gonna rant about the 580 EXII...pics added

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Archive 2011 · gonna rant about the 580 EXII...pics added

digitalbug30d
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p.1 #1 · gonna rant about the 580 EXII...pics added

You know extra money for me comes hard,I wanted to get a flash and just ponied up to get what I thought was the best flash,the top-of-the-line 580EXII,@ 419.00 bux I expect a little better,case in point the quik release on the flash,yeah its cool and all but it doesnt seem to secure the flash like the old twist thingy on the 420,550,580 ex I had,the ETTL pops in and out,the camera seems to forget there is a flash and doesnt fire (all the time).Seriously is it the mount messing things up? is there a fix other than trading down to the 580 ex I. ?

kinda pisses me off when ...I am shooting events at work and the flash fires then doesnt...what the hell?

Edited on Dec 09, 2011 at 02:36 AM · View previous versions

Dec 08, 2011 at 12:53 AM

sailingpilot
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p.1 #2 · gonna rant about the 580 EXII...pics added

Are you sliding the locking lever to the right until it clicks?

Mine is secure on my 5DII and 1DIII...

Dec 08, 2011 at 01:06 AM

omarlyn
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p.1 #3 · gonna rant about the 580 EXII...pics added

Both my 580 II's are secure on my all 4 of my (different) camera bodies. Maybe you have dirty contacts on the flash and/or camera shoe.

Omar

Dec 08, 2011 at 01:39 AM

Copypaste
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p.1 #4 · gonna rant about the 580 EXII...pics added

I got no problem with mine whatsoever

Dec 08, 2011 at 02:14 AM

M Vers
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p.1 #5 · gonna rant about the 580 EXII...pics added

All of my 580II's are secure on all of my bodies as well.

Dec 08, 2011 at 02:27 AM

TrojanHorse
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p.1 #6 · gonna rant about the 580 EXII...pics added

OK, I don't mean to pollute your thread but I had an issue with my brand new 580 II a few weeks ago. I was at a high school football game shooting with a friend, and I did half the game at high ISO / no flash, and half with a camera mounted 580 ex2.

It ALWAYS fires the first time but FREQUENTLY would not fire the second time. I assume that it was because it was recycling even though I figured I should be able to get more than one shot. The odd part was that while it was "recycling" the camera acted as if there were no flash at all - the shutter speed went up to 1/320 instead of 1/300 and of course the images were worse than useless.

But like I said, the first shot always had a flash, so I reckon I was just set up incorrectly or something.

Dec 08, 2011 at 04:59 AM

patrickphoto
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p.1 #7 · gonna rant about the 580 EXII...pics added

Secure on all cameras. You can buy other mount sections from aftermarket companies that are metal and have different style locks. I don't think you need it at all. You have a problem, or you don't know what you are doing. Either way, if the flash isn't completely busted it will lock presto-chango-perfecto.

Dec 08, 2011 at 05:05 AM

digitalbug30d
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p.1 #8 · gonna rant about the 580 EXII...pics added

TrojanHorse wrote:
OK, I don't mean to pollute your thread but I had an issue with my brand new 580 II a few weeks ago. I was at a high school football game shooting with a friend, and I did half the game at high ISO / no flash, and half with a camera mounted 580 ex2.

It ALWAYS fires the first time but FREQUENTLY would not fire the second time. I assume that it was because it was recycling even though I figured I should be able to get more than one shot. The odd part was that while it was "recycling" the camera acted as if there were no flash at all - the shutter speed went up to 1/320 instead of 1/300 and of course the images were worse than useless.

But like I said, the first shot always had a flash, so I reckon I was just set up incorrectly or something.
Exactly...what Ive encountered...what are your custom function settings?I disabled the power off ...maybe between shots the timelapsed just enough,not to be ready for the next shot until it woke up. Had mine set to Manual,f5.6 @ 125th/sec (bounced flash off ceiling ISO 800, +2/3rd Flash EC,I havent used the flash much to really get to know it.

Dec 08, 2011 at 05:11 AM

EB-1
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p.1 #9 · gonna rant about the 580 EXII...pics added

The lever lock is not new - think of the Vivitar 283. Unfortunately like most flashes of the type, the 580 EX II design does not allow for user adjustment.

