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Yongnuo updates its 5-year-old speedlight, launches the YN685 II for Nikon and Canon

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The Yongnuo YN685 speedlight was originally released back in 2015. It was one of the first on the market at the time to feature an integrated 2.4Ghz receiver, compatible with some of Yonguo’s triggers. It was quickly obsoleted once Godox hit the scene with their lithium-ion battery-powered speedlights, offering greater compatibility.

Well, Yongnuo has now released an update to the YN685. Not surprisingly, it’s called the Yongnuo YN685 II, but does it go far enough over the original to win back some of those customers it’s lost to Godox or to attract new photographers to the brand?

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Check out these eight 3D printed photo & video tools designed to make your life a little easier

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I put off getting a 3D printer for the longest time. I didn’t want to get one just for the sake of having a new toy that I’d get bored with, so I held off getting one until I felt I had a genuine need for one. Now, I have five – the most recent of which are the Snapmaker 2.0 A350 and its predecessor, the Snapmaker Original, and I find them absolutely invaluable.

I’ve been using them recently to print a bunch of tools and accessories to help me with my photography and filmmaking. Some of them are workflow and organisation accessories while others are actual tools used to create content. So, here, I’m going to talk about some of the most useful things I’ve printed lately.

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Yongnuo is developing another weird camera and this time it’s “modular”

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Modular cameras are not a new idea, but as the world switched from film to digital, modular systems mostly disappeared for photographers – unless you count being able to swap lenses as “modularity”. Fuji is working on one, but other than that, there isn’t much out there in the way of modular cameras (not counting cinema cameras).

It looks like, surprisingly, Yongnuo is looking to change that, though, after filing a patent describing a rather strange-looking modular mirrorless camera. The patent was filed back in 2019 while the world was still waiting to see what was happening with this oddity and it’s very peculiar Android-powered camera, but was just approved and published recently.

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Yongnuo just announced a new 35mm f/2 lens for full-frame Sony E mount

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Yongnuo has announced a new YN35mm F2S DF DSM lens for full-frame Sony E Mount cameras. It appears to not just be their existing 35mm f/2 for DSLRs with an extended barrel, either, but a completely new lens design. Whether or not it’s their own design or they’ve “borrowed” somebody else’s, I don’t know, but this one does seem as if it may be designed specifically for mirrorless cameras.

The lens is constructed of 9 elements in 8 groups including one aspherical element and one low dispersion element. The elements have a Nano-multilayer coating which Yongnuo says helps to improve light transmittance while suppressing ghosting and flare.

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Hands on with Yongnuo’s weird Android-powered YN450M Micro Four Thirds mirrorless camera

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Yongnuo seems to have a very unusual approach when it comes to cameras. They’re not the first to launch an Android-powered mirrorless camera. Samsung already did that. But their initial dip into their world of camera manufacture. Their latest camera, and probably the only one to actually be released, is the Yongnuo YN450M.

It’s an Android-powered Micro Four Thirds mirrorless camera that takes regular Micro Four Thirds lenses, and it’s been teased in one form or another for the last couple of years. But this video from Linus Tech Tips appears to be the first time somebody’s actually gotten their hands on one and put it through its paces.

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Yongnuo to release the YN450M – A Micro Four Thirds version of their Android-powered mirrorless camera

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Yongnuo’s YN450 was first teased at the end of 2018 and the specs were released a little while later. It was an odd, but interesting camera. An Android-powered mirrorless camera with a Micro Four Thirds sensor but, strangely, a Canon EF lens mount. Visitors to CP+ 2019 managed to see one in person early last year, and it was slated for an April release, but only in China.

Now, though, things have changed. Yongnuo has joined the Micro Four Thirds System Standard Group (MFTSSG) and it looks like they’re releasing an update to the camera that’s a little less… Frankenstein. This time, according to images leaked on Photo Rumors, the Canon EF mount appears to have been replaced by a standard Micro Four Thirds mount to match the sensor.

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Yongnuo, Mediaedge and Venus Optics (LAOWA) have joined the Micro Four Thirds System Standard Group

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Well, this is interesting. Panasonic and Olympus have officially welcomed three new companies into the Micro Four Thirds System Standard Group. Those companies are Venus Optics, Mediaedge and, surprisingly, Yongnuo.

The Micro Four Thirds System standard was established by Olympus and Panasonic back in 2008. They’ve been working together to develop and promote the system ever since. A joint statement was issued by Panasonic and Olympus welcoming the new members to the group.

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Yongnuo has announced a faster, quieter version of its 35mm f/1.4 lens for Canon DSLRs

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Chinese manufacturer, Yongnuo, has announced a new version of its 35mm f/1.4 lens for Canon DSLRs. It remains largely unchanged from the existing 35mm f/1.4 model for Nikon and Canon in design, except for the addition of the “Ultrasonic Wave Motor” (UWM) which should offer faster and quieter focusing performance than the previous model.

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Yongnuo finally starts to unify their flash systems with the new YN560-TX Pro

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A couple of years ago, I made a post about why I could no longer recommend Yongnuo to flash newcomers over Godox. In short, their systems were just too fragmented, with one piece of kit often not being compatible with another, despite both bearing the same brand. It might have taken Yongnuo a couple of years to catch on, but it looks like they’re finally making an attempt to unify their flash systems.

Yongnuo has today announced the recently teased Yongnuo YN560-TX Pro trigger, a follow up to their previous YN560-TX trigger. The new “Pro” system, however, integrates Yongnuo’s two most popular radio trigger systems into one. Namely the YN560 and the YN-622 (their TTL/HSS triggers).

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