I was shooting yesterday in Toronto and using a Canon 5D with a 24-70 2.8 and also using my 580 EX II Speedlite...I noticed when looking at the lcd of the flash that it was not saying ETTL but just TTL....I've never seen this before...is this a malfunction??
I took the flash off the camera and it still said TTL..I then powered it down and took out the batteries and put them back in and turned it back on and put the flash back on the camera and then the ETTL came back....not sure if this was something that I did or if there is something wrong with the flash.
Any suggestions or ideas? The only thing that I had set on my flash was I had decreased the flash power by -2/3 of a stop.
Its a problem many report having with the 580exII.
TTL mode is for film cameras only, which metered in real-time off the film during exposure. Normally a CF.n setting is needed to set it, but with the 580exII intermittent contact if the signaling pins due to a loose connection will also cause the flash to change unexpectedly to TTL which causes the flash to fire at full power.
Check for correct seating of the flash in the hot shoe and a loose hot-shoe on the camera.
I'd suggest paying careful attention to how the flash is seated and locked down and monitor the situation. I suspect part of the problem is the new metal foot and the fact the pins are now round and fatter making it more difficult to seat the flash and get all the pins aligned.
If the problem persists and the flash is still under warranty I'd sent it to Canon rather than doing anything DIY which will void the warrantee.
I remember reading somewhere that the contacts don't go down as low as the first version's. My first 580II never worked on one of my 1D's. Then another one started having firing issues and I used those instructions to take apart the hotshoe and put it back together. That fixed it for good. Just be sure to fire a full-power pop and then turn it off immediately to reduce the chances of cardiac arrest.
Read the disclaimer at the top of the page Chuck linked to. There is a slim chance of you touching a capacitor that'll zap you off this planet. The chances are theoretically slim while you're just messing around with the hotshoe attachment, but it's best to be safe. I've taken flashes all the way apart and I'm still around to talk about it, and technically the hotshoe base is offered as a self-serviceable part from Canon, so I wouldn't worry too much about it.
This drove me NUTS for an entire year. I sent mine into NJ Canon where they "serviced" it. The very next shoot it did it again. I then sent it into Irvine with print outs from various websites documenting the problem, including shimworlds and so far so good.
