new to 430ex II. pls help

hi everyone,

i just picked up my first external flash (430ex II) today and i was wondering if you could help me with something. when i have it all set up and ready to go, i don't get a reading in the zoom section nor in the maximum effective range section.
all i see on the flash's lcd is: ETTL Zoom --mm

according to the manual, i should be able to see this info if i press my shutter half way.

any ideas why this is the case? i have fresh batteries in the flash and i am using an xsi.

thanks,
mary

Are you pointing the flash straight ahead or do you have it in bounce position?

On my 430ex, the zoom numbers only show up in bounch position when I set the zoom manually.

you are right. i figured it out too about 10 minutes ago. all this time i have been trying to figure out how to delete this post.
thanks for your respose.
mary