580 EX II Failure -- Confirmed Diagnosis

Had an opportunity to help a fellow POTN'r today with a team sports shoot. Tough conditions -- direct sunlight with no clouds.

Shooting on camera flash for fill, with temps at high noon in the 90's.

And the flash fails. Just wont fire, although the displays are all alive and kicking.

So I go to the backup. 20 minutes later, same thing.

My employer loans me his, which gets me through the shoot.

The only thing we could figure is that between the heat and the usage (firing 2 full 1/1 manual dumps every 3 minutes) activated the safeties.

Both seem to work fine this evening.

Does this sound reasonable? Both are under warranty, so sending them back if there is something I missing, a heads up would be appreciated.

Thanks!

The casing can get pretty hot in direct sunlight, so it wouldn't surprise me if the safeties kicked in. Was the flash casing hot to the touch?

Oh yes.

Coulda fried an egg on it.

Then it's safe to assume that the safety kicked in both times.

Thanks!

Well, if it was a thermal shutdown then I'd have to say it was caused by the ambient heat. I was using my 580EX II today for indoor volleyball and was doing full power shots as fast as the flash would recharge for 10-20 min at a time with no problems. My Eneloops were pretty hot though at the end... lol

I am sure the ambient heat was the big culprit.

MSIGuy wrote in post #6302845
Well, if it was a thermal shutdown then I'd have to say it was caused by the ambient heat. I was using my 580EX II today for indoor volleyball and was doing full power shots as fast as the flash would recharge for 10-20 min at a time with no problems. My Eneloops were pretty hot though at the end... lol

Read your owner's manual...it clearly states that after using the flash for a certain number of consecutive shots, that the flash needs to rest for a period, so as to not cause the flash to suffer thermal overload. Several POTN members have experienced total failure of their flashes due to over use, one of them suffering multiple flash unit failures before learning to heed the instructions.

Ty, good to hear the 580's are working properly again. I wish I had thought to pick one of em up. I've never hit the thermal safety barrier . Next time, don't shoot in the direct sunlight.

I think you should wrap the flash with a cool towel or something to keep temps down.

Wilt wrote in post #6304873
Read your owner's manual...it clearly states that after using the flash for a certain number of consecutive shots, that the flash needs to rest for a period, so as to not cause the flash to suffer thermal overload. Several POTN members have experienced total failure of their flashes due to over use, one of them suffering multiple flash unit failures before learning to heed the instructions.

Actually, I was shooting sports portraits and doing paperwork at the same time. Added up to about 2 discharges every coupe minutes.

I have worked the flashes much harder shooting indoor sports, ever mindful of the cook temps. I had not worked them near as hard as I normally do indoors.

As an aside, their were two of us shooting individual portraits. The other guy was shooting nikon, and his sb-800 just cruised along, although some of the parameters he was working with meant he didn't need as much gas from his flash per shot.

Rockies Photo wrote in post #6304896
Ty, good to hear the 580's are working properly again. I wish I had thought to pick one of em up. I've never hit the thermal safety barrier . Next time, don't shoot in the direct sunlight.

That's good advice. My sunburned head concurs as well!

mattograph wrote in post #6306254
Actually, I was shooting sports portraits and doing paperwork at the same time. Added up to about 2 discharges every coupe minutes.

My comment was directed to another post that stated, "full power shots as fast as the flash would recharge for 10-20 min at a time "

Wilt wrote in post #6306389
My comment was directed to another post that stated, "full power shots as fast as the flash would recharge for 10-20 min at a time "

Ah.

Senseless defensiveness withdrawn!

Wilt wrote in post #6304873
Read your owner's manual...it clearly states that after using the flash for a certain number of consecutive shots, that the flash needs to rest for a period, so as to not cause the flash to suffer thermal overload. Several POTN members have experienced total failure of their flashes due to over use, one of them suffering multiple flash unit failures before learning to heed the instructions.

I have read the manual, and am well aware of the thermal shutdown. What I was saying was that the contributing factor of the shutdown was most likely the ambient temperature rather than the internal build up of heat caused by the discharge of the flash.

I guess when it comes to my expectations of my equipment during their intended use is that if I need to use it I will. If the equipment can't take my use, well, that's what warranties and insurance is for. I"m certainly not going to baby my equipment in order to keep it from getting hot at the expense of missing shots. If I use it hard and it breaks, oh well, time for different equipment.

When the 580EX II was waterproofed, I thought "Great" I can have it outside the camera coat at least in light rain. But I did worry that it meant that it was ventilation-proof also, and the black body would absorb sun-heat.

Perhaps we need a little flashbracket-mounted umbrella! With a fan.