speedlite 430ex ii won't flash. Help!

terriblyuncreative · May 1, 2011

Hey so I'm totally new to flash photography and etc, but I got this 430ex ii and it worked great until one day I picked it up and it just wouldn't flash anymore.

The pilot light doesn't turn on and when I press it, it doesn't test shoot. Perhaps I need to change the batteries but they are relatively fresh and the flash unit itself turns on and I can change all the options its just that it doesn't flash or test flash.

I don't know what to do!

Any advice would be much appreciated!!

PS. I purchased it from Amazon, so I don't even know who to send it into to get it fixed.

889Media · May 1, 2011

Try the batteries before you go into panic mode

The flash need some power to fire, but not nearly as much power to power on. As you get used to your flash, you will see that when your batteries starts to die, the unit will take longer and longer to charge up enough power to fire, until it just can't flash at all... even though it is still on!

The batteries, even though fairly new, can be of low quality...specially if they are something that you got with your flash. Even good batteries will have somewhat of a low life span when used in a flash like that.

EDIT: good, rechargeable, batteries is the way to go I guess. I have still not purchased that for my flash as it is still fairly new...but after being through several sets of batteries already, I have no doubt that a charger and some rechargeable batteries will pay for it self after a couple of days