Okay... LONG story short. I have a Nikon D60 and just purchased a Yongnuo Flash and remotes. All awesome... BUT the connector cable that goes from the remote I put in the camera hot shoe does NOT fit in the port on my camera.
Being the adventurous sort and having the tenacity of ten... I cut the 5 pin connector off of a data transfer cable that came with the camera and then spliced with the connector that came with the remotes... worked like a charm... for a day.
Now it's not working and no amount of my effort to ensure the spliced wires are connected as they were last week will get me any further ahead.
SO... Long story looks like it stayed long...sorry! Does anyone know where I'd find (if there is such a thing a cable that has what looks like a 1.5mm on one end and a 5pin that would fit the Nikon D60 on the other. I've looked online and don't see anything...
Sounds like what you need is a hotshoe to pc adapter. If you already have a flash plugged into the hotshoe, you can often use the pc port on the connected flash to link another flash.
OK, I'm going to guess that you have the Yongnuo RF-602, RF-603 or RF-603 II remotes?
These have a 2.5mm port on the side, visible here (not the silver PC port on the front, the smaller black port on the left side as we look at them):
This port isn't required for remote flash triggering, it actually allows you to remotely fire the shutter by using a second remote (giving you a radio-triggered shutter release). In order to do this, you connect the appropriate camera cable from this port on the remote to the camera's remote shutter release port, and then when you press the button on the top of a second remote (that you'd typically be holding), the shutter will release.
The problem is that your D60 doesn't have the ability to use a wired remote shutter release, so there is physically nowhere for you to plug this cable into the camera -- that's why the remote didn't come with an appropriate cable. It sounds like you may have attempted to wire this into the camera's USB port, which is going to have no effect other than a very small chance of damaging the camera or remote.
Because your camera doesn't support a wired shutter release, there is no way to use this functionality of the remotes. However, this functionality is entirely unrelated to the flash triggering function built into the remotes, which only needs to communicate through the camera via the hot-shoe. If this was working before and now isn't, then except in the reasonably unlikely event that you damaged the camera by frying the USB port, or the remote, the fault probably lies elsewhere.
Make sure that both the camera remote and flash remote are switched on and in the correct mode, that they are both firmly installed onto the hotshoes, that they are both using the same channel, and that the camera is in an appropriate mode to trigger the flashes (some DSLRs won't trigger an external flash when in fully automatic mode).
If you can identify the exact model of remote that you're using, it's possible to diagnose more by seeing what the lights on the remotes are doing.
@sudweeks Thanks so much for the reply Josh! It looks like the other kind 365'er that responded is on the direct line of where I need to be! I truly appreciate your taking the time to help!! Lisa
@abirkill Hi Alexis! Thank you so much for the amazing reply! I am using the Yongnuo 560 -III flash with the RF-630N remotes. I was fully aware that I was risking damage when I spliced the connectors but was willing to accept that.
As far as what's happening now... Everything is communicating, indicator lights on both sides of the remotes are showing communication as is the 'blue' light on the flash unit. If I depress the remote on the hot shoe in the camera, the flash will still fire (remotely, with the second unit attached to it).
I removed all electrical tape from the wires I had connected and confirmed each was still directly in touch with the other as they had been when the flash was successfully firing via shutter release last week.
I had never had an 'off camera' flash before and I'm totally bummed that this has stopped working. Perhaps this is the Universe telling (allowing) me to upgrade my camera body ;)
If you have any thoughts/insights as to how I might get the D60 to use the flash and remotes... I'd be really excited and appreciative to hear about it! I've been reading your blog and really enjoy your tutorials!
The first thing to do is to remove the connection between the camera and the remote that you've hooked up, as I can absolutely promise you that it's not serving any purpose, either now or before, and is just complicating matters. You do not need this cable to fire a remote flash from the camera, and the thing that this cable would allow you to do isn't supported by your camera.
For triggering a remote flash, all the communication is done by simply sliding the camera-side remote into the camera's hotshoe. The communication comes to the remote through the hotshoe, not via the cable that you've made.
I think there's a little confusion going on in how you're using the remotes, which is probably why they worked before and they're not working now -- you had something set correctly before that isn't set correctly now.
The first thing to note is that your flash, the Yongnuo YN560-III, has a receiver built into it. This means that you don't need to use both remotes at all -- you only need a single remote, slid onto the hotshoe of the camera. You then need to put the YN560-III into receive mode, and with any luck, everything should work.
So, firstly, slide one of your RF-603N remotes onto the hotshoe of the camera. Don't worry about the cable -- once it's firmly on the hotshoe, the camera is communicating with it as designed. Switch the remote on using the switch on the top. Leave the flash and the other remote switched off. In this setting, I believe that the left light on the camera-mounted remote will be green, and the right light will be off.
