I think I overheated my flash...

I think I overheated my Sigma Super. It was set on slave and shooting at an umbrella for some group shots. Other peoples' point&shoots were setting it off full power. It got quite hot, so I turned it off and just used one shoe-mount flash. I used it more extensively the last two weeks and about 1 out of 3 shots fired in ETTL don't register correctly. The same power is output from the flash every time, but 1 out of 3 pictures turn out dark, as if no flash fired. In manual, it works fine. Anyone have any comments on this?

Gently clean your contacts on the flash and hotshoe. Re-check your settings and try again. Check your batteries. It may not be charging as fast as you expect if they're run down. That would account for misfires. Check your shooting mode. If the shutter speed is to high, it might not fire.

-Mickey

It fires, but just not at the right time. I can see the flash go off as I click the shutter, but then the picture comes out dark. Using the same settings, the picture can still come out fine if I try again, so it isnt the shutter speed. I shoot in manual. I tried replacing with fresh batteries but it doesnt help.

Did you wipe the contacts? I know that even when they look clean, sometimes a simple wipe makes the difference. If that doesn't get it going, hopefully it's still under warranty. I had the same flash hang on me. The motor for the zoom head locked up and it died. They sent a whole new unit in box complete under warranty. I didn't send back the case, thinking that they'd just send the unit back. So now I have a nice Sigma case for my 'fit over' sunglasses....

-Mickey

unfortunately, its not under warranty. I modded it a few months ago. THat could also be a source of the problem, but it wasnt an issue till after I shot all those group pictures, which makes me think I burnt out something.

I'll check the contacts thing later tonight

Any luck? What kind of mod did you make?
-Mickey

Vermin87 wrote in post #3544087
I think I overheated my Sigma Super. It was set on slave and shooting at an umbrella for some group shots. Other peoples' point&shoots were setting it off full power. It got quite hot, so I turned it off and just used one shoe-mount flash. I used it more extensively the last two weeks and about 1 out of 3 shots fired in ETTL don't register correctly. The same power is output from the flash every time, but 1 out of 3 pictures turn out dark, as if no flash fired. In manual, it works fine. Anyone have any comments on this?...It fires, but just not at the right time. I can see the flash go off as I click the shutter

Vermin, if you are using your camera flash as the trigger for your optical slaved Sigma, it would make sense (and have absolutely the wrong effect!!!) if the Sigma goes off when you say it does! The ETTL flash (your on-camera unit) emits a pre-flash a brief moment before the shutter opens, so it can read the light and determine in advance how much light to tell the flash to emit...the preflash will prematurely trigger any optically slaved flash unit! And that is also why it would work fine in manual...no preflash.

No luck....cleaned the contacts and it still doesnt work right. It seems to get worse actually the more I use it. So the first few shots are fine, but after shooting in ETTL for a couple of minutes, it starts going whack on me.

Wilt, It was fine when I used it as a slave, and I was using another flash in manual to trigger it, but what I'm talking about now is just mounting the flash on the hot-shoe and shooting ettl. It flashes, but it doesn't register in the pictures sometimes...or even sometimes I can see noticeably that the flash is weaker.

Vermin87 wrote in post #3571598
Wilt, It was fine when I used it as a slave, and I was using another flash in manual to trigger it, but what I'm talking about now is just mounting the flash on the hot-shoe and shooting ettl. It flashes, but it doesn't register in the pictures sometimes...or even sometimes I can see noticeably that the flash is weaker.

Oh, was OK as slave with manual flash trigger, now acting weird and needing repair. I just wanted to make sure this was not one of those newbie observations that had root cause in something normal!

Tragerman wrote in post #3568374
Any luck? What kind of mod did you make?
-Mickey

I added a coaxial plug for an external battery pack...which I have yet to finish building. We'll see about that though, since now the ETTL is defective.

Man, that's a shame. I hope all those other folks appreciated the light you gave them....

This sounds like another ad for the cheap eBay radio triggers...

You may still be able to get Sigma to service your modified flash, even though they'll probably argue that you've voided the warranty and you'll have to pay.

It seems worth enquiring - as the flash is useless if it's unreliable, and the cost of fixing it is probably less than the cost of getting a new one.

David

true, davidW. I'll look into that later.