Canon CP-E4 Speedlite Compact Battery Pack

GerBee wrote in post #4675084
Applies to the 580EX II.

The 580EX was recommended to use a dummy battery in the gun to get the full benefit from the pack ~ was never an aficionado of that myself. The flash flattened its own batteries first but boosted by the pack.

The way I use mine, it's still moreorless the same way and I've found when I run out of juice, simply swap out the batteries from the pack to the gun an away you go again. I rarely carry any spares!

I've let it setup whatever way it came, happy out, so have not looked in detail, but the whilst I found the manual incorrect in practice for the 580EX it is configurable and works as stated in the manual for the 580EX II.

Actually, I have a 580 EX II so it is recommended that I can leave regular batteries in the flash unit while the CP-E4 is attached? can you use rechargeable batteries on CP-E4 and regular Alkalines in the 580 EX II or do all batteries have to be the same type (rechargables or alkalines)?

GerBee wrote in post #4675084
Applies to the 580EX II.

The 580EX was recommended to use a dummy battery in the gun to get the full benefit from the pack ~ was never an aficionado of that myself. The flash flattened its own batteries first but boosted by the pack.

The way I use mine, it's still moreorless the same way and I've found when I run out of juice, simply swap out the batteries from the pack to the gun an away you go again. I rarely carry any spares!

I've let it setup whatever way it came, happy out, so have not looked in detail, but the whilst I found the manual incorrect in practice for the 580EX it is configurable and works as stated in the manual for the 580EX II.

Perhaps you are mistaking the 580EX for the 550EX which does not allow you to configure how the internal batteries are used.

And what is a dummy battery and where does it say to use them for the 580EX? The only place where I've seen references to a dummy battery is for a Quantum Turbo 2x2 battery pack. And it recommends the dummy battery for the 550EX, not the 580EX.

Edle wrote in post #4676800
Actually, I have a 580 EX II so it is recommended that I can leave regular batteries in the flash unit while the CP-E4 is attached? can you use rechargeable batteries on CP-E4 and regular Alkalines in the 580 EX II or do all batteries have to be the same type (rechargables or alkalines)?

You need to have batteries in the flash even if you're going to be using a battery pack because they're used to power the electronics in the flash. The battery pack is used only to supply the power needed to charge up the capacitor for the flash. As for the type of battery to use, you can use whatever you want and they don't need to be the same was what's in the battery pack.

SunTsu wrote in post #4675018
Oh....I could pull out my manual, but I'm too lazy. I am guessing I configure this via the 580EX LCD?

C.Fn-07 = 1 for the 580EX and
C.Fn 12 = 1 for the 580EX II to use the external power pack for charging the flash. The internal batteries will be used only to power the flash electronics and not to charge the flash.

The 550EX is probably right but the 580EX had a bug which meant it did not operate as per the manual.

It's the exact same principal for the Quantum, the 550/80EX had three standard batteries and the lowest one was a dummy, this forced the flash to use all available power, instead of always draining the flash batteries.

A non related dummy battery mod.

http://www.burren.cx/p​hoto/flash_power.html

I looked around for a few more link but they seem old and dead ... B&H had dummy batteries for sale ~ never went that route myself because I wanted to be able to use the flash without the battery pack as well, it does not work with 3 batteries and one dummy, without the pack ~

PacAce wrote in post #4676916
Perhaps you are mistaking the 580EX for the 550EX which does not allow you to configure how the internal batteries are used.

And what is a dummy battery and where does it say to use them for the 580EX? The only place where I've seen references to a dummy battery is for a Quantum Turbo 2x2 battery pack. And it recommends the dummy battery for the 550EX, not the 580EX.

PacAce wrote in post #4677047
C.Fn-07 = 1 for the 580EX and
C.Fn 12 = 1 for the 580EX II to use the external power pack for charging the flash. The internal batteries will be used only to power the flash electronics and not to charge the flash.

Thanks...one thing I'm wondering is how the recycling time will be affected if I use only the power from the CP-E4.

Not more than Malaysian Ringgit 600. will let you know the exact price when it arrives. the exchange rate is 3.269 to 1 USD. This works out to around US183

GerBee
How about the recycling rate with flash pointed up the ceiling?

Only the 1D MkIII allows the pack to be screwed to the body as there is a warning to place the pack at least more than 2inches away from the sensor to avoid noise. This I managed to note when I read the manual when trying out the pack.

PacAce
This setting would prove useful. Thanks I have both a 550ex and a 580ex and have noted it down into my sony ericcson 910i pda phone

GerBee wrote in post #4679313
The 550EX is probably right but the 580EX had a bug which meant it did not operate as per the manual.

It's the exact same principal for the Quantum, the 550/80EX had three standard batteries and the lowest one was a dummy, this forced the flash to use all available power, instead of always draining the flash batteries.

A non related dummy battery mod.

http://www.burren.cx/p​hoto/flash_power.html

I looked around for a few more link but they seem old and dead ... B&H had dummy batteries for sale ~ never went that route myself because I wanted to be able to use the flash without the battery pack as well, it does not work with 3 batteries and one dummy, without the pack ~

I'm curious to know what that bug is since I do not know of nor heard of any issues with the 580EX.

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.

PacAce wrote in post #4680866
I'm curious to know what that bug is since I do not know of nor heard of any issues with the 580EX.

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.

I still don't understand what the bug is. The flash can be set up to either draw it's power from the external power pack only, or from both the power pack and the internal batteries. If you set it up for both, the internal batteries won't last as long because it takes a lot of juice to charge up the flash capacitor. But in either case, the internal batteries will still be used to power the flash electronics. If the juice left in the internal batteries is not enough to power the electronics, plugging in the power pack is not going to do any good. The best way to test this is by removing the internal batteries and see if the flash is going to work.

Yes, except it simply does not work as described ... that's the bug. it does work with the 580EX II.

And regards the batteries in the flash head, almost flat batteries will power the the electronics, and give a red ready light, but once fired it won't actually recharge, but the flash is still responsive otherwise.

This is actually quite annoying as one can pick up a nearly dead unit and head off out the door ~ as I did mentioned too, it's rather a moot point seeing as there is no way to tell what power is in each set of batteries.

PacAce wrote in post #4681581
I still don't understand what the bug is. The flash can be set up to either draw it's power from the external power pack only, .

I won't, unless you have the Quantum style dummy plug [for the quantum] or the dummy in cell four and 3 standard AAs in the other 3 cells. This way the flash is forced to draw from the pack only ~ I've posted this earlier too.

Are there two accounts using your user name?

PacAce wrote in post #4681581
The best way to test this is by removing the internal batteries and see if the flash is going to work.