FEL on 1DmIII and 580EX question/problem

Can someone please answer a simple question for me. When using a 580EX on a 1DMIII, does half-pressing the shutter ALWAYS cause the camera to send a flash and activate flash exposure lock (FEL), no matter what mode or custom functions are set?

That is what mine is doing, and it really seems strange that there is a dedicated FEL button if it always does another FEL when you start to press the shutter. This happens even when the camera AND flash are in full manual mode.

I am not referring to the 'preflash' once the shutter opens and the scene gets metered with the preflash.

I do not want to set a FEL everytime I half press the shutter button to meter a scene, so if this is normal but can be disabled, please let me know.

Thanks

No this is NOT normal. Mine does not fel every half press of shutter. Only when I press fel. Not sure what is causing it, but perhaps resetting all CF and starting fresh. I took a look over the custom functions, but didn't see one that would cause this. Maybe the 580 is faulty? Does this happen on another body as well?

Thank you for the reply. I had called Canon Support, and was told it was normal and that the camera was just metering the scene. I really didn't think the guy knew what he was talking about and didn't seem familiar with the 1DMIII at all.

So, I emailed Canon tech support, and was told that it was NOT normal and I should reset all camera settings and functions, which I have done several times now with no luck.

I think I have it narrowed down to the body. I have used a 580eX and a 420EX, and both have this problem. I also tried the flashes on a 30D and did not have that problem.

So, I'm kind of stuck right now waiting on another email response from Canon.

If anyone has any additional ideas for me to try, please let me know.

Check the contacts on the hotshoe. If nothing else is wrong there, then I think it needs a trip to Canon.

So far, Canon Support has had me do a 'hard' reset by removing the date/time backup battery for 20 minutes. That didn't fix it. They have given me another thing to try to 'reset' the flash, but I'm not optimistic at this point. It just isn't a good time for me to be without the camera.

jwwill0 wrote in post #5302411
They have given me another thing to try to 'reset' the flash, but I'm not optimistic at this point.

How does one reset the 580EX.
Mine is behaving strangely. Even when off camera it shows TTL instead of E-TTL, the fast shutter speed option does not come on, etc. etc.

There's a custom function on the flash that makes it behave like that, well, if it's a 580 EX II. If not, you may have to zero them all manually.
You can reset all custom functions on the flash through the camera's menu system, if you have a camera that supports that. Your signature says you have a 1D Mark III, and that can do it.

I've never tried what happens if you set the camera to lock exposure at half press, and then put a flash on top? On lower end cameras, you use the exposure lock button to perform FEL. But as the OP seems to have reset everything already, I wouldn't assume that to be the issue. Or is it?

The OP is 14 months long gone, but I think biswasg asked a question.

I second that - how does one RESET a 580EX?

Wow, this was a really old thread. Anyway, I never had a chance to send the body in for service. The problem would happen with three different speedlights (420EX, 430EX, and 580EX).

However, when I updated the firmware from 1.2.3 to 1.2.5, the problem went away

As for the question on resetting the flash, this was the response I received last year from canon service. (this is for the 580EX and 1DIII combo)

I may be wrong since it's been so long, but I believe the <CLEAR> they referred to was just the 'clear camera settings' in the camera menu, but while the flash was attached. Not sure how that 'resets' the flash, but it didn't help me in this case.