Is something wrong with me/my flash?

tipsinartok

For a while now, my flash has been acting funny. I'll go to take a picture and the pictures will end up severely over-exposed and blown out. When this happens, there doesn't seem to be anything I can do to fix it. I've fiddled with settings on the camera, turned the flash off and on, etc., and the only thing I can do is take pictures without the flash. The other day, I was happily snapping a few shots, when it suddenly started happening. It's the first time it's happened in the middle of taking shots, instead of just not working right from when I start. I just went and checked the metadata on these shots, and one of the overexposed ones says the flash did fire, and the next one says it didn't (though it most definitely did). I think I saved these in such a way the metadata is still attached. For some reason I only seem to be able to attach one file, but this is the first one that started going wrong, where the metadata does say the flash fired. The second one is just completely white and the metadata says no flash. I can't afford a new flash so I really hope there is just something I'm overlooking or doing wrong.

r3t1awr3yd

Sell the canon stuff and switch to nikon. I've never had the magical non-flashing flash problem

adbsgicom

Are you accidentally putting the flash in manual and firing 1/1 -- full power?
Also make sure the contacts on both the hotshoe and the flash are clean and in good shape.

tipsinartok

r3t1awr3yd wrote: »

Sell the canon stuff and switch to nikon. I've never had the magical non-flashing flash problem

Is this a relatively common problem with Canon stuff then? I tried searching it but it's hard to get the right search terms and nothing relavent came up. Maybe I should try "magical non-flashing flash problem".

adbsgicom wrote: »

Are you accidentally putting the flash in manual and firing 1/1 -- full power?
Also make sure the contacts on both the hotshoe and the flash are clean and in good shape.

To the first, I doubt it. I honestly don't know much about the flash, I'm concentrated more on learning my camera and so I just don't fiddle much with it. This problem happens seemingly randomly; I never know when I go to take a picture if the flash will work or not. More often than not it will work fine, but it's annoying when it doesn't and I'm worried the problem will occur more often. In this particular session, I didn't touch anything between the shot that worked and didn't. I hadn't even lowered the camera from my eye.

That being said, your second suggestion is a really good one, since prior to now it has always either worked or not for a whole session, and the only difference would be how I've put it on and seated it. That hadn't even occurred to me. Can I use a little hydrogen peroxide on a q-tip or something to clean them?

adbsgicom

Never tried Hydrogen Peroxide. Alcohol generally works fine. Make sure you are doing both the flash side and the camera side. Also, at the risk of sounding insulting, you do have the clamping nut tightened (the flash isn't just pressure-fit into the shoe)?

What flash head are you using?

SimpsonBrothers

Looks like the flash EV is cranked up +3, or it's shot on manual with the Fstop set too low.

angevin1

I cannot pull any EXIF data from your image.
Please post full settings:
ISO
Mode
F/stop
lens
Shutter Speed
Flash Model
it's settings
..........anything else?

angevin1

....Oh And

Considering this is Portrait orientation could it be you are inadvertently changing ISO or Shutter trying to hold onto the Camera?

ziggy53

If the problem seems to be limited to portrait orientation then the problem is likely related to the contacts between flash and camera. Cleaning the contacts may help but if the problem persists then other solutions may be required including possible servicing, usually the hot-shoe of the camera.

pathfinder

The hot shoe mount frequently causes problems when the camera/flash combination is used in the portrait orientation, especially with larger flashes like the 580exII.

Remounting the flash on an auxiliary mount with and off-camera cord triggering may help.

We really need to know if this was shot in Av, Manual, Program or whatever mode, and if the flash was in ETTL or Manual. Without this information, everyone is just kind of guessing.

There is a link about the Canon Flash system at the top of this thread - http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=70330

Reading some of these links will help most folks get their EOS flash system dialed in.

The shot is sorely over exposed, and if the FLash Exposure Compensation was set at +3, about what one would expect.

tipsinartok

adbsgicom wrote: »

Never tried Hydrogen Peroxide. Alcohol generally works fine. Make sure you are doing both the flash side and the camera side. Also, at the risk of sounding insulting, you do have the clamping nut tightened (the flash isn't just pressure-fit into the shoe)?

What flash head are you using?

It's a 420EX. Don't worry, I'm not insulted. But yes, I always make sure to tighten the nut.

SimpsonBrothers wrote: »

Looks like the flash EV is cranked up +3, or it's shot on manual with the Fstop set too low.

I don't think it's settings, because a shot I took seconds before that one worked fine and I didn't do anything different between the two.

angevin1 wrote: »

I cannot pull any EXIF data from your image.
Please post full settings:
ISO
Mode
F/stop
lens
Shutter Speed
Flash Model
it's settings
..........anything else?

This is copied from Lightroom:

Exposure: 1/60sec at f/4.0
Focal length: 50mm
ISO 400
Flash did fire
I was in program mode, I just wanted to snap some quick shots off
The flash is a Speedlite 420EX
Lens: 50mm f/1.8

The picture that I took literally 15 seconds before that has the exact same settings, exposure, etc, and exposed just fine. The next picture I took about 20 seconds after has exposure: 1/50sec at f/2.0 and ISO 640. It says the flash did not fire, but it most definitely did, and there's no point in even posting it because it's just a bright white picture.

angevin1 wrote: »

....Oh And

Considering this is Portrait orientation could it be you are inadvertently changing ISO or Shutter trying to hold onto the Camera?

I have a battery grip, so I doubt it. Plus, as I said above, another picture also in portrait worked fine seconds before this one and I didn't change anything between the two.

ziggy53 wrote: »

If the problem seems to be limited to portrait orientation then the problem is likely related to the contacts between flash and camera. Cleaning the contacts may help but if the problem persists then other solutions may be required including possible servicing, usually the hot-shoe of the camera.

Hmm, now that you say this, I bet it is limited to portrait orientation. I'll have to try turning the camera horizontal next time it happens and see what happens. I usually delete the pictures when it happens though, so I can't go back and check. I'll double check the contacts. The camera is only a couple of years old. I bought the flash used though.

pathfinder wrote: »

The hot shoe mount frequently causes problems when the camera/flash combination is used in the portrait orientation, especially with larger flashes like the 580exII.

Remounting the flash on an auxiliary mount with and off-camera cord triggering may help.

We really need to know if this was shot in Av, Manual, Program or whatever mode, and if the flash was in ETTL or Manual. Without this information, everyone is just kind of guessing.

There is a link about the Canon Flash system at the top of this thread - http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=70330

Reading some of these links will help most folks get their EOS flash system dialed in.

The shot is sorely over exposed, and if the FLash Exposure Compensation was set at +3, about what one would expect.

Thank you so much for the link about the flash system. I'll have a read through it when I have a minute. I was shooting in Program. I had just wanted to snap a few quick shots of my baby feeding herself. The flash is in ETTL. My goal this year now that my baby is older is to actually really learn how to use my camera in something other than Program or aperture priority mode, and this is clinching it. I've realized how much I lean on my flash taking indoor shots. I'm lost without it.

Thank you all, I really appreciate the help. I'm thinking the theory that it's the contacts in portrait mode is probably it. I have a camera cleaning kit; I'll dig it out (we've just moved, not sure where it's hidden) and give them a clean.

Svennie

You could try different things to see what's the problem:
- borrow a similar flash, shoot for a while and see it happens again
- give your flash to somebody with a canon and see what happens
- place the camera on a table and hold it tight. Try to wiggle the flash (gently!!). If it moves even a tiny bit: problably bad contact between camera and flash