Very strange problem with 580EX II

I wonder if anybody could shed any light on this please (excuse the pun)

I have a EOS 7D and Speedlite 580 EXII and like to use the flash on a bracket off to the side of the camera. I used an official Canon OC-E3 cord and all seemed fine.

After a while though I noticed the flash was not firing every time or was dropping out of ETTL mode and firing full power.
Batteries were fine and if I put the flash back on the top of the camera it would work fine.
Naturally I assumed the cord was at fault so ordered a yongnuo equivalent (didn't want to pay full Canon prices just in case) but I was still having the same problems.

To make it even stranger my friend forgot his cord once so borrowed my canon one to use on his 5D MKII with 480 flash (I believe) and he used it all day without any problems

I know this all seems extremely strange as individually there does not seem to be one piece at fault, mount on camera is fine, flash is fine and cord is fine but put the three together and I get problems

All I can think is there may be some tiny fault on the camera flash mount that as soon as I add additional connections (e.g. the cord) it doesn't like it. Maybe the voltage is dropping off?

Has anybody else encountered this type of issue and if so do you have a solution please as I would really like to go back to using my bracket again.

Many Thanks

Darren

I can only commiserate. No solution that I have found.

If I mount my Metz flash directly on the 40D camera's hotshoe, it works fine. Always triggers, always says it is in ETTL mode.

But if I mount the same flash on a Canon OC-E2 or OC-E3 or on a new Yungnuo or other new aftermarket cord, the flash triggers but it often fires full power even though it continues to think it is in ETTL mode.

I hate ETTL for so many different reasons.

I've had the same problem and I think what is happening for you is an intermittent communication error, probably due to a bad connection at the point where the flash mounts on the cord. The flash defaults in to ttl rather than ettl and end up firing full power. I've had it happen a few times with an off brand cord, but only once with my canon and never on the YN clone. Do you use a fong or similar type of diffuser? I've noted that using those as a common occurrence among users with a similar complaint. I'm guess the extra weight of the device ( magnified by being out on the end of the flash, making it act as a lever) puts increased pressure on the mount. Anyway check to see that there isnt any gunk on your cords hotshoe to make it connect poorly, if not see if anything else (like the removable rubber weather sealing) is keeping you from getting proper contact.

Skids wrote in post #10877784
I wonder if anybody could shed any light on this please (excuse the pun)

I have a EOS 7D and Speedlite 580 EXII and like to use the flash on a bracket off to the side of the camera. I used an official Canon OC-E3 cord and all seemed fine.

After a while though I noticed the flash was not firing every time or was dropping out of ETTL mode and firing full power.
Batteries were fine and if I put the flash back on the top of the camera it would work fine.
Naturally I assumed the cord was at fault so ordered a yongnuo equivalent (didn't want to pay full Canon prices just in case) but I was still having the same problems.

To make it even stranger my friend forgot his cord once so borrowed my canon one to use on his 5D MKII with 480 flash (I believe) and he used it all day without any problems

I know this all seems extremely strange as individually there does not seem to be one piece at fault, mount on camera is fine, flash is fine and cord is fine but put the three together and I get problems

All I can think is there may be some tiny fault on the camera flash mount that as soon as I add additional connections (e.g. the cord) it doesn't like it. Maybe the voltage is dropping off?

Has anybody else encountered this type of issue and if so do you have a solution please as I would really like to go back to using my bracket again.

Many Thanks

Darren

This may sound weird but I think the connection between the 580EXII and cord plus the camera's hotshoe and cord is a bit loose. I have had the same problems with using my 5D MKII, the OC-E3 cord and 580EXII and noticed the same problems so I wipes the contacts on all of the hotshoe connections and wiggled them all for a tighter fit. Then it worked for me....but not 100% of the time. I have to make sure everytime I connect them I have to wiggle the connections around a bit or they won't work.

My experience is similar to others.
It seems that Canon's tolerance for the hot shoe on camera and on flash, cable, etc. is looser than its tolerance between the pins on the hot shoe and the contacts on the camera. I have found it necessary to wiggle the speedlite, cable or radio trigger from time to time when there is a misfire. That always seems to get things back to working.

Thanks for the replies.

In one way it is a bit of a relief to hear it is not just me having these issues as it was driving me nuts.

Like dmward says it seems like the tolerances are a bit off.

I will give everything a good clean and have a play, problem is when I do testing it seems to work everytime and will only play up when I am trying to get that crucial shot, Murphys Law I guess.

