Canon wireless flash communication issue

[divo]

<p>I have a 580EX II, two 430EX units (Mark I & II) and an older 550EX flash system. I have read a lot about line of sight and various other issues with the Canon system, but I can’t identify the problem that I have in what I have read. So, all I can do is offer anecdotal evidence of a list of symptoms and situations. I would appreciate any help you have to offer.</p>

<p>During portrait shoots, everything (TTL, Manual etc.) works just fine, but turning things off, disconnecting, moving to a new location, reconnecting and turning them on without changing any settings can cause the flash units to stop communicating. This can happen with 1 master and 1 slave or many slaves. The slaves can be set up on a table with their sensors all pointed at the master which is less than 50cm away and not communicate. Oddly, firing the test button may trigger the slaves even though I can't actually get them to work as a system while taking a picture. (Today, I noticed that firing the test button seemed to cause slaves to fire with a delay; however, this one instance may have been linked to being outside in bright sunlight. Most instances happened indoors in relatively small spaces with clear lines of sight.)</p>

<p>This has happened several times now. Sometimes I can be using the flash units 2 times the same day, sometimes it can be a month apart. I set up/re-set up and get nothing. I madly cycle through TTL mode, Manual mode, changing channels, Master from not fire to fire and back again and anything else I can think of while my friends (who have kindly volunteered their time as models) try not to look as bored as they actually are. After several minutes of changing settings, the slaves inexplicably start to work again by which point my models want to leave and I’ve lost focus on whatever project I wanted to work on. Once units start communicating, I can set the settings to the same way they were before and continue.</p>

<p>I use the 580EX II as the master (usually set to not fire during exposure, although it still does a pre-burst in TTL Mode). Am I missing something here? Is there some special order that I need to turn them off and on in? Is there a known issue with the connection/disconnection process?</p>

<p>At some point, I'd actually like to hire a professional model, but, until I know I can guarantee results and not waste her/his time, I don't want to move forward. Boring my friends is bad enough!</p>

 

[cabbiinc]

<p>Test fire (Pilot) button fires the slaves but regular TTL doesn't. That makes me suspect your TTL communications with your camera are not communicating. You didn't state your camera that you're using. Inspect the hotshoe, is it worn, does it wiggle? Is your flash in the shoe properly? Does this only happen with the 580 as master or have you tried the 550 as master too?<br>

I'd also make absolutely certain that your batteries aren't dying. Low batteries can do strange things with electronics. If you don't have a battery tester get one, or get a battery charger that has a tester built in. What kind of batteries are you using?</p>

<p>This is all just guessing. Maybe someone will comment that's run into this before.<br>

Good luck.</p>

[divo]

<p>Dan: thanks for your thoughts. <br>

I have a EOS 5D (orig.)<br>

It's happened with both fresh rechargeables and fresh regular batteries.<br>

The disconnect happens after I power down in TTL OR in Manual before moving to a new location setting up and powering up. I usually try to discharge the capacitor before I put any flash back in the bag.<br>

Hot shoe seems fine, and the 580 sits solidly in it, but I'll check it again. I have also tried removing master from hotshoe and resituating without success only to have it start working minutes later when I try settings I have already tried!</p>

<p>Sadly, I'm kind of guessing here too. When I first started out using multiple flash a couple of years ago, it was easy to think I had screwed up somehow, but today I shot in one location, moved, reconnected and was shooting 10 minutes later and had the same thing happen and I know I didn't change anything. That makes me think it isn't just me.<br>

I will try the 550 as a master because I can't categorically rule that out. Perhaps my 580 has a fault of some sort. Problem is it doesn't <em>always </em>happen. It's one of those annoying intermitent problems that are hard to track down. Thing is it never stops while it is connected. It always happens during some kind of change of location after units have been powered down, stored in my bag and moved to new shoot. If it works the first time, it keeps going, which is what made me wonder if there is some power down/power up protocol of which I am unaware.</p>

[cabbiinc]

<p>If I'm not mistaken the flash needs to talk to the camera to fire the slaves. So if you're thinking that you've ruled most other things out I'd look at the connection between the master flash and the camera body. If those TTL contacts get dirty, dull, or somehow don't make a connection then you'll lose functionality. The fact that you can press the Pilot button and the slaves communicate would support that theory.</p>

<p>As far as I know there is no procedure for shutting down/starting up. If the master is set to master, the slaves are set to slave, they all have their groups set right and you're on the same channel then it either works or it doesn't. Maybe there's a custom function somewhere though that might mess with things.</p>

<p>When you press the Pilot button the master and anything set to group A should fire, followed by group B, then group C. It's useful when you want to know which flash is communicating and which group it's set too. If all are set to Manual then they'll all fire at the same time.</p>

[divo]

<p>Dan: Thanks again.

 

<br>

That really helps to narrow things down. I just wanted to explore whether there was some variable I wasn't aware of. I think chances are good that I have a defective unit or a connection problem. I have a couple of shoots coming up this week. I'll focus on experimenting with using the 550EX as master and checking connection issues with the 580EX. At least I have a plan, which is more than I had before!</p>

<p>Have tried switching back and forth between the 580 and 550 as master this evening a few times without any problems, but with the intermittent nature of the problem that doesn't guarantee the issue is fixed. I'll keep working on it.</p>

 

[cabbiinc]

<p>If it happens again immediately try the test fire button. If that fires the slaves but the camera won't then I'd pursue a communications thing between the camera body and master flash. Even in Manual flash mode you'll need communications with the camera body (I think).</p>

[divo]

<p>Ok, I'll keep that in mind.</p>

<p>Have been randomly switching between the 550 and the 580 just moving my flash units around the house, and I tried connecting the 580EX poorly just to see how much of an error would be required to cause a communication fault. There is a actually a visible amount of leeway: even if you see the metal base protruding a bit, it still fires. I have never noticed this before when the problem occured, but it's another thing I can check if/when it happens again.</p>

<p>Interestingly, that also seemed to simulate the problem. It can be a pretty tight squeeze to get the 580EX on there. Perhaps when I'm working with a model, I get distracted with other logistics and don't pay enough attention, but I know I have resituated the flash on previous occasions to no effect. Like I said, I'll keep an eye on it.</p>

<p>Thanks for all your help. I really appreciate some perspective on the issue.</p>

[model mayhem gallery]

<p>I would go with some other sort of triggers. I use Alien Bee Cyber syncs for my ETTL and Alien Bee Strobes. The cyber syncs are not line of site they are radio so they can work around corners and through walls up to over 50 feet. </p>

[divo]

<p>@M.P.: I would love to get some, but here in Korea I haven't seen any namebrand ones around. There are several Korean ones (Flashwave III ?), but I haven't made up my mind about them. I wanted to get the latest Pocket Wizzards (MiniTT1™ and FlexTT5™ + the command dial add on) so as to have E-TTL as an option (why pay for funcionality then not use it), but the implementation has received such bad reviews re radio interference that I decided to hold off. I'd have to pick them up on a trip anyway, and I think I'm supposed to have the European ones for here also. Issue finally become so muddled I decided to work on portrait technique and get that down first.</p>