Is my 430EX broken

[muski]

I used my 430EX as a slave to my new 580EX II for the first time today. For about the first twenty shots, everything worked as expected. I was definitely playing with the settings on both units quite a bit, but don't remember doing anything unusual. Then the 430EX started behaving oddly -- it fired, but it seemed that it made no difference to the image (like some kind of sync problem). I had the 430EX sitting in the Canon-provided stand. Custom Fn are all set to defaults (so CFn indicator is not lit).

So I took it out of slave mode, and tried using it in ETTL mode as a regular single flash connected to the hot shoe of my Canon 5D. Again, the flash fired (what sounded like a full discharge), but when I looked at the image it was dark (only room light). Again, seemed like a sync problem. If I switched to manual mode, the flash fires and the image is lit. However, if I try to drop the power to 1/64, it still feels like the flash is being fully discharged. I tried new batteries -- same problem I also tried all this on my G9 -- same result. The 580EX II worked fine on both cameras.

I'm wondering if this is just broken or 'operator error' on my part...

Thanks,
muski

[Lotto]

I don't know what the problem is. For a long shot, take the batteires out of the 430 and let it sit for a day, and try again.

Good luck.

[PacAce]

Did you check your FEC on the 430EX? Make sure it's not set to a negative number.

[elysium]

Have you tried mounting the 430ex on your body and try to fire it as just a flash by itself?

[dazzlebea]

I hope you can find out what's causing the problems. Canon charges a flat fee of $90 to fix the 430 EX :(

[_aravena]

Hopefully it's still under warranty then.

After reading though, def try just attaching it to your 5D and shooting. Seems like you skipped over that. I had that problem with my flash. Couldn't remember what was wrong, I think a connection. I didn't have it on right. It was minor but I hope you get yours working.

[muski]

Thank you for your suggestions. I tried letting it sit without batteries, double checked the FEC and tried it on my 5D -- nothing worked. I called Canon and they think the main processor in the flash has gone. So I am sending it to Irvine for repair (it's two years old so not under warranty).

muski