If I do find any solutions I will let you know.

Thanks again

I just tried again, and I noticed that with the flash directly on the camera hotshoe, the flash exposure compensation symbol does not normally appear on the top LCD or in the viewfinder, and the flash works fine. But then when I try the OC-E2 cord, the flash exposure compensation symbol does appear on the top LCD and in the viewfinder, and the flash does not work properly...all the while with the ETTL mode correctly indicated on the flash.

I checked with my 5D, but it does not behave the same...the FEC symbol does not appear when the OC-E2 cord is being used, ETTL flash works fine.

I'm beginning to think that my 40D is not working as it should!

Wilt, with 50D and 580EX II on-cam, the FEC symbol is not visible on the flash on power-up. The viewfinder display is not activated.

On half-shutter, the symbol (and other displays) appears on flash LCD and in viewfinder.

Attaching the OC-E2 cord, precisely the same behaviour is observed.

Skids wrote in post #10877784
I wonder if anybody could shed any light on this please (excuse the pun)

I have a EOS 7D and Speedlite 580 EXII and like to use the flash on a bracket off to the side of the camera. I used an official Canon OC-E3 cord and all seemed fine.

After a while though I noticed the flash was not firing every time or was dropping out of ETTL mode and firing full power.
Batteries were fine and if I put the flash back on the top of the camera it would work fine.
Naturally I assumed the cord was at fault so ordered a yongnuo equivalent (didn't want to pay full Canon prices just in case) but I was still having the same problems.

To make it even stranger my friend forgot his cord once so borrowed my canon one to use on his 5D MKII with 480 flash (I believe) and he used it all day without any problems

I know this all seems extremely strange as individually there does not seem to be one piece at fault, mount on camera is fine, flash is fine and cord is fine but put the three together and I get problems

All I can think is there may be some tiny fault on the camera flash mount that as soon as I add additional connections (e.g. the cord) it doesn't like it. Maybe the voltage is dropping off?

Has anybody else encountered this type of issue and if so do you have a solution please as I would really like to go back to using my bracket again.

Many Thanks

Darren

I'm new to the forum but a canon shooter for over over 37 years. I had the exact same experience with my 50d and ex2 and Promaster ttl cord. I noticed on a wedding shoot that i couldnt get fel. then i noticed the flash was either firing at full power, no power, or at a constant power that i didnt choose all in ettl-2. i thought it was a custom function setting with the camera but after testing and cleaning the contacts the problem was inconsistent. cleaned the contacts, and while shooting another wedding the same problem occurred forcing me to put the flash on the hotshoe. I just bought a yongnuo and ordered another after the 1st came from china and it tested ok. i think there is a communication problem and we will never get canon to admit it...

Thanks for the further updates, lets hope Canon does admit an issue or if they aren't willing to admit it at least sneak the fix into a future firmware update. I'm sure they don't do sneaky things like that though!

Its been a while but I was trying the flash on a bracket again and noticed that when I went to portrait mode (flash above camera on the bracket) it wouldn't fire.

I am guessing because the weight of the flash tilted sideways is disrupting the connection.

This is really annoying and I intend to contact Canon about it.

At the extortionate price they charge for the OC-E3 they should make sure it works!

I wouldn't complain if I was using a third party cord or flash but they are both Canon.

I am now considering using the flash on the bracket but in slave mode so I don't need the cord (I have a 7D so can trigger it with the built in flash and still get full ETTL but I am guessing that as well as the flashing red light on the flash being off putting for people I am photographing and two flashes firing (even though I set it to only fire the speedlite it still uses the built in flash to trigger it) it will also drain the flash batteries a lot quicker.

I am really annoyed about this

Did you try tightening the screws on both the hot shoe on the camera and the foot on the flash?

klr.b wrote in post #11327644
Did you try tightening the screws on both the hot shoe on the camera and the foot on the flash?

Hi I tightened the screws on the flash, thats why I went back to testing it again

I didn't touch anything on the camera as I dont want to damage anything.

Thing is everything works fine if the flash is directly on the camera so I don't want to risk causing more problems. (It took me a lot of courage to attack the flash!)

End of the day, as other people have said in other posts, the new slide type connector for the 580 EX II does not help matters as with the old screw type, you can tighten as required I bet if I got one of the old type flashes with a screw connector it would work OK.

Canon broke the old rule fixed something that wasn't broken and managed to break it!

Thanks for the advice though, everything is appreciated