Pin layout on Canon flash hot shoe

Hiya,

I tried to ask this question on the DPReview forum but no joy so far... but it appears that this forum is much more DIY oriented so I guess one of you folks may have the info I look for... so here it goes:

I'm experimenting with controlling my Canon flashes using an Arduino micro processor and would like to do more than just trigger the flash in either full burst (my 420EX) or the preset manual output (on my 430EX) when connecting the center pin to ground.

So far I've been unable to find documentation for the layout of the remaining pins on the Canon flash hot shoe and I'm a bit reluctant to just experiment via trial and error in case I send too much power down the wrong wire...

So - does anybody here have a reference to documentation on the pins on the hot shoe?

And - anybody with experience in using the "quench pin" from a micro processor to control the flash duration using software?

Thank you for any pointers you can help me with!

Rgds, Claus.

I found this link.
http://billgrundmann.w​ordpress.com/2009/03/0​4/ettl-interface/

I was thinking of doing something similar, lol.

Hi mabviper,

Thanx for the link!

I was hoping to find something for Canon similar to this info on the Nikon hot shoe:
http://www.camerasunde​rwater.info/engineerin​g/flash/nikttl.html

I was hoping that a Canon flash would have something similar to the mentioned "quench" pin that could make it easy to turn off the flash programmatically.
Based on the info from the link you provided though there seems to be more to it when using the Canon interface

But keep me posted if you dare do some experiments on your own flash before we have more details... at least I could be forewarned against any experiments that makes the flash start smoking...

Rgds, Claus.

This thread is pretty ancient but, maybe this will help the next person with trouble.

Might be some worthwhile info at http://photo.net …t-techniques-forum/00DAye.

In the 5 years since this thread was started we now have many cheap ways to control flashes remotely that I don't think it's needed anymore.


A youngnuo 560 mark 4, plus remote control module are around $100 now.