580exII TROUBLE

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Archive 2008 · 580exII TROUBLE

Daan B
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p.1 #1 · 580exII TROUBLE

The weirdest thing happened last night.

I had my 580exII mounted on my 1DsIII + 35L in manual mode: ISO400, f/4, 1/200th. Nothing special about these settings.

First I noticed an underexposure in the shots. A few shots later my batteries were out of juice. Did some other batteries in them (not entirely fresh ones - I didn't have any others at that time). Fired a few shots and they came out way overexposed. Nothing I did helped (changing exposure settings, changing flash exposure). I turned the power off, waited some time and turned the flash on again. This seem to help, because it functioned fine again.

Any ideas what might have happened here

I don't use flash that often and I never have experienced this kind of trouble before (when using this flash unit on my 5D's).

Apr 30, 2008 at 06:38 AM

malice4you
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p.1 #2 · 580exII TROUBLE

I've read about the flash shoe being loose on the II, and causing issues like this. There was a guide posted within the last few weeks here that someone may have a link to about disassembling the shoe on the 580II to tighten things up.

When this has happened for me (original 580EX), I've usually taken the flash off, cleaned the contacts quickly on my shirt (both camera and flash) and it's worked. I've also had issues (possibly shoe communication related) which I initially blamed on problematic batteries. FWIW, I was always having problems with batteries and consumption of said batteries in my flash and a CP-E3, until I got a black box and tuxedo power packs. Still kicking myself for not getting them sooner....though for a light flash user, even the Tux might be overkill. I'd still prefer that over worrying about if a set of AA's is charged enough to let me shoot through one short event...

Apr 30, 2008 at 07:20 AM

gbee
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p.1 #3 · 580exII TROUBLE

I think we have a fundamental fault in the 580EXII's communication system with various cameras.

I've been blaming my 1DMKIII and I've previously posted that it's like going back to Nikon, in the first week of use I had this problems.

The problems transgresses all advice, sure a lot of things seem to be related, low battery power, CP pack not releasing the power [the batteries in the CCP pack never die, but the flash does]. dirty contacts, loose hotshoe on camera, loose contact inside flash.

I don't recommend you strip the flash, there are tiny bits and the poster warns about ~ I lost my bits, but the flash still works ~~ sick ****

To complicate things further I have a new 5D and the flash is behaving perfectly on that. Recently I bought a new lens and the flash behaved perfectly on the MKIII ~ for a while ~ then .... http://www.pbase.com/ger_bee/mkii_flash_odd

The shot before this was fine, took flash off, rubbed the contacts and the next fifty were fine ... what gives me a clue to the problem is the off colour shot, looks like it was shot in the wrong WB, well it wasn't, this indicates a camera condition IMO.

Edited on Apr 30, 2008 at 07:37 AM

Apr 30, 2008 at 07:37 AM

Daan B
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p.1 #4 · 580exII TROUBLE

Thanks guys for the info

So it is a mystery what causes this weird flash behaviour... Most likely a communication problem (with 1D2/3 series bodies only ?). The flash has indeed some movement when mounted. But so it has on my 5D's...

gbee, like you the flash has worked flawlessly on my 5D's (so far). BTW, the overexposed pictures I got look just like yours (the first two on your page). I haven't got any funny WB shots (yet).

Anyway, dismounting and maybe clean to contacts seem to help in some way when these problems arise. Are there other flash gun options that are doing better on 1D series bodies?

Apr 30, 2008 at 07:55 AM

johnnydanger
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p.1 #5 · 580exII TROUBLE

My 580EX II just started doing that same thing on both my 5D and 1D3. I'm chalking it up to faulty electronics that are overheating... It only seems to happen after shooting for a bit. I'm going to warranty it asap.

Apr 30, 2008 at 08:09 AM

shiromochi
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p.1 #6 · 580exII TROUBLE

i have been having similar problems. 2 sets of nimh batteries have 'mysteriously' died while shooting - i thought the batteries were bad. i have been getting random overexposure shots and underexposure shots - either completely white or black. flash is going to canon for repair this week.

Apr 30, 2008 at 08:53 AM

gbee
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p.1 #7 · 580exII TROUBLE

I ordered a new flash last week from a large retailer ~~ sorry sold out no new stock

Hmmmmmm!!!!

shiromochi wrote: flash is going to canon for repair this week.

Apr 30, 2008 at 09:07 AM

Daan B
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p.1 #8 · 580exII TROUBLE

Mine is still under warranty... I am also going to send it to Canon Service. Let's see what they can find.

