One Canon 580EX and a Generic Lighting Stand???

[Chris of Arabia]

I was messing with the above this evening and noticed that when the 580EX was placed on the stand, all the contacts on the bottom of the flash were being shorted out by the shoe. Big question in my mind is "Does this really matter", or am I safe to carry on like that. As it happens, the shoe in question is very difficult to get the flash on and off from, so perhaps there's something better out there that I ought to be looking for - anyone got any recommendations?

 

[Chris of Arabia]

Excuse the bump - I still really need to know whether the contacts being shorted is good or not...

 

[Big Mike]

There are 5 contacts on the bottom of the flash, correct? The primary one, in the centre, is the power/trigger. The others, I believe are for communication to the camera for E-TTL meter etc. So you shouldn't have to worry about the other contacts, as the flash isn't communicating with a camera. The shoe that you are mounting to, should have a separate contact in the centre for firing the flash.

 

[Chris of Arabia]

The flash is being triggered by my ST-E2, so none of the contacts are actually being used whilst the flash is on the stand. I guess I'm concerned with the battery being shorted out whilst it's like that - I'd certainly feel happier if they weren't.