Now try taking a shot with the camera (even though everything else is switched off). You should see the right light turn green and then briefly flash red. If that's not working, we need to figure that out first. If that is working, then you're all set at the camera end.
Assuming that works, you now need to enable the YN560-III flash by switching it into radio receive mode. First switch the flash on, and then press the 'trigger mode' button (which is confusingly not the one labelled 'mode', but the one with a 'wireless' symbol on it, the third button from the right on the top row). You should need to press this three times until the wireless symbol appears at the top right of the flash display, like this:
This now means that the flash is in wireless receive mode. When you take another photo with the camera, the flash should now fire. If that doesn't work, but the red light on the camera remote is flashing, then the problem is at the flash end, and we need to figure that out.
At no point in this should you have needed to switch on or fit the second RF-603N remote -- that can be used to trigger a second flash that doesn't have a built-in receiver, but otherwise isn't needed or wanted for the setup you have described.
Can you report back, and if in any doubt, photos of how you have things set up can really help :)
@lisatown Alexis, first of all Thank You! Even if I can't get this to work, You are amazingly kind to make the time to help!
Okay, remote in hot shoe on camera, power on and Right Green light is on BOTH lights are illuminated (left / right) if I half press the shutter release.
Both sides remain green during and after shooting.
My flash settings are exactly as shown in your image above and I do have the 'channel' set to 1 (all switches in lower) on the unit attached to the camera.
After seeing that the red light did NOT come on as you said it should when pressing shutter release, I tried powering up flash unit. The 'blue' light shows that it is communicating with the remote on the camera but flash does not fire.
Thoughts??
PS... I just walked by my husband who is playing Madden on the XBox and said "I just ordered a D3x" ... his reply was "Yeah, will I ever get to use it?" ;)
@abirkill I just realized why your face/name are so familiar... It's not that I've been reading your blog/tutorials (my bad... that's someone else!) It's that you're in Canada! and I've been enjoying your Vancouver images!!! I'm from P.E.I. :)
@lisatown OK, the red light on the camera remote failing to briefly light when you take a picture is the problem we need to solve. What mode is the camera in when you are trying this? Can you try switching into shutter priority mode and selecting a shutter speed of around 1/50th of a second, and trying again?
If that still doesn't cause the red light to flash when you take a picture, that could indicate that the remote has been damaged. To test that, we need to remove the remotes from the equation altogether, so can you try putting the YN560-III flash directly onto the camera, and switching it back into normal 'on-camera' mode (the easiest way to do this is probably to switch the flash off and on again), and then try taking a shot, to see if the flash fires then.
There's a video clip here that shows how the wireless setup should work when set up correctly:
Unfortunately it's really hard to see the red light on the trigger light in the video because of the flash going off, but you can just about make it out.
Alexis... I have no idea of which combination of what made it work... but it's working!!! I just changed the channel setting for about the 20th time... maybe 'channel 10' was the 'charm'??
Thank you so much for your kindness, patience and assistance!! Now I can enjoy my Sunday taking photos of splashing fluids :)
@lisatown Excellent! It might be best to write down the settings you have working so you can always get back to them. Radio triggers are fiddly things at the best of times, with all the channels and modes.
Glad I could help out and that it's working again, have fun with it!
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These have a 2.5mm port on the side, visible here (not the silver PC port on the front, the smaller black port on the left side as we look at them):
This port isn't required for remote flash triggering, it actually allows you to remotely fire the shutter by using a second remote (giving you a radio-triggered shutter release). In order to do this, you connect the appropriate camera cable from this port on the remote to the camera's remote shutter release port, and then when you press the button on the top of a second remote (that you'd typically be holding), the shutter will release.
The problem is that your D60 doesn't have the ability to use a wired remote shutter release, so there is physically nowhere for you to plug this cable into the camera -- that's why the remote didn't come with an appropriate cable. It sounds like you may have attempted to wire this into the camera's USB port, which is going to have no effect other than a very small chance of damaging the camera or remote.
Because your camera doesn't support a wired shutter release, there is no way to use this functionality of the remotes. However, this functionality is entirely unrelated to the flash triggering function built into the remotes, which only needs to communicate through the camera via the hot-shoe. If this was working before and now isn't, then except in the reasonably unlikely event that you damaged the camera by frying the USB port, or the remote, the fault probably lies elsewhere.
Make sure that both the camera remote and flash remote are switched on and in the correct mode, that they are both firmly installed onto the hotshoes, that they are both using the same channel, and that the camera is in an appropriate mode to trigger the flashes (some DSLRs won't trigger an external flash when in fully automatic mode).
