580 EX and portrait/action mode

[amber1]

I have had my 580 for some time now, but I usually shoot in manual

mode. Today for some snapshots I just put it in portrait mode to be

lazy and noticed that the flash was not firing. The pilot light was

not even lit up. I went through all of the pre-set modes and saw

that the flash would power up in all but the portrait and action

modes. Is there something that I am doing wrong, or should I send

my flash in for repair? Unfortunately we have just moved and I

haven't found my 580 manual yet so I am pretty lost. Thanks

[rags]

In portrait mode the flash fires only if the ambient light is not lighting up your subject sufficintly. I'm not sure why the flash should not power up if you've switched it on (haven't used a 580 EX so can't comment on that). Does your camera have a built in flash. If it does you can put the camera in portrait mode and see if the built in flash pops up under the same lighting conditions. If it does then probably you've have your 580EX checked.

 

raghu