Canon CP-E4 Speedlite Compact Battery Pack

Okay, just got mine today. Mounted it on the bottom of the 5D with grip and man that is way too awkward. There is no way I could work with it like that. It will have to be in s ahirt pocket, attached to my waist, or attached to a flash bracket for me. Thank goodness it comes with a nice carrying case!

I agree, Ben - attached to the camera is horrible... Don't know if that was an afterthought or what. But being that they're on the fourth version now, you'd think they'd have fixed it by now.

Double Negative wrote in post #4754451
But being that they're on the fourth version now, you'd think they'd have fixed it by now.

Better than windows, what are they, in their 5th/6th (who keeps track?) version and they still can't fix that blue screen?

Isn't there a shoulder strap option for this?

Edle wrote in post #4755300
Isn't there a shoulder strap option for this?

Yes, there is but you have to provide your own strap. I just use one of the straps that came with my EOS DSLR bodies.

You know I have a strap for a small lowepro case that I have never used and was going to throw away. Ill have to work with it a bit and see if I can make a good shoulder strap with it. Great idea!

Hi Everybody,
It is great to read all the responses made to this thread.
I have managed to use the Canon Battery Pack CP-E4 only for a short shoot out for a swimming event in a public pool in the practice hour before the start of the major event. I set my cn function on the 580 to external battery source. After 30 to 40 shots with intervals, the recycling time slowed and then the flash did not respond.

Tried several methods but found that disengaging the cn fn to off for external flash, it worked perfectly well.

Well, it is great walking around with this pack hanging from the belt and the curly wire attached to flash which somehow caught the eyes of many camera enthusiasts.

Will be trying out again this weekend in a banquet room, which would mean firing up the ceiling for bounce flash effect.

Of course I have tested the pack off and on but then the duration is too short to determine its advantages - though I have now found out that I have 3 pack of batteries to charge and when you use the pack for short durations - a new problem arises when you pick up the pack again for another session with the question hanging in your head - should I charge the batteries again or carry spares - just in case.

Peter

Not sure if this is of use to you chaps:

http://bvspulsar.com/v​3.htm

I found them today whilst browsing around for flash packs...

Peter Ho wrote in post #5188518
Hi Everybody,
It is great to read all the responses made to this thread.
I have managed to use the Canon Battery Pack CP-E4 only for a short shoot out for a swimming event in a public pool in the practice hour before the start of the major event. I set my cn function on the 580 to external battery source. After 30 to 40 shots with intervals, the recycling time slowed and then the flash did not respond.

Tried several methods but found that disengaging the cn fn to off for external flash, it worked perfectly well.

Well, it is great walking around with this pack hanging from the belt and the curly wire attached to flash which somehow caught the eyes of many camera enthusiasts.

Will be trying out again this weekend in a banquet room, which would mean firing up the ceiling for bounce flash effect.

Of course I have tested the pack off and on but then the duration is too short to determine its advantages - though I have now found out that I have 3 pack of batteries to charge and when you use the pack for short durations - a new problem arises when you pick up the pack again for another session with the question hanging in your head - should I charge the batteries again or carry spares - just in case.

Peter

Oh buy low discharge batteries like the Sanyo Eneloops

ben_r_ wrote in post #5189126
Oh buy low discharge batteries like the Sanyo Eneloops

The Eneloops will allow you to keep the batteries in the battery pack much longer between uses without losing their charge but I doubt they're going to last any longer than a regular rechargeable battery when they're being drained from usage.

If one expects to shoot more than the batteries are capable of allowing, then having a second set of batteries, to me, would just seem like the logical thing to do. Or stop shooting when the battaries run out.

Yep, I carry a spare set.

Sun Tsu
I also have a 580ex and used it a day ago. I noted that there is a setting for it to be used with an external pack setting on the flash which is
c fn 07 = 1 (to set on)
Anyone out there use this setting when coupled with the ext pack?

Peter

GerBee wrote in post #4681500
Already mentioned that. One can set up the flash to draw from all, the pack or the flash except that they demonstrated a phenomena whereby they drew from the flash unit's own batteries, regardless of setting.

Many a time I ran into do a quick photo with just a camera and flash only to find the flash flat ~ exactly what I don't want ~ but plug in the pack again and yer back in business.

I use the external pack all the time the CP-E2, E3 and E4 now and I did try out the settings with the 580EX II and they worked, except if one did not notice one ended up with all 12 flat batteries ~ bad ~ so I use it in its default mode and when the flash starts to miss I can, as mentioned earlier swap out some from the pack and carry on ~ very handy.

The whole principal is a bit mute if you can't see a battery meter for the two devices.

Ger Bee
I have also this problem with the batteries in the flash going flat (but I had not set the cfn on the flash to 1) so this means my cp pack is not being used???
which means all the time I had been using the batteries on the flash only .. am I correct in saying this.
The whole setup is a bit confusing as there are no devices to show which is which.... batteries on flash low... or batteries on cp low....

Peter

Peter Ho wrote in post #5223728
Sun Tsu
I also have a 580ex and used it a day ago. I noted that there is a setting for it to be used with an external pack setting on the flash which is
c fn 07 = 1 (to set on)
Anyone out there use this setting when coupled with the ext pack?

Peter

Yes, that's what my flashes are set to. The recycling is a little slower than when the internal batteries are used, too, but using just the external batteries for the recycling will make the internal batteries last much longer.

I use two of these units with the CF set to "0" - and have had none of the mentioned problems. I can shoot a whole event of 100's of photo's without needing to replace batteries (although I do carry an extra slide-in tray of batteries). I use 2700MAh Nimh rechargables.

TJ