Speedlight 420ex help

Hey there,

I recently purchased a speedlight 420ex for my Canon 40D last week. I've been having extreme trouble trying to understand how this is suppose to work with me camera. I remember the first time I hooked it up and turned it on, the flash was working fine and I was able to pull out good shots. But at one point, I had to be dependent on luck for the flash to go off.

I don't think there is anything wrong with the flash it self because it turns on fine and the little red lights come up in the back. Zoom meter also works fine. I just don't understand - the camera just doesn't give a flash symbol when I have it hooked up. I've tried all different modes and even tried my friend's 430ex, and I get the same problems.

I purchased my 40D last month and it was brand new, so I highly doubt there's anything wrong with that. Are there some functions I need to set in the camera? I went into the menu and enabled flash, but still nothing..

What do I need to do? This is really aggravating me!

Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks!

deleet wrote in post #5775088
the camera just doesn't give a flash symbol when I have it hooked up.

If the flash is powered up and the ready light is on, and you have no flash icon in the camera's viewfinder, then you have an electrical contact issue.

Remove the flash from the camera, clean the contacts on both the flash and hotshoe with a pencil eraser, reattach and give it a try. Make sure the flash is slid all the way forward in the hotshoe and the locking ring is secure.

Curtis, thanks for the quick reply.
I used the eraser method and made sure that I had slid the flash on firmly into place, but still nothing...

Sorry to hear that.

Assuming you got the 420EX used, it may be a bum unit. You may want to try a fresh set of batteries to be sure.

It would be nice if you could somehow test the flash on a different camera, or test the camera with a different flash, to aid in the diagnostics.

Curtis,

As mentioned in my post, I tried a brand new 430ex on the camera too, but I had the same problem. Unfortunately, I don't have access to another camera to test the 420ex on.

Never mind, the problem lied in the batteries..
A photographer told me to always use Duracell, and I did - the flash works like a charm!

deleet wrote in post #5806543
Never mind, the problem lied in the batteries..
A photographer told me to always use Duracell, and I did - the flash works like a charm!

A couple of sets on 2400mAh nimh batteries and a charger will end up saving you money on batteries in the long run.