EBH

Dec 08, 2011 at 05:20 AM

gary brook
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p.1 #10 · gonna rant about the 580 EXII...pics added

I used several pairs of speedlite flashes on my canon bodies for quite a while, 300TL thru the 540EZ to the 580EXI with no problems, but I recently found some problems with my sole only 580EXII on my 1D2 body - some flash or no flash etc - during the last 2 months. I cleaned the contacts and checked the hot-shoe and it didn't looked or felt it was loose. The lock seemed it was locked after it was 'clicked' and I couldn't pull the foot out, but .... I talked to some of the Canon Australia CPS staff (thanks Rick and Paul) and said it still may be loose. He pulled the protector plate off and tightened the screws and that fixed it. He also checked the tension of the retaining screws inside the flashes foot, but felt they were ok. I compared the torsion action of new lock on the 580EXII with the previous 580EXI mount but I found that the new one was lighter than the older ones, so I don't think that this is the issue. In the future I will just check and tighten the hot-shoe screws myself once in a while to prevent this. Regards,

Gary.

Dec 08, 2011 at 06:10 AM

TrojanHorse
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p.1 #11 · gonna rant about the 580 EXII...pics added

digitalbug30d wrote:
TrojanHorse wrote:
OK, I don't mean to pollute your thread but I had an issue with my brand new 580 II a few weeks ago. I was at a high school football game shooting with a friend, and I did half the game at high ISO / no flash, and half with a camera mounted 580 ex2.

It ALWAYS fires the first time but FREQUENTLY would not fire the second time. I assume that it was because it was recycling even though I figured I should be able to get more than one shot. The odd part was that while it was "recycling" the camera acted as if there were no flash at all - the shutter speed went up to 1/320 instead of 1/300 and of course the images were worse than useless.

But like I said, the first shot always had a flash, so I reckon I was just set up incorrectly or something.
Exactly...what Ive encountered...what are your custom function settings?I disabled the power off ...maybe between shots the timelapsed just enough,not to be ready for the next shot until it woke up. Had mine set to Manual,f5.6 @ 125th/sec (bounced flash off ceiling ISO 800, +2/3rd Flash EC,I havent used the flash much to really get to know it.

I was in high speed drive mode... so there was literally no time for the flash to turn off. That's why i thought it might be user error on my part. I read the manual but it was pretty brief. I'll check the CF settings int he morning and get back to you.

Dec 08, 2011 at 06:24 AM

4x4rock
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p.1 #12 · gonna rant about the 580 EXII...pics added

I had issues with my 580 II and my old 5D. My friend also has 2 580II and one of them has issue with the 5D MKII. For some reason, then silder didn't completely lock down the flash shoe and caused it to change to TTL once in a while (mostly at the most unexpected time).

The same flash is fine on my 1ds mkII and 1dmkIII. My friend's other flash works fine on his 5DMKII and his 1DsMKIII as well.

Dec 08, 2011 at 06:37 AM

Methodical
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p.1 #13 · gonna rant about the 580 EXII...pics added

Trojan Horse if it takes long to recycle, I'd check the batteries. When my flash pops once and then not the 2nd time or slow to recycle, it's usually because the batteries are gone or nearly gone. I try to put fresh batteries when I go out shooting unless I know I have not put many shots thru the flash using the existing batteries.

Oh, mine is very secure on my bodies. If it's new send back,

Al

Dec 08, 2011 at 07:00 AM

BrianO
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p.1 #14 · gonna rant about the 580 EXII...pics added

digitalbug30d wrote: ...it doesnt seem to secure the flash like the old twist thingy on the 420,550,580 ex I had,the ETTL pops in and out,the camera seems to forget there is a flash and doesnt fire (all the time).Seriously is it the mount messing things up? is there a fix other than trading down to the 580 ex I. ?

It's a known issue with the 580EX II; the weather-resistant seal on the flash foot sometimes prevents the flash from sliding all the way into the hot shoe, and so the ETTL pins (which are much smaller than the main pin in the center) don't always line up with the contacts on the camera.

If the camera and flash aren't communicating properly, the flash may either fire at full power (no ETTL metering) or not at all (no sync signal).

The fix is simple. Some people have resorted to trimming the seal with a knife, but that really isn't required once you're aware of the issue; just wiggle the flash a bit as you slide it into the shoe, then push the flash forward just a little more firmly than you think you need to as you lock it in place. That way the pin on the foot will drop correclty into the hole in the shoe, rather than lifting the contacts slightly as can happen if it doesn't drop. (Try flipping the lock as you hold the flash in your hand to get an idea of what the pin is doing.)

