580EXII fires but no love

[AlanU]

Hello all,

Just curious if anyone has ever encountered this problem.

I can take consecutive photos "one shot" at a time and even with freshly recharged new Sanyo Eneloops every so often the flash appears to loose intensity "one shot" only. The photo will come out as if no flash was used. The following photo will have proper exposure.

I've isolated this problem to my flash because this problem occurs both with my XTI and 5d. I cleaned the contacts with a white eraser and I still have this problem.

Any input would be greatly appreciated. This flash is only 9mths old so i guess this warrants a trip to the canon repair center.

Is this a common problem??

[tjongkristian]

What is the time lag in between? It could be that the flash has not fully charged up between the shots.

[tim]

Unusual. Also interested in time between shots, and also camera settings. ISO100 F8 will use a lot of power, ISO1600 F2.8 will use very little (7 stops less, each stop being a halving in required power).

[AlanU]

Hello Tim,

Very good point you've made. If I shoot f/5.6, 1/125, ISO 400 or f/2.8, 1/200, ISO 400 or any settings this problem will occur.

I've never had problems before with any settings but as of lately this suddenly started to occur.

My lag time is deliberately longer to assure full recharge. This still happens and its gut wrenching when you miss candid photos because of this.

I just thought I'd ask this knowledgeable forum. Iknow stuff happens but I was wondering if its common or not.

Here's my daughter in the bubble bath. f/2.8, 1/160, ISO 400. My typical bounced flash with demb flipit. The flash did fire and this happens regardless of what FEC settings. This is wierd IMO.

http://members.shaw.ca/airvw/dark.jpg

Thanks for anymore advice. I think this flash is going to visit canon :(

[Titus213]

I don't believe this is common at all. It's almost like the FEC was set to max but then it would happen on every shot. It would be good to see how it worked on another camera too, then I'd send it to Canon.

[AlanU]

I don't believe this is common at all. It's almost like the FEC was set to max but then it would happen on every shot. It would be good to see how it worked on another camera too, then I'd send it to Canon.


Hi Dave,

This is happening on my xti and 5d. This is why I've isolated this issue with the flash.

I'm kinda disappointed that this expensive flash is acting up :(

[Titus213]

Unfortunately it happens. Sounds like it's headed off to Canon.

[AlanU]

Unfortunately it happens. Sounds like it's headed off to Canon.

Talking to my friend that works at the local camera shop this is NOT uncommon. Not a welcoming thing to hear since I bought 2 new ones.

Looks like Metz is a solid product and something to consider.

[tim]

Looks like maybe it's not synchronising properly. No idea how that could happen.

[Rudeofus]

I've read a similar story where someones wireless E-TTL did the whole preflash procedure but then didn't fire the main flash. The reason for this misbehavior was a bent trigger pin. All the E-TTL communication took place, so no problem was detected by the electronics, just the pictures came out dark.

A simple way to verify this is by setting your 580EX as wireless E-TTL master (no physical slaves required). If you see preflashes but no main flash, you may have cought the culprit.

[viet]

Try this, set your flash to manual at 1/4 power, then set the appropriate settings for ISO, aperture, and shutter. Then squeeze off 4 shots with about .5 second in between with fresh batteries. If it is not consistent, you need to send in to repair, if it is, then the eTTL-II was acting up, you might as well shoot everything in manual.

Canon is notorious for a crappy auto (ttl) metering system, even a small backlight source or some white background will throw the whole thing out the window and the flash shutdowns its power, resulting in an under exposed shot, like the one above in your example of your kid.

[Titus213]

I would submit that when working properly (as designed) ETTL is very consistent. And the longer I use it the more I understand what impacts it and how. I figure over the course of another 100 years or so I'll have it down pat.

[AlanU]

Thank you all for contributing to this thread.

I'm currently using my other 580EXII flash and its working flawlessly. The "one in question" will be heading to Canon for repairs. I'm crossing my fingers.

As mentioned earlier a friend of mine has a customer with the identical problem and even sending it to Canon the problem still exists. I'm sure hoping this is just coincedence.