580ex af assist light broken?

[photoreu]

Can someone please take a look at their 580ex and tell me if it does

this: The AF assist light seems to have 3 lights in it, two on top,

one on the bottom (at least that's how it looks). When mine lights

up (when I press the shutter down halfway in a dark room) only the

bottom and top right lights light up (when looking at the front of

the flash). It still projects the big cross pattern on the wall but

I'm not sure if one of the lights is not functioning, or used for

something else? Or are there only supposed to be two lights? Am I

just paranoid? It focuses fine, and fires fine.. but I just got it

and want to make sure it's not broken. Please let me know! Camera

it's on is an Elan 7e and 50mm f/1.8 lens.. if that makes any

difference...

[steve_dunn2]

<p>It's probably fine. If you look at a 420EX, it has two lights rather than three, and sometimes only one or the other lights up, and sometimes both light up. The reason is that each one projects a particular pattern and/or projects over a particular area. The flash and the body communicate to say which AF point(s) you're using and what types of lines they can detect, and the flash projects the appropriate pattern. I'd expect that the 580EX does something similar.</p>

 

<p>Select only one point manually. If it's the center point, you'll probably see two of the three lights. If it's top or bottom, you'll probably only see one, and if it's one of the side ones, you'll probably only see the other one.</p>

[photoreu]

you are absolutely right... changed the focus points and different combinations light up... I hate being paranoid about new gear arriving broken and it had me worried.. thanks for the quick reply! :) now... time to go shoot some pics =D

[photoreu]

after playing with it some more looks like the bottom light emits the vertical lines, the top right emits the horizontal line, and the top left emits broader horizontal lines. If any of the 3 center focus points are used (top, center, and bottom) only the bottom (vertical line) is projected. If the focus points to the left or right are used the top two lights emit a broad horizontal coverage.. and if all 7 points are used you get the bottom and top right which makes the nice cross pattern on the wall.. :) Ok.. now I really <i>am</i> going to go shoot some pix! :)