Meike or Yongnuo?

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Geordieclare

New member
Hi, I've just received my first flash to use with my D3200, a Meike MK430, but instantly feel I've made an ill-informed purchase. I'm now thinking I would have been better off buying the Yongnuo YN560 III for the same budget.

Can anyone enlighten me, am I right in thinking the Yongnuo is better? It's hard to understand what all the specs of any flash mean when they're still just abstract numbers and letters.

I had intended to start off using just a pc cable with the off-camera, before spending on a wireless trigger. The Meike doesn't have a built in pc port, which was a rookie mistake as I assumed this would be a basic feature. :dejection:

I intend to use the flash mostly indoors for portraits, petography and macro.

Will the Meike meet my needs or will there be significant limitations that the other model doesn't have?

I don't really want to use the Meike to try things out for myself if I'm going to send it back.
 
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carguy

Senior Member
I hear much more about Yongnuo than Meike.

I did buy two Neewer/Godox manual speedlights last spring for about $30 each and have had zero issues with them :)
 
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WayneF

Senior Member
It is common for flashes to omit the PC sync connector, since it can be used only for manual flash mode, and most users today are limited more to point&shoot, and don't know how to use manual or remote flashes.

Yongnuo typically does always provide the PC sync connector. Nikon flashes, only on the top end model.

You would think a manual flash would have it, but you could add a radio trigger instead.

Or you can simply add an inexpensive adapter to the foot of the current flash to add a PC sync connector to it.

FlashZebra.com: Hotshoe and Shoe Adapters

These are available everywhere, Amazon, Ebay, B&H, etc, but I link Flashzebra because their descriptions are so clear.

Specifically NOTE:

Many such PC adapters are for the camera hot shoe, to add PC sync to cameras without it (most of them today)

And many are for the foot of a speedlight, to add PC sync to flashes without it (many of them today)


These are NOT INTERCHANGEABLE, so make sure it is for a flash foot. There are a few that work either way, but not most of them.

Also for the remote flash, make sure that PC adapter has the 1/4 inch threaded tripod socket in the bottom, for a light stand.


As for undertanding "all the numbers", you might see
Beginners Guide to Select a Hot Shoe Flash - it has some feature explanations on it.
 
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DraganDL

Senior Member
PC connection is also used for flashing the unit's firmware ("BIOS") in case some new camera models, yet to be supported, appear on the scene.
 
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WayneF

Senior Member
carguy said:
I thought that was done by connecting the flash/speedlight to the camera?
Click to expand...

You are surely right, at least for Nikon. CLS is a hot shoe communication method, already in place.

Metz does put a USB connector on some of theirs, and they are concerned with more brands of cameras, so my guess that is to a computer.


But PC sync is a single trigger wire, I don't think there would be any communication there.
 
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Geordieclare

New member
Thank you for the replies. :) The hot shoe adapter certainly sounds like a useful cheap remedy if I do keep the Meike. I think I'm erring towards sending it back though. As carguy said, you certainly hear more about Yongnuo flashes so I'm assuming (there I go again!) there'll be more information around to help guide me in using it. :D
 
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WayneF

Senior Member
DraganDL said:
My mistake - I thought it is related to Personal Computer port, but it is a cable connection, really... :eek:
Click to expand...


Yeah, everything seems to have multiple meanings. :) For cameras, PC sync is for Prontor-Compur, which were two major German shutter manufacturers in the old days (before WWII and before Japanese cameras), and they developed that connection system to sync flash bulbs. Later on, studio flash units switched to phono plugs for greater connection reliability, but I guess that was too large for cameras.
 
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WayneF

Senior Member
DraganDL said:
Cord was connected to the port designated with a letter "M/FP", on a camera body...
Click to expand...


Right, flash sync has changed meanings today too. Before electronic flash (when we used flash bulbs - up into the 1970s), all cameras (with adjustable settings) had such flash sync switches on them, depending on which flash bulbs we bought. M was medium, F was fast, for how long it took the flash bulb to fully ignite to full brightness. The bulbs had to be triggered that much early, before the shutter opened, to become bright. My memory is medium was 25 milliseconds, fast was 15 ms. And FP flash bulbs which burned longer for focal plane shutters, the equivalent of todays HSS or FP flash mode.

Then came electronic flash, which was real fast, zero delay, and it was called X sync on this same switch (I always heard that X was for xenon flash tubes used in electronic flash). Our modern Nikons still say they do X sync, meaning for electronic flash.

So everything is X sync today, and flashbulbs and the switch went away.

But today, more good stuff uses the focal plane shutter, and sync has become a maximum shutter speed issue - speeds at which the shutter is fully open to pass the flash.
 
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