Flash problem

Clixphoto

I'm shooting with a Canon 50D and during a shoot today I was going to use the on-board flash for some fill. Shooting in program I pushed the flash button and my flash tried to open with a few clicks and then gave me an error code that said the flash was obstructed and to turn the camera off and then back on for a retry. The retry failed as well. Has anyone had this problem before and if so what is the fix?

Thanks

ziggy53

Clixphoto wrote: »

I'm shooting with a Canon 50D and during a shoot today I was going to use the on-board flash for some fill. Shooting in program I pushed the flash button and my flash tried to open with a few clicks and then gave me an error code that said the flash was obstructed and to turn the camera off and then back on for a retry. The retry failed as well. Has anyone had this problem before and if so what is the fix?

Thanks

I've heard of this happening on various cameras with a built-in flash. I believe that the latch mechanism to the flash has become bent or broken. If it is bent a service/repair may fix it for little to nothing, but it might require sending to Canon service and it may happen again.

If it's broken and out-of-warranty then it is a repair for sure and the part (as I recall) is not easy to get to for replacement.

Many users simply use an external flash instead of sending the unit in for repair.

A few users had luck holding the flash down while pressing the flash popup button. If you time it right you can let up on the flash during the actuation and the flash will open. It will probably jam again later however.

divamum

This happened on my Rebel XT. Just gently pull on the flash as it starts to pop up - don't force it, just give it a little assistance. In my case, it only did it sometimes, the flash worked perfectly once it was open and, since I didn't use it that often, I opted just to live with it. Mildly annoying, but wasn't really a problem.

Clixphoto

Thanks. I learned that I could push sideways slightly while it clicked and it would open. I would prefer to have it fixed but can't part with the camera for a few weeks.