Yongnuo YN622N-TX YN622N TX i-TTL TTL Wireless Flash Controller Wireless Flash Trigger Transceiver for Nikon DSLR Camera

This controller in conjunction with the flash triggers packs significant value that is simply awesome and hard to beat. You get nearly all the features the popular name brand systems offer at a fraction of the cost. In fact, I purchased one (1) Yongnuo YN-622N-TX i-TTL Wireless Flash Controller and three (3) Yongnuo YN-622N i-TTL triggers for less than the price of one (1) PocketWizard FlexTT5 Transceiver (of course you need at least 2 PWs to make the system work). There are some (minor) tradeoffs. For instance you don't get PocketWizard's rock solid customer support, expertly written manuals, the 32 channels, or automatic mode (not the same as TTL) that the PocketWizards offer. However, the Yongnuo YN-622N-TX adds an infrared focus assist beam and pretty much everything else the PW's have featured for about 20% of the cost including High Speed Sync and Super Sync!I don't have any direct experience with PocketWizard's HyperSync feature. However, the YN-622N Transmitter DOES support high-speed sync and Super Sync and does a great job at it. Yongnuo calls it Super Sync whereas PocketWizard calls it HyperSync. They have different names but are the same feature that allow you to sync your camera with STUDIO STROBES wirelessly and achieve shutter speeds up to 1/8000 of a second.HIGH SPEED SYNC (HSS) vs SUPER SYNC (aka HYPER SYNC):High Speed Sync only works with certain speed lights where the speed light flashes REPEATEDLY to fully cover the frame with light as the shutter passes over the sensor at extremely high shutter speeds (above 1/250s). Super Sync (or HyperSync as PW calls it) works with almost any flash (strobes or speed lights) in manual mode where the light flashes ONCE but the timing of flash is micro adjusted to be “ON” most or all of the time while the shutter passes over the sensor. The longer the light stays on (measured in micro seconds) the better. SuperSync allows you to use more powerful studio lights or use less battery power from speed lights to shoot at shutter speeds up to 1/8000s. (You can learn more here: http://www.pocketwizard.com/inspirations/technology/hypersync_fpsync/ )USING SUPER SYNC:To enable Super Sync on the Yongnuo YN-622N-TX you have to put the group you want to control into SS mode (it sorta looks like 55 on the transmitter) and adjust the SS timing to match your studio strobe with the opening of your camera's focal plane shutter curtain. Of course by default, you are using your studio strobes in manual mode (not TTL).I personally get tack sharp photos in Super Sync "SS" mode when my camera is set to 1/8000s and even below while using my White Lightning monolights. For my White Lightnings to work properly, I had to set my SS timing to AU (Automatic) or "0.2" speed. My camera MUST be in Auto FP mode to access shutter speeds beyond 1/250s yours may require the same.CHOOSING THE BEST FLASH FOR SUPER SYNC:Notice I emphasized STUDIO STROBES even though both brands can use Super Sync (HyperSync) with studio strobes or speed lights (in manual mode). According to my tests and PocketWizards words, "Speedlites and IGBT-controlled strobes may not be ideal for HyperSync, and should be used at full power for best results." This is due to the short amount of time that speed lights actually stay lit when the flash is fired compared to studio strobes. Also you will find that most speed lights don't have enough power to adequately light or impact a scene in many conditions at extremely high shutter speeds without being paired with multiple speed lights. To equal the power of 1 moonlight you would need 3-5 speed lights at full power, which makes this option expensive, more complicated to setup, and impractical for many users. (You could buy an Alien Bee B800 and Vagabond Mini Lithium battery pack to shoot outdoors for about the price of 1 Nikon SB910, which has 3-4 times less power and more risk of overheating or melting with continuous shooting.)Your success in setting up the Super Sync feature is largely dependent upon the type of studio strobes you use because both HyperSync and SuperSync take advantage of your studio strobe's T time, which basically is the amount of time the light stays on (measured in micro seconds). The longer it takes for the light emitted from your strobe to tail off the better or easier SuperSync will be to setup in this instance. However, the goal of many studio strobes, particularly IGBT-controlled strobes, is to shorten the T time to stop action and prevent motion blur. This short T time may make some strobes harder to work with or incompatible with Yongnuo AND PocketWizards (see more here: http://strobist.blogspot.com/2010/06/rise-and-fall-of-machines-understanding.html). You could probably still get them to work but it may require more time, patience, and tweaking. If you have something like an AlienBee Einstein (which is IGBT) you will probably find it easier to setup Super Sync if the strobe is set to Color Mode rather than Action Mode but we'll have to wait for someone who owns an Einstein to chime in.AVOIDING PITFALLS TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL SUPER SYNC-ER:One negative thing I noticed with the YN-622N Transmitter is that when I turn the transmitter off and turn it back on again it resets the SS timings back to the default, which is "2.1". Its kind of weird since that is the ONLY setting that does not get saved when the power is off but not a big deal once you know what's going on. If you don't know what's going on you may think there is a problem with your camera or strobe since the timings are buried in sub-menu on the transmitter and are not immediately noticeable.The