580exII speedlite having trouble with my canon 30d

[susie_todd]

I have had my speedlite since Thanksgiving of last year. Worked perfect up until about a month and half ago. Not flashing all the time -

took back to the photography store and they said seemed to work fine - wait longer between shots, change batteries often, etc.

 

Took some team golf photos on Friday and although it appeared my flash was going off, in the end product, was very dark. My exposure

was set correctly and the flash on my information said it fired. Is anyone else having this problem? I'm wondering if it is a setting that I

accidently touched to cause this but I don't know why it would work fine up until a month and a half ago and then appear to be flashing, but

the photos are dark.

 

Can anyone shed some light on this subject? It's frustrating?

Thanks!

[elliot1]

Try resetting your flash to default settings. Set you camera on its fully automatic mode and test it out. Make sure the built-in wide angle diffuser is pushed in all the way.

 

Since your flash is still under warranty, you may want to send it in to Canon and have it checked. I would include the files from a few of your photos that appear dark where the flash fired.

 

Did you shoot day or night and what was the distance from you to your subjects?

[hjoseph7]

"Try resetting your flash to default settings."

 

You might also need to reset your camera to it's default settings. I'm not sure if this relates to your problem, but I once used a non-compatible Canon flash on my 30D, nothing really happened or so I thought, until all of a sudden, I started getting dark images and blueish type exposures. After I reset the camera to the default settings, the problems stopped.

[susie_todd]

Thanks for the tips - I am a novice as it relates to flash - I keep everything in ETTL. How would I reset the default

settings?

 

To answer your question, I shot during the day in the shade, which I shot last year and the photos came out great. I was

about 10 - 15 feet away from subject as I had my 70-200 lens on.

[chrisjb]

Couple of things, was the ready light on (red on test button) each time you shot? are you using high capacity rechareable batteries? have you thoroughly cleaned all contacts including the one on side the flash foot and hotshoe? There is a micro switch in the flash head where the wide angle diffuser and catchlite card slides in, does it feel secure? :)

[mark u]

http://www.eosdoc.com/manuals?q=FixHotshoe

 

Also, diagnose what is happening by using flash exposure lock, and by setting your flash to manual power only. Check all settings in the camera and on the flash.

[david_oskarsson1]

Do the problems occur mostly in portrait orientation? I also have the 580exII/30D-combo and I I get more consistent results if I support the flash with my hand when shooting in portrait orientation. The hotshoe seems ok as per the info in link above from Mark U. The 580exII "quick-connect" just doesn't feel as firm as it does with my 430ex screw connection.

[eric_goh]

Hi Susie

 

Sorry to hear about your problem. I understand your frustration as I'm also having the same problem (with the setup) as you

are now. Was using the 550EX prior to my "upgrade" to the 580ExII, which i regretted tremendously.

 

Have u read this: http://www.photo.net/canon-eos-digital-camera-forum/00Oyq3

 

For myself, I try to do a couple of things when the under exposure happens:

 

1. Try to bounce the flash.

2. Removing and putting the flash back on.

 

Sometime it works, sometimes it does....

 

Agree that this problem is getting on my nerve. My friend using the 40d does not have the problem. This might push to to

get the 50d when it launch, provided i can get more consistent flash shots...

 

regards

ck