rattle

there is a rattle from my 580ex II , is that normal?

I can create a faint rattle when I shake mine. Probably one of the parts of the motorized zoom mechanism.

Make sure the zoom function works by cycling it through the manual settings. As long as the flash works, I wouldn't worry.

Curtis N wrote in post #5026670
I can create a faint rattle when I shake mine. Probably one of the parts of the motorized zoom mechanism.

Make sure the zoom function works by cycling it through the manual settings. As long as the flash works, I wouldn't worry.

thank you very much. per.

i dont have the 580, but my 430 has a slight rattle from the top portion where you turn/flip the flash head. I thought it was broken on the first one i had so i took it back to BB and got a new one....i was lucky though, i bought a Open box version of the 430 from BB...they said they would cover any damage and just to be sure, i bought the 3 year extended warranty. I went in, said it had a rattle....waited 5 mins and they gave me a brand spanking new one..new one does the exact same thing...so i figure it must be ok.

so far everything works o.k.
per.

i took my flash to the canon servicecenter where i was told that it was the orientation sensor that made the rattle and that it was normal. so now all should be honky dory ( i hope).
per.

Now that's interesting, I never would have thought they put an orientation sensor in an external flash....

I figured it was the pull out panels flopping around.

I hate to say this, but I think the Canon rep was feeding you a line. There's no reason for a flash unit to have an orientation sensor.

it gets worse when you have the zoom head at the bounce position
i guess its the lock for the head
freaked me out too

but when you put it to the straight on position...the rattle is almost gone

Curtis N wrote in post #5056818
I hate to say this, but I think the Canon rep was feeding you a line. There's no reason for a flash unit to have an orientation sensor.

maybe when the flash is off camera?. per.

farmdog fan wrote in post #5058094
maybe when the flash is off camera?

The flash doesn't behave any differently if it's upright, sideways or upside down.

But the "orientation sensor" he referred to might be tied to the tilt/swivel mechanism. I notice mine rattles more when swiveled than when pointed forward.

Curtis N wrote in post #5059304
The flash doesn't behave any differently if it's upright, sideways or upside down.

But the "orientation sensor" he referred to might be tied to the tilt/swivel mechanism. I notice mine rattles more when swiveled than when pointed forward.

you might be right, it will have to wait until the guarantee runs out, then i can take it apart and see for myself. per.

SnlpeR wrote in post #5056859
it gets worse when you have the zoom head at the bounce position
i guess its the lock for the head
freaked me out too

but when you put it to the straight on position...the rattle is almost gone

I noticed a rattle in mine the other day too. Kinda freaked me out as well, but it's probably the swivel lock as mentioned.

When it's locked, the sound is very quiet, but when it is not locked the sound is very audible.

Mine has a louder zoom sound near the long end which is also a concern.

Not in mine.

Curtis N wrote in post #5056818
I hate to say this, but I think the Canon rep was feeding you a line. There's no reason for a flash unit to have an orientation sensor.

Maybe the orientation sensor actually refers to a position sensor that is sensing whether or not the flash is in one of the positions that disconnects the distance calculation from E-TTL. Not sensing whether the flash as a whole is off horizontal, but whether the head is flipped up or down or sideways. Just a guess.