There aren't as many reports of this issue now as there were when the EX II first came out; I suspect Canon did a minor redesign behind the scenes.

HTH.

Dec 08, 2011 at 09:05 AM

cputeq
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p.1 #15 · gonna rant about the 580 EXII...pics added

Sometimes it's the pin spring mechanism. I had this happen with one of my former 580 EX IIs.

Basically, for whatever reason, the pin sometimes won't retract / expand properly, and it ends up jamming up the pin inside slightly. This also somewhat affected the lock/unlock button on the side of the slide-lock.

I took the bottom part of the flash off, messed around a bit with the insides (it's all pretty simple) and after a couple of tries everything worked a lot better. I think the mount assembly that holds the pin/spring had become slightly dismounted from the plastic mold that holds it, which affected the entire locking integrity.

Dec 08, 2011 at 01:29 PM

mfreardon
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p.1 #16 · gonna rant about the 580 EXII...pics added

BrianO wrote:

just wiggle the flash a bit as you slide it into the shoe, then push the flash forward just a little more firmly than you think you need to as you lock it in place. That way the pin on the foot will drop correclty into the hole in the shoe, rather than lifting the contacts slightly as can happen if it doesn't drop. (Try flipping the lock as you hold the flash in your hand to get an idea of what the pin is doing.)

HTH.

+1

I used to have the same issue that you encountered and a little more attention during the mounting process took care of the issue. Try BrianO's procedure and see if it works for you.

Dec 08, 2011 at 01:36 PM

gheller
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p.1 #17 · gonna rant about the 580 EXII...pics added

my buddy shoot destination weddings out here in Hawaii (sometimes 4-5 per day!) and constantly complains about the 580II. In fact, he ditched all of his for the mark I option.

His complaint was the metal foot constantly breaking off.

Take that FWIW

greg

Dec 08, 2011 at 05:01 PM

Sunny Sra
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p.1 #18 · gonna rant about the 580 EXII...pics added

digitalbug30d wrote:
TrojanHorse wrote:
OK, I don't mean to pollute your thread but I had an issue with my brand new 580 II a few weeks ago. I was at a high school football game shooting with a friend, and I did half the game at high ISO / no flash, and half with a camera mounted 580 ex2.

It ALWAYS fires the first time but FREQUENTLY would not fire the second time. I assume that it was because it was recycling even though I figured I should be able to get more than one shot. The odd part was that while it was "recycling" the camera acted as if there were no flash at all - the shutter speed went up to 1/320 instead of 1/300 and of course the images were worse than useless.

But like I said, the first shot always had a flash, so I reckon I was just set up incorrectly or something.
Exactly...what Ive encountered...what are your custom function settings?I disabled the power off ...maybe between shots the timelapsed just enough,not to be ready for the next shot until it woke up. Had mine set to Manual,f5.6 @ 125th/sec (bounced flash off ceiling ISO 800, +2/3rd Flash EC,I havent used the flash much to really get to know it.

I have the same issue on the 1D III from time to time...

Dec 08, 2011 at 05:14 PM

TrojanHorse
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p.1 #19 · gonna rant about the 580 EXII...pics added

Methodical - I used a freshly charged set of eneloops when I had the problem. I was expecting the flash to flash 1-4 times before it attempted to recycle, but it didn't. It's entirely possible the flash was firing at or near full power - the football field was lit by 1 car in each endzone with the head lights on. I kid, but that's about what it looked like. When I had the flash off I could get 1/640 at ISO 6400, f2.8 between the 20 yard lines but the end zones were dungeons.

The other oddity is that I got a higher shutter speed than my sync speed as if the flash were turned off for the subsequent (failed) flash attempts. I would think that it would still respect the sync speed but maybe not.

Dec 08, 2011 at 05:14 PM

Greggbhill
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p.1 #20 · gonna rant about the 580 EXII...pics added

I had similar results at football games with a 7d in machine-gun mode - i got one shot w/ flash then a few without)... Figured it was just a recycle time issue, so I added a CP-E4 and got much faster recycle times (can't remember exactly how many in a row got flash, but at least 2 or 3 as I recall). I'm using Powerex Imedions in both 580Ex II and CP-E4). Haven't tried with HSS.

Dec 08, 2011 at 07:43 PM

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