If you can identify the exact model of remote that you're using, it's possible to diagnose more by seeing what the lights on the remotes are doing.
As far as what's happening now... Everything is communicating, indicator lights on both sides of the remotes are showing communication as is the 'blue' light on the flash unit. If I depress the remote on the hot shoe in the camera, the flash will still fire (remotely, with the second unit attached to it).
I removed all electrical tape from the wires I had connected and confirmed each was still directly in touch with the other as they had been when the flash was successfully firing via shutter release last week.
I had never had an 'off camera' flash before and I'm totally bummed that this has stopped working. Perhaps this is the Universe telling (allowing) me to upgrade my camera body ;)
If you have any thoughts/insights as to how I might get the D60 to use the flash and remotes... I'd be really excited and appreciative to hear about it! I've been reading your blog and really enjoy your tutorials!
Many Thanks!! Lisa
The first thing to do is to remove the connection between the camera and the remote that you've hooked up, as I can absolutely promise you that it's not serving any purpose, either now or before, and is just complicating matters. You do not need this cable to fire a remote flash from the camera, and the thing that this cable would allow you to do isn't supported by your camera.
For triggering a remote flash, all the communication is done by simply sliding the camera-side remote into the camera's hotshoe. The communication comes to the remote through the hotshoe, not via the cable that you've made.
I think there's a little confusion going on in how you're using the remotes, which is probably why they worked before and they're not working now -- you had something set correctly before that isn't set correctly now.
The first thing to note is that your flash, the Yongnuo YN560-III, has a receiver built into it. This means that you don't need to use both remotes at all -- you only need a single remote, slid onto the hotshoe of the camera. You then need to put the YN560-III into receive mode, and with any luck, everything should work.
So, firstly, slide one of your RF-603N remotes onto the hotshoe of the camera. Don't worry about the cable -- once it's firmly on the hotshoe, the camera is communicating with it as designed. Switch the remote on using the switch on the top. Leave the flash and the other remote switched off. In this setting, I believe that the left light on the camera-mounted remote will be green, and the right light will be off.
Now try taking a shot with the camera (even though everything else is switched off). You should see the right light turn green and then briefly flash red. If that's not working, we need to figure that out first. If that is working, then you're all set at the camera end.
Assuming that works, you now need to enable the YN560-III flash by switching it into radio receive mode. First switch the flash on, and then press the 'trigger mode' button (which is confusingly not the one labelled 'mode', but the one with a 'wireless' symbol on it, the third button from the right on the top row). You should need to press this three times until the wireless symbol appears at the top right of the flash display, like this:
This now means that the flash is in wireless receive mode. When you take another photo with the camera, the flash should now fire. If that doesn't work, but the red light on the camera remote is flashing, then the problem is at the flash end, and we need to figure that out.
At no point in this should you have needed to switch on or fit the second RF-603N remote -- that can be used to trigger a second flash that doesn't have a built-in receiver, but otherwise isn't needed or wanted for the setup you have described.
Can you report back, and if in any doubt, photos of how you have things set up can really help :)
Okay, remote in hot shoe on camera, power on and Right Green light is on BOTH lights are illuminated (left / right) if I half press the shutter release.
Both sides remain green during and after shooting.
My flash settings are exactly as shown in your image above and I do have the 'channel' set to 1 (all switches in lower) on the unit attached to the camera.
After seeing that the red light did NOT come on as you said it should when pressing shutter release, I tried powering up flash unit. The 'blue' light shows that it is communicating with the remote on the camera but flash does not fire.
Thoughts??
PS... I just walked by my husband who is playing Madden on the XBox and said "I just ordered a D3x" ... his reply was "Yeah, will I ever get to use it?" ;)
If that still doesn't cause the red light to flash when you take a picture, that could indicate that the remote has been damaged. To test that, we need to remove the remotes from the equation altogether, so can you try putting the YN560-III flash directly onto the camera, and switching it back into normal 'on-camera' mode (the easiest way to do this is probably to switch the flash off and on again), and then try taking a shot, to see if the flash fires then.
There's a video clip here that shows how the wireless setup should work when set up correctly:
http://youtu.be/zDAZFNMKZTs?t=2m38s
Unfortunately it's really hard to see the red light on the trigger light in the video because of the flash going off, but you can just about make it out.
Let me know how you get on with those settings :)
Thank you so much for your kindness, patience and assistance!! Now I can enjoy my Sunday taking photos of splashing fluids :)
Glad I could help out and that it's working again, have fun with it!