo has been a popular source of affordable speedlights for photographers in recent years. One of its latest units really steps up the game in the technology department though. 

As noted by DIY Photography, the new Yongnuo YN600EX-RT Speedlite appears to be an almost exact clone of Canon’s 600EX-RT; complete down to the 2.4GHz radio trigger functionality of Canon’s system.

What’s more is that Yongnuo also makes the YN-E3-RT transmitter that includes all of the features and functionality of the Canon ST-E3-RT. Yongnuo’s version actually adds a few features, including an AF assist light and second curtain sync in manual mode.

Yongnuo-YN-E3-RT

While I haven’t tried either of these Yongnuo products, the price makes them very tempting to give a shot. The Yongnuo YN600EX-RT is widely available for a $188 buy it now price and the YN-E3-RT transmitter runs around $120-$130 fixed price. You can buy the both of them for about $300 as a kit.

Compare that to the $500 asking price for the Canon EX600-RT and the $280 price of the Canon ST-E3-RT transmitter unit. While you are likely going to encounter challenges with any required repairs, it would hard to blame the frugal photographer for going the Yongnuo way to grab Canon’s latest Speedlite technology. You can find them both from Chinese sellers here on ebay.

 

Comments

  1. What an awesome deal!! I’ve been wanting to upgrade a couple of older Speedlites, but not for $500 each. This makes more sense!

  3. I use the YN-E3-RT with my Canon 6oo EX RT and it works flawlessly. Not to mention that addition of an AF assist light makes it perfect. (I use it on my 5D bodies as the AF hunts sometimes in low light, but that AF assist light nails focus every time). Now I think its time to toss my 600EX RT up on ebay, and then buy two Yongnuo YN600’s with the cash. (build quality of the YN-E3-RT is on par with canon rt unit, with the added benefit of usb firmware updates).

  5. OK, good news. But it will possible to use both Canon and Yongnuo speedlites with the same transmitter. ? Or one Yongnuo as a slave with a Canon 600 as a master flash ?

    • According to the product description, yes, they are interchangeable. Also, note JJ’s comment above where he says he uses the YN-E3-RT with a Canon 6oo EX RT.

  7. Hello to all, I a question would Yongnuo YN600EX-RT would work on the Pocket Wizard Transmitter miniTT1 and the FlexTT5 ???

    Thanks
    Dan

    • The radio system is not the same; however, you should be able to use it in the same manner as a 580EX on PW’s system. To be clear, that means you’ll need a dedicated receiver to the Yongnuo unit as well.

      • Hi Eric, it does work on the receivers with the TT5 but on the camera with the MiniTT1 does not work at all

  8. I’m excited to see this released. However, most vendors are selling the YN600EX-RT for $500 per flash, which is the same price range as the Canon 600EX-RT. Where can I find the YN600EX-RT for the $188.00 value stated in this post?

    • Wow. It looks like it has gone up in price significantly since I initially posted this. Perhaps the demand was a bit too high. I still see a couple in the $250 range where I’ve linked above though.

      I suspect we’ll see the price slowly drop back down as demand subsides.