430EX wont flash most times, please help

ok so have a 40d with the 430ex
i tried to shoot some pictures at my friends birthday dinner in a restaurant.
Problem, most of the time the flash wont fire which results in dark pictures
it was like a 2/10 pictures that the flash would work.
sometimes it wants to but mostly it doesnt want to

can some please help me out.
am i suppse to be on a special mode on the camera or flash? i am really lost and frustrated that i didnt get to take the pictures that i wanted.

I hate to ask, but someone has to: are you using fresh batteries? When the 430EX recycles the ready light will show dark when it's not able to fire, and red when it is ready.

Try taking a picture each time the ready light goes red. If the camera fires but the flash doesn't, let us know. If it is able to fire each time when it is fully charged, then it's just not recycling fast enough for your needs.

its red, to be honest i have never seen it green
but sometimes when im trying to focus it the flash doesnt fire. i had a fresh set of batteries and yet i still seem to have that problem?

do you know what mode i am suppose to be shooting in? i shoot on the mode whatever it is on when i flip on the on switch
i believe the problem is that that camera and flash arent working together for some reason.
and for the camera i use manual and i turn the white balance mode to Flash

Did that only happened once in the restaurant or all the time? If one time only, could be the flash didn't sit in properly on the hot shoe.

ProjektSol wrote in post #7281219
its red, to be honest i have never seen it green

My bad, the 580EX II lights green when it's partially charged.

ProjektSol wrote in post #7281219
but sometimes when im trying to focus it the flash doesnt fire.

The flash should emit the red autofocus assist beam when you half-press the shutter, to aid in focusing. Once focus lock is achieved then you can depress the shutter button all the way and the camera & flash should fire.

Is the autofocus assist beam working fine? Does the camera lock focus?

ProjektSol wrote in post #7281219
i had a fresh set of batteries and yet i still seem to have that problem?

do you know what mode i am suppose to be shooting in? i shoot on the mode whatever it is on when i flip on the on switch
i believe the problem is that that camera and flash arent working together for some reason.
and for the camera i use manual and i turn the white balance mode to Flash

The flash defaults to the normal ETTL II mode when you've removed the batteries for more than a minute or so. You should see ETTL on the top left corner. This is the mode you want. If the little light "C.Fn" is lit, please tell us.

Try again and let us know if the flash fires each time you take a picture, after waiting for the flash ready light to go red. If the light is red on the flash, but the flash doesn't fire when you take pictures, then we can do some additional testing.

ProjektSol wrote in post #7281219
do you know what mode i am suppose to be shooting in? i shoot on the mode whatever it is on when i flip on the on switch
i believe the problem is that that camera and flash arent working together for some reason.
and for the camera i use manual and i turn the white balance mode to Flash

Just to eliminate any other variables, set your camera on full auto (the green square), set the 430EX to E-TTL, and take some shots indoors.

If the flash goes off each time and the pictures look reasonably good, your need to read your manual on how to use the flash when in Av, Tv or Manual mode.

What kind of batteries (rechargable/alkaline)​?. When you say fresh, do you mean fresh off the charger/out of the wrapper or just "pretty new"?

Is the red light coming on every time and the flash is not firing?

How long have you had this combo, and how often do you use it?

to be honest the red only comes on when it works
but when i state it never fires, im pretty sure the red light is not on.

i only use this combo when its dark etc. but everchance i get i will use the flash.

If the red light doesn't come one then the capacitor isn't charged up yet. Which means the batteries are either getting low or you are trying to fire off shots too quickly, before the flash is getting a chance to recycle.

No red light = flash not ready to fire yet. If it's taking too long to recharge, your batteries are low.

Charge your batteries.

perryge wrote in post #7284994
No red light = flash not ready to fire yet. If it's taking too long to recharge, your batteries are low.

Charge your batteries.

This man knows that which he speaks!

so can anyone tell me if i can shoot in continous mode along with the flash
or does it have regenerate each time i take 1 shot?

In continuous shot mode your 40D is capable of 6.3 (6.5 spec) frames per second. The 430EX will probably* not fire at this speed. You're more likely to get 1-3 flashes, and then a delay while it recharges, resulting in at least a few black frames.

If you need the capability to shoot faster with flash lighting the scene each time, I'm afraid it's going to cost you some more money. You could buy the 580EX II and a CP-E4 battery pack and you would have much better results.

* I say it "probably" won't fire at this speed because there are conditions where if you are firing it at low power it would be able to fire more times before recycling.

thanks for the tip i do plan on upgrading to the 580ex

Consult your manuals and be sure to set "Quick Flash" mode on. This mode allows the camera to ask the flash to fire even when the capacitor in the speedlite is not fully recycled to its fully charged state.

Without QuickFlash on, I imagine the flash won't fire until the green/red charge light is on.

If you have a fully charged capacitor, you can test to see how many shots you can get. Put flash in manual and set for 1/128. Shoot away. You will get many more shots with that low flash output than you will get with flash output 1/1. It should make perfect sense to you. With ETTL, it will all depend on if ETTL is asking the flash for 1/1 output or 1/128 output or somewhere in-between.