Apr 30, 2008 at 09:36 AM

Alan321
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p.1 #9 · 580exII TROUBLE

I've just had a similar problem with the camera shutting down and the flash not firing. If I jiggled the flash a bit then the camera either worked or went crazy, and it seemed to be caused by yet another loose hot shoe connection on my camera (this time a 1Ds2, last time a 1D2, and before that a 20D). I removed the top plate of the hot shoe and tightened the screws (two were ok but two were slightly loose). I've not done much shooting since then but I certainly got more shots out of it than I had been getting in the days before making the adjustment.

There are three places where loose connections can occur:
1) the camera hot shoe. Solve this by tightening the four screws under the top plate.
2) inside the 580 II. This needs more significant surgery of the flash unit.
3) the physical connection between the flash and camera, where the flash tightens its grip onto the hot shoe mounting brackets (not onto the camera body). This one is actually not so bad because the electrical contacts are spring loaded and can cope with some looseness.

I dont have a link to the site that describes how to tighten your hot shoe screws but a search ought to find it. The procedure is quite easy if you have a pin or very small flat screw driver to lift the back (lens end) of the top plate slightly so that it can be slid off over the viewfinder eyepiece, and a tiny Philips screw driver to tighten the screws.

- Alan

Apr 30, 2008 at 09:42 AM

s23chang
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p.1 #10 · 580exII TROUBLE

Does anyone here use external poower source that also encounter the issue?

Apr 30, 2008 at 11:35 AM

rideexileex
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p.1 #11 · 580exII TROUBLE

Any time that I have had a mis-exposure problem with the flash, or a non-fire, its always been because of the contacts - I simply take it off and put it back on - slight mis alignment, which in all honesty is just user-error of not putting it on properly.

Apr 30, 2008 at 11:57 AM

gbee
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p.1 #12 · 580exII TROUBLE

Rubbish!!!! If your thesis is correct, then it's a Canon DESIGN FAULT.

rideexileex wrote: which in all honesty is just user-error of not putting it on properly.

Apr 30, 2008 at 12:00 PM

GEORGE ANDERSO
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p.1 #13 · 580exII TROUBLE

Go to www.shimworld.wordpress.com/2008/02/28speedlite-580ex-ii-hotshoe-fix/ It fixed mine.

Apr 30, 2008 at 12:12 PM

GEORGE ANDERSO
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p.1 #14 · 580exII TROUBLE

Sorry, I don't know why this link doesn't work, but if you type in "Jan Shim Speedlite 580II hotshoe fix", in your search engine, it will take you there.

Apr 30, 2008 at 12:19 PM

tell
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p.1 #15 · 580exII TROUBLE

Misery loves company. There's something funky going on with the 580II. I just had my third shoot where it started acting up, switching into TTL and underexposing or not even firing. It wasn't from over firing either. Actually, when it switches to TTL the exif data shows it's not even firing. The exposures are all over the place. So, if you're not chimping, it's possible to totally f-up your shoot. Luckily I had another 580I on me and was able to swap out, BUT I did miss some shots. I hate that I bought Canon's top of the line flash and I'm having to doubt whether the damn thing's going to perform or not. It's under warranty and heading into Canon this week.

May 13, 2008 at 04:26 PM

janshim
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p.1 #16 · 580exII TROUBLE

GEORGE ANDERSO wrote:
Sorry, I don't know why this link doesn't work, but if you type in "Jan Shim Speedlite 580II hotshoe fix", in your search engine, it will take you there.

The correct link is [Missing a backslash between 28 & "speedlite"]

http://www.shimworld.wordpress.com/2008/02/28/speedlite-580ex-ii-hotshoe-fix/

Edited on May 15, 2008 at 03:12 PM

May 14, 2008 at 01:33 AM

fdigiorgio
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p.1 #17 · 580exII TROUBLE

We're have the same issues as the OP specified with our 580EX I. We have 2 of them and only 1 is having these type of issues...

Aug 05, 2008 at 01:41 PM

pcschwenke
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p.1 #18 · 580exII TROUBLE

I've had this trouble also. Last week during a family portrait shoot, I used my new 580 exII for the first time with fresh batteries in the flash and 5D camera. Midway through shooting the session, my 5D showed low batteries so I swapped it. Low ans behold, shortly there after my 5D had a low battery again not long after. I thought I was loosing it. Many of my shots were under-exposed and I even posted on FM about the issue. Never thought my 580 might have an issue for underexposure / batteries. Thanks everyone!\

Paul

Aug 05, 2008 at 04:20 PM

Ron Hew
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p.1 #19 · 580exII TROUBLE

s23chang wrote:
Does anyone here use external poower source that also encounter the issue?

The only time I have issue while using my CP-E4 (external power pack) was when I overheated the flash & it doesn't fire at all (580 II). Other than that, I have no problem on both my 580 I & II for the past 3 years & 1 year repectively.

Aug 06, 2008 at 01:46 AM

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