G3 + 420EX help...not working! What did I do?!

I have a G3 and a 420EX flash that I got over a year ago and I love. I was recently playing with settings and think I messed something up. The flash is firing, but the pictures still come out like there was no flash. Any ideas what I accidentally changed, and how do I fix it? The camera is working fine without the 420EX attached. Thanks! ~Kim

(It's not the batteries...I already tried that!)

Would it be practical to go to wherever you bought the flash and ask them to help? There might be a better chance in that they can see your configuration and make a judgement about possible problems. Even better, they can probably swap to another flash to determine whether it's a flash problem or a camera problem - divide and conquer.

although I have a G6, does your camera have a settings RESET function which may bring you back to a mode where the camera works properly with the flash?

Look at all the settings in the menu and function areas and tell us what they are.

Good idea, but I bought it from B&H online.

Okay.

menu (in Auto mode):
red eye: off
self timer: 10
wireless delay: 0 sec.
AF mode: single
AF assist beam: off
dig.zoom: off
review: 2 sec.

menu (in P mode):
Flash sync: 1st curtain
slow synchro: off
red eye: off
cont shooting: H
self timer: 10
wireless delay: 0 sec.
spot AE point: AF Point
ND Filter: off
MF point zoom: on
AF mode: single
AF assist beam: off
digital zoom: off
review: 2 sec.

I don't know. I'll check the manual, but maybe someone here will answer first?

Okay, I did that. Now I'll go play with it and see if it works...

nada...

It is still firing the flash, but the pics are horribly dark, as if there wasn't a flash at all. I'm shooting in my living room, with a lamp on, but the pics are coming out as if there's barely a nightlight on. Also, the picture is a little bit lighter in P mode than it is in Auto or Portrait modes. Does that help at all?

Make sure that the switch on the 420ex is not set to HIGH SPEED mode, it's the H with the lightning bolt next to it.. should be set on the green dot.

Try not to inlcude the lamp in the scene. A bright bulb in the scene will cause the camera to close the aperture smaller than you need for the flash GN, after that, it's a matter of the amount of light you want.. If you have a choice in camera settings, set your aperture to f5.6-f8, shutter speed to less than the max x-sync of the camera.

If the flash is switched to "H" these settings would contribute to underexposure.

"slow synchro: off"
"cont shooting: H"

Is it possible that the flash is firing slightly after the photo is taken? Is there a setting to adjust that?

It is set on the green dot.

I took lots of pictures, with the lamp and without, just messing around with different settings. I only mentioned this specific shot because I know that the picture should've been much brighter, even without any flash. It's like the camera is making every pic much darker than it should be, like it's actually taking light away. KWIM?

Anyone have any other ideas? (I've got a good eye for photography, but still need the technical knowledge of what I'm doing...in case you couldn't already tell! LOL)

In P mode, when you half press the shutter do you get a reading of 1/60?

Good point. Once I was using my 420 with my G6 on P mode, and I was getting wacky shutter speeds (different from the usual 1/60), and the pictures looked terrible. Turned out my 420 was not pushed all the way in properly. With that fixed, it got back to normal.

I presume you have checked to see that the contacts of the 420 are correctly placed on the hotshoe? Pushed all the way in? If it is connected properly, I don't know what the problem is.

Since you said you'd been playing with your settings, you might want to make sure you didn't change your flash exposure compensation settings (the FEC via the function button, not the EC one on the Omniselector button).