Does the Yongnuo RF-603 II work on the A7 & A6000?

juanmaasecas said:

I have the 603 version II for Canon. They worked perfectly on both my Canon and my fuji xe1, but they're not working in my Sony a7. Why?

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• John

fotowbert said:

juanmaasecas said:

I have the 603 version II for Canon. They worked perfectly on both my Canon and my fuji xe1, but they're not working in my Sony a7. Why?

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Since you say your triggers work OK on both Canon and non-Canon cameras I think you can rule out defective triggers. That leaves two likely causes:

1. Poor or improper contact between the trigger and A7 hot-shoe. This is typically the first thing to suspect with any hot-shoe mounted device.

2. The A7 flash sync electronic circuit isn't providing the fire flash signal to the A7 hot-shoe center contact. Be advised it is possible to fry the electronic flash sync circuit of modern cameras by using a legacy film era flash should that flash have a sync terminal voltage that exceeds the camera's max voltage limit. Hopefully this hasn't happened to you.

I would begin by eliminating the 2nd item. Will the A7 fire any flash mounted in the hot-shoe? More importantly will it fire a flash that picks up its signal to fire from the center contact(i.E a flash without the Sony MIS foot). Be careful here because you don't want to damage the camera trying to confirm it isn't damaged. Don't mount any flash without knowing its voltage is safe.

Once you know the A7 is OK then work on the contact issues, cleaning, alignment, and not shorting the MIS pins as described elsewhere in this thread.

• John

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fotowbert said:

Tcduffy said:

I just received the yongnuo RF-603C to trigger my alien bees from my Sony A7II but nothing is happening when I place one transceiver into my hot shot and the other into my alien bee sync cord. When I press the test buttons the triggers recognize each other but still don't trigger the flash. Is there anything I can do? Do I need to purchase the yongnuo PC cable? Is there another solution that anybody knows of?

Click to expand...

I hope you have the RF-603 mark II models. The original RF-603 C only works on a Canon unless you mod it.

Not sure what PC cable you mean. Transmitter unit goes in hot-shoe. You need to connect your ABs to the receiver's PC port or to its top hot-shoe.

Follow the following troubleshooting guide. Be aware there are defective RF-603 II units in the supply chain.

Troubleshooting YN RF-603II flash triggers (ver 1/5/17)

This process starts at the flash and confirms things are working as you progress toward the camera. When the flash doesn't fire as some point you have an indication of where the flash fire signal chain is broken.

1. Without using the RF triggers confirm the flash and camera's flash sync circuit are working, usually by connecting flash directly to camera.

2. Connect flash to trigger. Set trigger side switch to "TX" and press test button on this trigger. RH LED is green upon half-press, red upon full-press and the flash should fire. Now set side switch to "TRX". Switch setting is critical. See "Understanding the RF-603II side switch" in the notes section below.

3. Take the other trigger in hand and set its side switch to "TX". With its test button half-pressed both units RH LEDs should be steady green. With full-press both RH LEDs go red and flash should fire confirming RF transmission is working.

4. Now on the foot of this hand held trigger short the center pin to the metal foot ground plate. By "short" I mean take a metal object and hold it against the metal foot plate and slide it forward to touch only the center pin. The RH LEDs should go red and flash should fire. (Shorting the center pin simulates the action of the camera's flash sync circuit) If this was successful your triggers are working correctly. If not you have defective units.

5. Now put the hand-held trigger in your camera's hot-shoe. A half press of the shutter button won't do anything unless the trigger is the correct variant for your Nikon/Canon camera. In that case a half-press should give green on the RH LEDs of both units until the exposure meter times out. With any camera a full press of the shutter should produce a brief red LED on both units and fire the flash. A problem here would indicate a poor electrical connection still exists between the camera's hot-shoe and the trigger.

Notes:

Above process assumes both transceivers are on same channel, fresh batteries, all electrical contact points have been cleaned with a soft white pencil eraser, flash is seated in hot-shoe with the center contacts aligned, and your flash hasn't gone into standby/sleep mode. Trigger behavior is based upon RF-603 II Nikon units purchased Feb 2014.

Understanding the RF-603II side switch:

"TX" -> Test button fires flash, unit transmits only
"TRX" -> Test button activates shutter release circuit, unit transmits and receives

Hope this helps and please report back.

• John

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juanmaasecas said:

fotowbert said:

Tcduffy said:

I just received the yongnuo RF-603C to trigger my alien bees from my Sony A7II but nothing is happening when I place one transceiver into my hot shot and the other into my alien bee sync cord. When I press the test buttons the triggers recognize each other but still don't trigger the flash. Is there anything I can do? Do I need to purchase the yongnuo PC cable? Is there another solution that anybody knows of?

Click to expand...

I hope you have the RF-603 mark II models. The original RF-603 C only works on a Canon unless you mod it.

Not sure what PC cable you mean. Transmitter unit goes in hot-shoe. You need to connect your ABs to the receiver's PC port or to its top hot-shoe.

Follow the following troubleshooting guide. Be aware there are defective RF-603 II units in the supply chain.

Troubleshooting YN RF-603II flash triggers (ver 1/5/17)

This process starts at the flash and confirms things are working as you progress toward the camera. When the flash doesn't fire as some point you have an indication of where the flash fire signal chain is broken.

1. Without using the RF triggers confirm the flash and camera's flash sync circuit are working, usually by connecting flash directly to camera.