other downfall of this feature is that its hard to understand at first because the manual for the YN-622N is poorly written. The manual appears to be written by someone who does NOT speak english as their primary language. Most of the YN-622N features can easily be figured out without the manual (especially in comparison to using the receivers by themselves without this new transmitter, which is very hard!). The Super Sync feature is probably the hardest to understand using the manual and it is barely covered. However, you can find tutorials on here and youtube to make it easier for you. If you are having trouble understanding this feature or getting it to work I'd suggest you seek out other tutorials or just keep playing with the transmitter by taking a picture of a blank wall and adjusting the timing up from .1 until you see a fully lit image with no black stripe covering the frame.One last thing…When you use SuperSync to shoot a blank wall you may notice a slight gradient near the top or bottom of the frame even at its BEST setting. This is a known issue even with the PocketWizards because of how HyperSync / SuperSync works. (You can learn more here: http://wiki.pocketwizard.com/index.php?title=Clipping_and_Gradient OR HERE: http://wiki.pocketwizard.com/index.php?title=Understanding_HyperSync_and_High_Speed_Sync ). I believe PW has software available to correct this issue but you can correct it yourself by creating a reverse exposure gradient overly in Lightroom or Photoshop and save it as a preset to fix the problem. Or you can simply compose your shot to minimize the problem or take advantage of it (e.g. as a graduated neutral density filter).MY RECOMMENDATION:Beyond the minor points I mentioned, Super Sync works exceptionally well and will add an extra dimension to your photography. I have found the Yongnuo YN-622N i-TTL controller to be extremely reliable and easy to use. It has breathed new life into my Yongnuo YN-622N receivers. I purchased the receivers months ago and hardly used them at all because they were too complicated to control. Ever since I received the controller I have been constantly using the YN-622 set. If you already have the YN-622 transceivers for Nikon and don’t have the controller DEFINITELY buy this NOW. It will make things simpler and add new features like SuperSync. If you don’t have a wireless flash system at all and are comparing this to other complete systems BUY THIS NOW because you won’t find a better system at a better price.

Thank you Yongnuo for coming out with the TX!! It is a no-brainer purchase and intuitive. It is an excellent complement to the transceiver products.Before this came out, I read and re-read and fiddled and re-read and fiddled with the related YN-622N transceivers that I had previously purchased. OMG! How confusing. The manual is written in Chinglish and very difficult to understand. Technical manuals cannot be anything other than spot-on! Argghh! Why do these companies not hire a genuine American (even British would do) technical writer??? Seriously, how much could it really cost for 6 or so pages? Yongnuo, if you're reading this, you're not fooling anyone. Pony up a few bucks for a proper manual and quit being cheapskates.Anyway, I had bought 3 or 4 of the YN-622Ns previously, so I was committed. I *liked* them because they were darn reliable. I have tried other off-brand wireless triggers and they failed me. These worked! But the adjustments that you were supposed to be able to make using one of the transceivers as a transmitter, controlling the other remote triggers was just incredibly complex (for what it should be). It was not worth it. I went back to simply using them as dumb triggers and hoofing it to each light, getting a ladder in some cases, then making the adjustments as necessary (in this case a light meter is mandatory).Then, ahhhhhhh (think Angels singing)...yes! The YN-622N-TX was released!! So excited I was! Really.It was beyond what I had hoped. Finally a product that works how you think it should (read: Intuitive). So many products and software programs are designed nowadays so poorly, it is aggravating. But the TX works like you think it should. And thank goodness, because I wasn't about to attempt reading another so-called "manual" from these folks.I have been using the TX, paired with 5 YN-622N transceivers and couldn't be happier...almost.Pros:It works as expected. You can remotely control all transceivers on the same channel by group A, B or C from this single device! Yes, like the Pocket Wizard Flex TT5/Mini TT1 with AC3 zone controller.It is super-easy.Cons:None on this unit.My only con is actually with the YN-622N transceiver (but I'm not writing a separate review for that). The power switch kinda sucks. It is too easily switched on when putting them back into my gear bag. I carry extra batteries, of course, duh! But I'd rather not have to use them because one or more units were inadvertently turned on when packing up or from jostling. It is definitely not a deal-killer. One just has to be conscious when packing one's gear. If you're a spacey artistic type and not a detail person, then this would be a big deal.The power switch on the YN-622N-TX, however is great! I think they realized their mistake and fixed it on this unit. It takes a reasonable amount of force to switch on and off. Enough so that it seems unlikely (and hasn't ever happened to me) that the switch will move without my consent.Overall, I am quite happy with this unit and the related transceivers. The price rocks! If you want to keep Pocket Wizard in business, go ahead and spend hundreds more for their product instead. Then you can brag to people about being a professional or semi because of your over-priced gear.