Rebel 2000 Pop Up Flash Not Firing

[Hunter-W7NUK]

I have been looking around to find a solution to my problem. I have not been able to find any information on any Canon camera that has been of any use. I'm asking here to see if anyone can give some ideas as to my problem. I am also very new to photography. I have only been shooting film for the last month on my Minolta X 700 and now this Canon Rebel 2000. So please be nice!

My pop up flash will not fire. It pops up just fine in the auto modes, and when I push the flash button when in the "creative" modes. It just will not fire. When the flash pops up in the auto modes, I hear a slight repeating clicking noise as it tries to fire the flash quickly for the auto focus. I can also hear a slight whine that peters off quickly. The whining comes back if I push the flash down then pop it back up. Then it just goes away a few seconds later. This seems to be saying the charge circuit is working? Right? But, I know for sure that this problem is not the micro switch in the hot shoe. I can freely move the switch and push it down which makes the camera flash will not pop up. I have also used plenty of electrical contact cleaner in there so that plenty should have got in there. I used a q-tip and was sparing of course! I'm leaning on the flash tube being bad but, I am unable to test further right now, and I don't know how to disassemble to camera to check this or replace it!

An external flash will work, and I have a nice Yongnuo YN600EX-RT coming soon to replace my old Vivitar 2800. Hoping this flash works in the E-TTL mode. Can't find anything on that either! Off track so, let me know your thoughts and how I might be able to test further or repair it. I bought the camera only recently so I am not too familiar with everything, but I do have the manual and have shot a few rolls though it. I currently have a roll of B&W in the camera so I won't be making any test shots, at least until the roll is used. However, my few rolls I have shot through this camera have turned out nice! At least as far as I can tell on the negatives, need to get a scanner to really see!

 

[sniper x]

Look in the hot shoe tracks. There is a micro switch in there which disallows the flash from either popping up or firing when an external flash is in the hot shoe. It may have gone bad or partially bad to the point where you can depress it with a small flat head and make the flash fire....it may allow the flash to pop up but not fire...

 

[sniper x]

If it pops up, it should fire

 

[FotosbyMike]

Have you considered the flash bulb is blown.

 

[sniper x]

That would be very weird. I still have a Canon A2e which has at least 2K flashes on the pop up flash that still works.

 

[TCampbell]

The hinge on the flash has a spring. When you push the flash down, there's a catch-hook which holds it down. The clicking noise is the solenoid which retracts the spring so that it will pop up. There is a micro-switch (sort of like the little button on your refrigerator door that knows when the door is closed or open so it knows when to turn on the light) ... and that's how it knows the flash did pop up (otherwise it will display an error code -- sometimes the hinges get gunked up and these things don't spring up to the raised position when the catch-hook releases it).

A flash requires a larger burst of power than a battery can normally supply... the battery charges up a capacitor which stores the energy so it has enough to flash the bulb.

From your description... it sounds like everything is working correctly... *except* the bulb wont fire (whether there is a loose or shorted wire, a burned out bulb, etc. we can't know).

You have a very old camera and it's not worth spending a lot of money to get it fixed... but as you have the Yongnuo flash on the way (that flash is designed to be compatible with the Canon E-TTL II flash system so it should "just work") it'll probably eliminate the need to fix the pop-up flash.

A pop-up flash really isn't very powerful. They're very tiny and only good if the subject is rather close. Another limitation is that since the flash is only just above the lens, if you use a longer lens or a lens with a hood, the shadow of the lens/hood will show up in your shots. It's great to be able to use a flash outdoors on bright days because the flash can fill in the shadow areas ... the images don't noticeably look like a flash was used but the results look a lot better.

When shooting indoors, you can bounce the flash off a neutral surface such as a "white" ceiling or wall. The painted white surface scatters the light (more of a "scattering" than a "reflecting" surface) so you don't get shadows with strongly defined edges... you get very gentle transitions from light to shadow. You can do this with an external shoe-mounted flash because you can angle the head to point toward a bounce surface (such as a white ceiling) -- but you can't do this with a pop-up flash (and even if you could... the very limited power output of a built-in flash would not produce a good result.)

In other words... even if your pop-up flash was working fine... I would not use it if I had the option to attach the shoe-mounted flash ... it's just a whole lot more versatile.

 

[Hunter-W7NUK]

Thanks for the replies. I have tried to disassemble the camera and check out this problem. I didn't need to do much checking on the flash capacitor. As it bit me! So the capacitor is charged up no problem! Next I put it back together, and then pulled the cover off the pop up flash to check if high voltage is going to the bulb. I can't get my meter to measure any voltage across the bulb and the little coil which fires it. There is no voltage voltage AC or DC from 600V to 6V. Might try pulling the camera top back off a little and seeing if I can follow the wires. Seems like an open somewhere. Maybe see if I can get a little better access the the micro switches and try cleaning them again.

And I know this camera isn't worth repairing. That's why I am not paying for someone else to do it! Just bugs me. Also my Yongnuo flash came in. It communicates with the camera perfectly fine. Tells it to change zoom and power and autofocus lights to come on but, it does not fire! Everything else works so why does it not fire! At least the flash works fine on my Rebel T6. And I still have my old Vivitar flash that works on the Rebel 2000.

 

[Hunter-W7NUK]

I just found out that if I use electrical tape on the flash hot shoe contacts my Yongnuo flash will then fire! I lose all my E-TTL functions though. I am not covering the main center contact which fires the flash, just the small four contacts behind it. Weird why it works this way. And its pretty useless then as I lose my E-TTL and have to shoot manual. I don't know what settings to set the flash to in manual, as I have only been shooting for a couple months total and a few weeks with flash! I do have the flash guide but that is for an aperture of 1 and I don't know how to convert it. Internal pop up flash is still not working. Maybe I'll just sell the Rebel 2000 and get new light seals for my Minolta X700. Love that camera! But I do like the auto wind and advance with the 2000. If only I could get a EOS 1V!

 

[Hunter-W7NUK]

I have since disassembled the camera again. I have not been able to fix it. I have tried cleaning the micro switches, which are not micro switches at all! The one in the hot shoe is just a small plastic piece that pushes a small metal arm off a contact on the flexible circuit board for the hot shoe. One of the switches in the pop up flash area is just to help the solenoid pop it up. The other is also pushing a small metal arm but into another small metal arm. So they are not micro switches after all! But I was not able to get it to work. Even trying to spray my contract cleaner directly onto them it did not work. Makes me wonder if the flash bulb is shorted. Definitely sucks, but at least it killed some time! I have been really bored waiting for school to start again!

And it still baffles me that my Yongnuo flash works with all the contacts except the X sync covered! Just a weird broken camera I guess.