An occasional series expressing some of my own thoughts and opinions on aspects of digital photography
Simple cure for a flash problem
Posted 28-04-10 at 10:30 AM by Stephen
I took my 1D over to the repairers on Monday morning, expecting that I would have to leave it and I'd be without the camera for a few days at least. I was having a problem with the flash working correctly on the camera, but I knew the flashgun itself was OK. I have 2 Speedlites and the problem occurred with both. It seemed to be intermittant but the camera would suddenly set itself to f22, I'd jiggle it a bit and it would revert to the correct setting, then it would go back to f22 again, and so it went on. Essentially I was fighting a losing battle with it so it had to be sorted.
Terry, who owns Northern Photo Electronics, and whom I've always taken camera problems to, was scratching his head to work out what was causing the problem. The hot shoe was not loose and the flash itself seemed Ok. It sat on the counter as he pondered, then suddenly a lightbulb lit over his head
Thats it! I know what it is. He was positive he knew the problem.
Pointing at the hotshoe, he said "Look at that, thats the problem" Well I could barely see anything wrong, but he dashed off to his workshop and came back with a cotton bud soaked in alcohol. There was dirt on one of the terminals, which he proceeded to clean off. The flash went back on and hey presto, it all seems to work OK.
To say I was relieved is a bit of an understatement, and the fact he wouldn't take anything for his time and trouble was even better.
I once derided an Olympus user who was banging on about loosing his plastic blank that slots into the Oly hotshoe. I'm thinking now that perhaps they are not such a bad thing if they keep your terminals dirt free
Terry, who owns Northern Photo Electronics, and whom I've always taken camera problems to, was scratching his head to work out what was causing the problem. The hot shoe was not loose and the flash itself seemed Ok. It sat on the counter as he pondered, then suddenly a lightbulb lit over his head
Thats it! I know what it is. He was positive he knew the problem. Pointing at the hotshoe, he said "Look at that, thats the problem" Well I could barely see anything wrong, but he dashed off to his workshop and came back with a cotton bud soaked in alcohol. There was dirt on one of the terminals, which he proceeded to clean off. The flash went back on and hey presto, it all seems to work OK.
To say I was relieved is a bit of an understatement, and the fact he wouldn't take anything for his time and trouble was even better.
I once derided an Olympus user who was banging on about loosing his plastic blank that slots into the Oly hotshoe. I'm thinking now that perhaps they are not such a bad thing if they keep your terminals dirt free
Total Comments 2
Comments
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One thing worth mentioning is that Canon operates a very attractive Canon Professional Services outfit; they will even lend lenses for free and sort out technical problems at key events. I think the membership requirement has been raised recently, though, as you need to own two professional Canon bodies and three lenses to get membership.Posted 28-04-10 at 02:37 PM by Ian 
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Yes, I checked that out recently and I'm now short of a second Pro bodyQuote:Originally Posted by Ian
One thing worth mentioning is that Canon operates a very attractive Canon Professional Services outfit; they will even lend lenses for free and sort out technical problems at key events. I think the membership requirement has been raised recently, though, as you need to own two professional Canon bodies and three lenses to get membership.Posted 28-04-10 at 05:42 PM by Stephen
