Canon 580, repair or replace

mercphoto

I'm pretty sure my 5+ year old Canon 580 flash is not producing the light output it used to. I'm about to spend a small amount to ship it to Canon for testing and evaluation. But then the question begs, if the flash is indeed faulty in some manner do I repair it or replace it? I gotta figure that out before I send it in. Has anyone had flashes repaired before and do you recommend it? Thanks.

ziggy53

I greatly prefer the controls on the original Canon 580EX so the answer in my case would be to fix the flash or replace it with a second used 580EX. I've not had to have mine repaired yet, so I don't know about costs. Canon should give you an estimate before any repairs, giving you the opportunity to accept or decline before any repairs take place.

jbakerphoto

I broke the diffuser on a friends 580ex ii and had to send it off to canon. it cost 129 bucks to fix it. On a side note The 580ex diffuser is definitely built better...lol

Sam

Bill,

I had a 580 EX repaired last year and the cost was $77.00

My recomendation is to send it in and they will give you an estimate prior to any repairs or charges being made. Once you know the cost you can make an informed decision.

One way to look at it is you got your money's worth out of it, or it's broken and needs to be replaced.

You can buy a new 580 EX II for $460.00 or maybe a used 508 EX for about $250.00 the condition of which is unknown versus having your 580 EX repaired and returned in a known state with guarantee.

For me if the cost is under $200.00 it would seem like a good choice.

Sam

NeilL

This thread is a propos to an occurrence with one of my 580EXIIs a couple days ago when my client smelled burning coming from it after firing. It was gridded with a Honl grid, and had been fired remotely using the ST-E2, 1/1 power, HSS.

She might have smelled arcing from within the unit, and I immediately thought of the Radio Poppers controversy. RP investigated the many reported burnouts of 580EXIIs when used with their triggers and in HSS, and decided that a substandard component of the flashes was causing arcing within the unit and thus the failures.

I contacted Canon Australia and received the following reply (in part):

>>>>

There are no recognised issues with the operational integrity of the 580EXII. It is true to say that you can find just about any type of consumer electronic product breakdown in the web. I know that statistics do not mean anything to the customer affected by a faulty product; but it is one of the factors we have to consider whenever considering a particular incident is a manufacturing fault. Not to mention the meticulous process we go through to investigate claims or incidents of this nature. A number of reported breakdowns does not always constitute that the cause of the breakdown is manufacturing or design fault.

Based on the information provided below, it would be suggested to send your flash in for a free assessment given your concerns. Although the product is now well outside the warranty period, I would request you submit a copy of your purchase receipt as a means of verifying both the age and origin of the product. Until such time as we have had an opportunity to inspect the item and isolate the nature of the fault, we are in no position to comment on the failure. Please follow the shipping instructions as outlined below and be sure to include a copy of this email correspondence .

>>>>

Neil