40D & 580EXII

I have a 40D and a 580EXII. The camera no longer seems to have control over the 580EXII other than to fire it. The symptoms are that when I take any picture it's totally washed out - all white. Without the 580EXII everything seems to be normal (either with the internal flash or no flash).

In the Flash Control menu on the 40D when I try to go to either the External flash func. setting or the External flash C.Fn setting I get the following message: "This menu cannot be displayed. Incompatible flash or flash's power is turned off."

The batteries in both the camera and flash are fully charged and I cleaned the contacts on the flash and camera.

I thought the 40D can control the 580EXII or am I wrong about that?

I haven't used the 580EXII much on this camera but my recollection is that it used to work fine. It's very possible that I accidentally changed a setting on either the camera or the flash but if I did I can't find it.

Any suggestions appreciated on what I should do or settings I should check or anything else.

Thanks.

Peter

Try resetting both to their default settings. Is the flash in ETTL?

Make sure the flash is all the way on the hotshoe. I've had this happen and fixed it by reseating the flash on the hotshoe

mikejet wrote in post #9390926
Try resetting both to their default settings. Is the flash in ETTL?

I reset the camera but how do I reset the 580EXII to default settings (my manual is not handy)?

The flash says TTL. I can't seem to keep it at ETTL.

Peter

shybull wrote in post #9391068
Make sure the flash is all the way on the hotshoe. I've had this happen and fixed it by reseating the flash on the hotshoe

I've tried several times but nothing changed.
Peter

The master/slave switch turned to "off"?

pmokover wrote in post #9390874
I have a 40D and a 580EXII. The camera no longer seems to have control over the 580EXII other than to fire it. The symptoms are that when I take any picture it's totally washed out - all white. Without the 580EXII everything seems to be normal (either with the internal flash or no flash).

In the Flash Control menu on the 40D when I try to go to either the External flash func. setting or the External flash C.Fn setting I get the following message: "This menu cannot be displayed. Incompatible flash or flash's power is turned off."

The batteries in both the camera and flash are fully charged and I cleaned the contacts on the flash and camera.

I thought the 40D can control the 580EXII or am I wrong about that?

I haven't used the 580EXII much on this camera but my recollection is that it used to work fine. It's very possible that I accidentally changed a setting on either the camera or the flash but if I did I can't find it.

Any suggestions appreciated on what I should do or settings I should check or anything else.

Thanks.

Peter

My initial thought was that the flash must be set in manual at full power but you say it is in ttl so it can't be that.

How about Flash Exposure Compensation? You may have adjusted this up perhaps, although I doubt it would wash out the image that much...

What shutter speed, aperture and iso are you testing this at?

Have you tried the same shot with the 40D's in-built flash? What does that look like?

Try posting comparison shots here both with and without the flash and keeping the exif info intact. There may be something in that that we can spot.

Josh_30 wrote in post #9391223
The master/slave switch turned to "off"?

Yes, master/slave is off.
Peter

Disregard almost all replies you've got above and focus on making the connection between camera and flash to work. Since the camera complains about that the flash isn't compatible for control through the camera's menu system, it's obviously so that camera and flash can't communicate. That's also the reason for the overexposure.

It doesn't matter which mode or anything the flash is set to. It must be able to communicate, or it will just fire.
You can reset the flash to default settings by leaving it without batteries for some time (not sure how long, but over night will do it).

If it's not dirt or stuck pin or something in the hotshoe and/or the flash, then there may be some fault. To find out where, you may need another flash and/or camera, so that you can check which combinations do work.

The problem appears to be solved. It looks like it was dirty contacts. I had cleaned them twice before posting my first message here. I tried one more time and everything seems to be working normally now. I'm not sure why it took three cleanings.

Thanks to all who helped!

Is there a recommended cleaning method or solution for these contacts for my future reference?

Peter

Sometimes it is actually some grime that prevents the pin from seating correctly, and so it doesn't contact the pin of the camera. Some isopropyl alcohol on a swap will usually clean the contacts quickly and easily. The other test is to manually press the flash vertically down into the camera hot shoe. If things work well, then it might be that the hot shoe is loose on the camera.