2. Connect flash to trigger. Set trigger side switch to "TX" and press test button on this trigger. RH LED is green upon half-press, red upon full-press and the flash should fire. Now set side switch to "TRX". Switch setting is critical. See "Understanding the RF-603II side switch" in the notes section below.

3. Take the other trigger in hand and set its side switch to "TX". With its test button half-pressed both units RH LEDs should be steady green. With full-press both RH LEDs go red and flash should fire confirming RF transmission is working.

4. Now on the foot of this hand held trigger short the center pin to the metal foot ground plate. By "short" I mean take a metal object and hold it against the metal foot plate and slide it forward to touch only the center pin. The RH LEDs should go red and flash should fire. (Shorting the center pin simulates the action of the camera's flash sync circuit) If this was successful your triggers are working correctly. If not you have defective units.

5. Now put the hand-held trigger in your camera's hot-shoe. A half press of the shutter button won't do anything unless the trigger is the correct variant for your Nikon/Canon camera. In that case a half-press should give green on the RH LEDs of both units until the exposure meter times out. With any camera a full press of the shutter should produce a brief red LED on both units and fire the flash. A problem here would indicate a poor electrical connection still exists between the camera's hot-shoe and the trigger.

Notes:

Above process assumes both transceivers are on same channel, fresh batteries, all electrical contact points have been cleaned with a soft white pencil eraser, flash is seated in hot-shoe with the center contacts aligned, and your flash hasn't gone into standby/sleep mode. Trigger behavior is based upon RF-603 II Nikon units purchased Feb 2014.

Understanding the RF-603II side switch:

"TX" -> Test button fires flash, unit transmits only
"TRX" -> Test button activates shutter release circuit, unit transmits and receives

Hope this helps and please report back.

• John

--
"[If you don't sweat the details] the magic doesn't work." Brooks, F. P., The Mythical Man-Month, Addison-Wesley, 1975, page 8.

Click to expand...

Step 3 is not working here.

When the trigger is off the camera, only one green light is on in every flash. In my fuji, just when i put the trigger on the hotshoe, both receiver and transceiver have their 2 leds green, but out of the camera, only one led... On the Sony, even if I put the trigger on the camera, still only 1 led is green.

So I think the problem is the triggers are defective because they can´t make the flash work out of the camera, and maybe the fuji hotshoe have some contacts that make the triggers behave correctly, so I think the solution should be welding and shortening a couple of contacts, right?

Click to expand...

• John

fotowbert said:

juanmaasecas said:

fotowbert said:

Tcduffy said:

I just received the yongnuo RF-603C to trigger my alien bees from my Sony A7II but nothing is happening when I place one transceiver into my hot shot and the other into my alien bee sync cord. When I press the test buttons the triggers recognize each other but still don't trigger the flash. Is there anything I can do? Do I need to purchase the yongnuo PC cable? Is there another solution that anybody knows of?

Click to expand...

I hope you have the RF-603 mark II models. The original RF-603 C only works on a Canon unless you mod it.

Not sure what PC cable you mean. Transmitter unit goes in hot-shoe. You need to connect your ABs to the receiver's PC port or to its top hot-shoe.

Follow the following troubleshooting guide. Be aware there are defective RF-603 II units in the supply chain.

Troubleshooting YN RF-603II flash triggers (ver 1/5/17)

This process starts at the flash and confirms things are working as you progress toward the camera. When the flash doesn't fire as some point you have an indication of where the flash fire signal chain is broken.

1. Without using the RF triggers confirm the flash and camera's flash sync circuit are working, usually by connecting flash directly to camera.

2. Connect flash to trigger. Set trigger side switch to "TX" and press test button on this trigger. RH LED is green upon half-press, red upon full-press and the flash should fire. Now set side switch to "TRX". Switch setting is critical. See "Understanding the RF-603II side switch" in the notes section below.

3. Take the other trigger in hand and set its side switch to "TX". With its test button half-pressed both units RH LEDs should be steady green. With full-press both RH LEDs go red and flash should fire confirming RF transmission is working.

4. Now on the foot of this hand held trigger short the center pin to the metal foot ground plate. By "short" I mean take a metal object and hold it against the metal foot plate and slide it forward to touch only the center pin. The RH LEDs should go red and flash should fire. (Shorting the center pin simulates the action of the camera's flash sync circuit) If this was successful your triggers are working correctly. If not you have defective units.

5. Now put the hand-held trigger in your camera's hot-shoe. A half press of the shutter button won't do anything unless the trigger is the correct variant for your Nikon/Canon camera. In that case a half-press should give green on the RH LEDs of both units until the exposure meter times out. With any camera a full press of the shutter should produce a brief red LED on both units and fire the flash. A problem here would indicate a poor electrical connection still exists between the camera's hot-shoe and the trigger.

Notes:

Above process assumes both transceivers are on same channel, fresh batteries, all electrical contact points have been cleaned with a soft white pencil eraser, flash is seated in hot-shoe with the center contacts aligned, and your flash hasn't gone into standby/sleep mode. Trigger behavior is based upon RF-603 II Nikon units purchased Feb 2014.

Understanding the RF-603II side switch:

"TX" -> Test button fires flash, unit transmits only
"TRX" -> Test button activates shutter release circuit, unit transmits and receives

Hope this helps and please report back.

• John

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