Red Eye strobe not working

[timmae]

2nd day with camera. 1st day seemed to be working fine, played around with settings. No strobe for red eye at all, "pre-flash" is working, AF assist working. I have tried everything including master reset, format CF, AC power, switch red eye fundtion in menu off and then back on again. Just figured I see if anyone has any ideas before I call Canon.

[PacAce]

timmae wrote:
2nd day with camera. 1st day seemed to be working fine, played around with settings. No strobe for red eye at all, "pre-flash" is working, AF assist working. I have tried everything including master reset, format CF, AC power, switch red eye fundtion in menu off and then back on again. Just figured I see if anyone has any ideas before I call Canon.

Do you have the Red Eye Reduction turned on in the menu? If so, take a look at the focus assist light (say like in the mirror). Press the shutter button half-way. Is the focus assist light on? Does it stay on as long as you keep pressing the shutter button half-way? If so, then Red Eye Reduction is working perfectly fine.

If Red Eye is turned off, the focus assist light goes on only for a second or two.

[timmae]

Do you have the Red Eye Reduction turned on in the menu? - YES

If so, take a look at the focus assist light (say like in the mirror). Press the shutter button half-way. Is the focus assist light on? - YES

Does it stay on as long as you keep pressing the shutter button half-way? - YES

If so, then Red Eye Reduction is working perfectly fine. - NO red-eye strobe

[PacAce]

timmae wrote:
If so, then Red Eye Reduction is working perfectly fine. - NO red-eye strobe


The focus assist light IS the red-eye "strobe".

[timmae]

First - thanks for your help

OK, so, on my old camera (Olympus) and many other cameras I've seen, digital or not, the red-eye setting causes the flash to pulse before taking the shot, causing the pupils to dialate. So if I understand you correctly, that is not the case with the G3. The G3 red eye causes the AF assist lamp to stay on and subjects would have to stare at it to achive the desired results. Is that correct?

[kb244]

The best solution I can think of offering is to get an external flash to pop in the hotshoe on top, I got a SunPak DS20 flash for around 20$ , its quite a bit brighter, and you can angle it for bounced flash, but I wouldnt recomend it for close ups that require a flash since you really cant control the level of intensity straight from the camera like you can on the built-in flash (the sunpack has sensors itself to determine flash leve, but its auto, otherwise in manual mode you have to set the f/stops to the chart on the back of the flash for distance and ISO )