Speedlight 420ex HELP!

deleet · Jun 23, 2008

Hey there,

I recently purchased a speedlight 420ex for my Canon 40D last week. I've been having extreme trouble trying to understand how this is suppose to work with me camera. I remember the first time I hooked it up and turned it on, the flash was working fine and I was able to pull out good shots. But at one point, I had to be dependent on luck for the flash to go off.

I don't think there is anything wrong with the flash it self because it turns on fine and the little red lights come up in the back. Zoom meter also works fine. I just don't understand - the camera just doesn't give a flash symbol when I have it hooked up. I've tried all different modes and even tried my friend's 430ex, and I get the same problems.

I purchased my 40D last month and it was brand new, so I highly doubt there's anything wrong with that. Are there some functions I need to set in the camera? I went into the menu and enabled flash, but still nothing..

What do I need to do? This is really aggravating me!

Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks!

Big Mike · Jun 23, 2008

Welcome to the forum.

My first thought is that you might not be getting the flash all the way into the hot shoe. The flash has to be seated properly in the hot shoe for all 5 contacts to be connected. Some cameras may have a tight shoe so you really need to push the flash in all the way.

If that doesn't work, then I'd suggest going into a camera store and trying the flash on a different camera and trying a different flash on your camera...that should help to narrow down the problem.

deleet · Jun 24, 2008

Big Mike,

Thanks for the quick reply! I did exactly what you said by making sure that the flash was seated properly into place - but still nothing..

Unfortunately, I don't have another camera available to test the flash on. But as mentioned in my post, I also tried a brand new 430ex on the camera as well and that didn't work either.