posted Wednesday, 27 January 2010, 23:15 (+0800), by Martin
Yongnuo OC-E3a TTL Cable
The Yongnuo OC-E3a cable is less than one third of the cost of a genuine Canon OC-E3 cable, which retails for USD$69.95.
When Do You Need a TTL Flash Cable?
A TTL flash cable allows you to get your flash off your camera's hot shoe, while still maintaining full ETTL communications with the flash. This can be useful when using a flash bracket or light-stand to hold the flash, or even when using one hand to hold the flash away from the camera body.
It's not limited for use with flashes - you can use a TTL cable for mounting a Canon ST-E2 wireless transmitter remotely from the camera. This can be handy if you are using the ST-E2 to control one or more remote flashes wirelessly, but where the flashes are outside the forward-pointing optical transmission of the ST-E2 (ie, the flashes might be to the side, or even behind the camera, and without sufficient reflective surfaces to bounce the infrared signal from the ST-E2 to the remote flashes).
Yongnuo OC-E3a TTL Flash Cable
The Yongnuo cable is a clone of the genuine Canon OC-E3 TTL flash cable, but is significantly cheaper than the genuine article from Canon.
Yongnuo OC-E3a TTL flash cable
The cable is approximately 40 cm unstretched, and can be stretched to about 1.3 metres. The connectors at each end look robust and well built, and the cable itself also looks very robust, with a thick outer insulating layer.
The foot block has a metal foot, rather than a plastic foot, and also has a rubber weather seal. It uses a lever locking mechanism that looks and works just like the one on the 580EX II flash.
top of the foot block
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metal foot and weather seal on the foot block
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The hot shoe block has a plastic foot, as well as a threaded metal insert. This allows the hot shoe block to be mounted on a light stand or tripod using either a hot shoe mount or a 1/4" threaded stud.
hot shoe connector
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1/4" socket and plastic foot
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The Yongnuo OC-E3a cable works exactly as expected. When using it to connect a Canon flash to a Canon camera body, the camera and flash behave as if the flash is physically on the camera's hot shoe.
Similarly, when using the cable to connect a Canon ST-E2 wireless transmitter to a camera, it behaves exactly as if the ST-E2 is on the camera's hot shoe.
connected to
Canon 350D camera |
connected to
Canon 580EX II flash |
connected to Canon ST-E2
Wireless Transmitter |
Verdict
A TTL cable is one of the cheapest ways to get a flash off the camera's hot shoe.
The quality of the Yongnuo OC-E3a TTL flash cable is better than I expected, and as a much cheaper option than a genuine Canon OC-E3 cable, I can recommend it for anyone looking for a Canon-compatible TTL flash cable.
A TTL cable also allows second-curtain sync for the attached flash - something that isn't possible when using a Canon ST-E2 or 580EX to trigger an off-camera flash.
Thanks for the review! I actually have one of these with the 10ft one. Compared to the genuine Canon cord which I also own, I like the Yungnuo lever lock because it's more convenient to use than the screw lock in Canon's. It is well made and very reliable.
Then later, I got a set of Yungnuo wireless triggers, which turn out to be pretty realiable too despite the cheap price I paid for them.