430ez flash problem or D60 hotshoe contacts?

I've had the 430 ez flash since mid 1989, hardly used, =< 100 shots with it. Has been working fine up until now on the D60, using as a flash for macro shots, but suddenly, today, it won't synch to the camera. No error messages, have removed it, then put it back on, gently cleaned the contacts on both camera and flash unit, nothing. It does fire by pressing the manual release button. Internal flash on the D60 works OK. Was set to manual mode, 1/200 (which has previously worked fine). Most of the 100 shots that I've taken with the flash have been in the past week, as I've used it with my macro shots. I don't have my eos1n back yet to test it, and the eos630's lithium battery has died. I used a tissue to gently clean the contacts on both camera and flash unit, any suggestions? Ideally, I'd like to get it on another camera and see if the contacts are working on it, that way I can narrow it down to being either the flash unit or the camera, good logic?

Dave

edit: Solved problem, used a rubber on a pencil to clean both the contacts on the flash unit and the camera, now works ok!

Dave,

Why don't you post some of those great shots you are getting with your D60 - everyone needs to see that classic D60 color first hand!

Hi

Plenty of shots up on the Macros forum I'm new to Macros, but it's an area that really interests me and I'm working hard at learning and improving the quality of my images. I'm getting great advice and help from the regs over at the Macro forums, and enjoying every moment of it!

As an aside, I'm eyeing up a Sigma 150 f2.8 Macro in the next few months. I didn't want to commit to such an expense unless I felt I enjoyed Macro shots, and I can happily report that I do!

The flash/camera is now working again, odd that it stopped working though, since I avoid touching the contacts with my fingers, so that oils etc can't get on them. I'll monitor it anyways. I've checked out the cartage costs from Australia to the US so that I can send the D60 back for a checkup on the LCD screen, and it was quite pricey, so hunting around for the best option price wise. I'll mention the flash problem as well, so that they can check that out also.

Dave

Make sure that your hotshoe is not loose as well - when I bought my used D60 from a private party the hotshoe was pretty loose - you can just slide the metal tab off of the hotshoe and then tighten the 4 screws that hold to the body - took me all of 2 minutes to get mine as tight as new and it has not loosened again since.....

What's the trigger voltage on the 430EZ? If it's over 6 V, you might have done cumulative damage to the camera's sync circuitry.

I'm not sure, where would I find that out? The D60 user manual says it's OK to use the older ez flash units, but they won't have ttl metering, it'll have to be all manually done with exposure, etc. I can have a look at the Flash's user guide though. I'll post later after I've done some research, thanks!

Dave

edited: I checked this page:

http://www.botzilla.co​m/photo/strobeVolts.ht​ml

but it doesn't show me the 430ez, only the older 420ez, which is very frustrating. It appears that the 420ez was around 4v, which is well under the 6v limit, and the 430ez was very similar to the 420ez. I shall continue searching to see what I can find. I checked the technical specifications in the flash's user guide, and as expected, it's not there. I always find that for technical specs, user guides are pathetic.

Thanks, shall have to investigate this. I presume you mean the metal holder? That's solidly on on my machine, no way I'll be able to get that off by using the fingers. I've gotta send the unit back to keh.com anyways, to get the LCD issue checked by their technicians, so I might get them to look at this as well.

Thanks for the reply, much appreciated.

Dave

some further information - from this page:

http://photonotes.org …flash/index2.ht​ml#trigger

It says:

So, I suspect that I'm OK in that respect. In all honesty, it wouldn't impress me if Canon deliberately sabotaged older, perfectly usable flash units in this type of way. I could ring Canon technical here, but all I'd get is their customer service unit, and they'd try and find someone in technical to ask the question to (I did this when trying to find out about the batteries that I'm using in the D60). It wasn't, and isn't, very impressive in all honesty.

Dave

dpastern wrote:
I'm not sure, where would I find that out? The D60 user manual says it's OK to use the older ez flash units, but they won't have ttl metering, it'll have to be all manually done with exposure, etc. I can have a look at the Flash's user guide though. I'll post later after I've done some research, thanks!

Dave

edited: I checked this page:

http://www.botzilla.co​m/photo/strobeVolts.ht​ml

but it doesn't show me the 430ez, only the older 420ez, which is very frustrating. It appears that the 420ez was around 4v, which is well under the 6v limit, and the 430ez was very similar to the 420ez. I shall continue searching to see what I can find. I checked the technical specifications in the flash's user guide, and as expected, it's not there. I always find that for technical specs, user guides are pathetic.

If Canon has (and, not having EZ strobes, I didn't pay much attention to that on my D60) said, without specifically including or excluding particular models, the EZ models can be used in manual on the D60, you should be OK. The botzilla link you presented has another link to how to measure the trigger voltage if you need to.

Yeah, that's what I thought. Still would be nice to know the trigger voltage for the 430ez unit though. I'm surprised that the site that I linked to didn't have it listed. I'll grab the voltmeter and go test I think. I had real trouble finding this post as it'd been moved. I never even noticed the small flash sub section under equipment before. Is it possible to send a auto pm to the topic poster if a topic is moved?

Dave

btw, flash/hotshoe connection has stopped working again, cleaning it doesn't fix the problem. I need to get another working eos body to test and eliminate my D60 (I'm positive that it's the D60 unit that's causing the problem).

Dave

my d60 and 20d contacts get loose all the time. you have to take a small screwdriver (for glasses) and pop the cover off the hot shoe. under that you will find some screws that will probably need to be tightened. after you tighten it all up, pop the cover back on.

Rather than fiddle with it myself, I've sent the D60 back to keh.com for warranty service. It had problems with the LCD screen anyways, so best to send it back and let them look at it, rather than tamper with it myself. Now I have to wait That's the hard bit. I'm addicted to Digital SLR photography now, and my old eos1n, whilst perfectly fine, seems less effective and more cumbersome to use

Dave