PDA

View Full Version : XTi flash won't fire


krshultz
5th of February 2008 (Tue), 21:46
Hello - a fellow racer and (far more advanced than I) photographer referred me here with a question about my first dSLR, a Canon XTi.

Long story short, when I shoot in low light settings, the built-in flash on my Rebel XTi does pop up, but won't fire.

When switching to Av mode and monitoring the shutter speeds, the camera certainly *thinks* the flash is firing, as exposure times get longer when I don't invoke the flash, as I would expect.

The camera is about eight months old, purchased brand new. I treat it with kid gloves and have never dropped it or anything of that sort. A phone call to Canon customer service had me remove the battery, lens, CF card, and the date/time battery as well. Reassembled it and powered it back on, and still the same - it pops up, but doesn't actually fire.

Just wondering if anyone knows a trick or has experienced this before. The Canon rep told me to send the camera to them. Which is fine, I suppose - but, I'm currently enrolled in a photography class at my local community college. Doing this without a camera would kind of be missing the point. So in the meantime, I bought a Sunpak PF30X.

Thank you in advance for any suggestions - mostly I'm trying to avoid going without the camera for several weeks.

PacAce
5th of February 2008 (Tue), 22:23
Did you check the batteries to make sure it's fully charged? If it is, you probably won't have any choice but to send the camera back for warranty work.

BIGTUFFGUY
6th of February 2008 (Wed), 11:12
pop the flash up, then push the * button. that force fires the flash. If it doesn't work then you'll need to have it looked at.

you should be able to complete your course just fine without the flash.
call Canon though and let them know whats going on. Not that you send it in after your warranty expires.

krshultz
6th of February 2008 (Wed), 13:46
Thanks guys for the responses. This is kind of what I was afraid of - it indeed appears to be broken. Battery fully charged, all that sort of thing.

I'll phone Canon customer support this evening when I get back from my class to see what's what regarding using the camera until the class ends. Which, predictably, is right around the 1-year window for the warranty :cry: For that matter, maybe Costco will just take the thing back.

Shooting
6th of February 2008 (Wed), 15:24
Thanks guys for the responses. This is kind of what I was afraid of - it indeed appears to be broken. Battery fully charged, all that sort of thing.

I\'ll phone Canon customer support this evening when I get back from my class to see what\'s what regarding using the camera until the class ends. Which, predictably, is right around the 1-year window for the warranty http://photography-on-the.net/forum/ For that matter, maybe Costco will just take the thing back.

I had an XTI for 3 days and sent it back for a full refund because it would not even recognize my flash I was using that was dedicated to an XT/XTI...another chalked up experience for Canon ettl II ingenuity.

PacAce
6th of February 2008 (Wed), 16:04
I had an XTI for 3 days and sent it back for a full refund because it would not even recognize my flash I was using that was dedicated to an XT/XTI...another chalked up experience for Canon ettl II ingenuity.

I'm not sure I understand what's being said here. What does a busted camera have to do with ETTL II? :confused: