topic Re: Canon 5d mark III does not recognize the Canon Speedlite 580EX II is connected in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

Canon 5d mark III does not recognize the Canon Speedlite 580EX II is connected

PabloZee — Sat, 01 Mar 2014 20:39:15 GMT

When I choose External Speedlite control/ Flash function settings on the 5D.

I get a dialogue that says

This menu cannot be displayed. Incompatible flash or flash's power is turned off.

Flash is on. If I take a photo, flash fire's. Pictures are ALWAYS over exposed when using the flash.

Does the 580EX II work with the 5D Mark III?

Re: Canon 5d mark III does not recognize the Canon Speedlite 580EX II is connected

cale_kat — Sun, 02 Mar 2014 02:37:42 GMT

You've used this flash on the camera with no problem before?

If no. check that it isn't mounted on the camera backwards.

Not helpful? Sorry, I always try to check the obvious stuff first.

2nd, I'd check the speedlite setting. Flash turned on and set to ETTL. Menu layers ...External Speedlite control > Flash function settings > Flash mode > E-TTL. If this is set to Manual /flash" you might get overexposed images.

Good luck.

Re: Canon 5d mark III does not recognize the Canon Speedlite 580EX II is connected

PabloZee — Sun, 02 Mar 2014 03:17:28 GMT

Hi Cale_kat

No this is a new camera, flash has been around for 3-4 years.

All the basic 'stuff' is checked and set properly.

Re: Canon 5d mark III does not recognize the Canon Speedlite 580EX II is connected

MikeSowsun — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 11:40:39 GMT

"Incompatible flash or flash's power is turned off"

That means the flash hotshoe is not getting good contact to communicate with the camera. When there is poor communication, the flash will always fire at Full power.

Try cleaning the contacts on both the camera and flash.

Re: Canon 5d mark III does not recognize the Canon Speedlite 580EX II is connected

ebiggs1 — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 13:59:18 GMT

You are going to have to seperate the two. Try the flash on a different camera and try the camera with a different flash.

Hopefully know good ones in either case.

(It isn't possibile to mount a 580 EX II backwards on a 5D Mk III)

Re: Canon 5d mark III does not recognize the Canon Speedlite 580EX II is connected

TCampbell — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 05:04:37 GMT

The 580EX II does work with the 5D III. But there is a known issue with the 580EX II whereby the foot can come loose and not make good contact. It's easily remedied and Canon even has a service to upgrade the foot to one not prone to have this issue.

With the flash off the camera, try wiggling (gently) the plate on the foot. It should be solid and not want to wiggle. If it does wiggle... it's loose.

Tightening it requires a bit of disassembly (not too much) of the flash and you may want to send it to Canon service.

Re: Canon 5d mark III does not recognize the Canon Speedlite 580EX II is connected

PabloZee — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 10:24:18 GMT

Thank you all for your help.

I checked the foot, and it seems solid. I cleaned the contacts and - they did nto look dirty - put flash back on and it is now being recognised. If there is a service at Canon I may send it in to be checked anyway.

As you all know - but this is new to me (2 weeks old) - This 5D Mark III is the cat's meow. I am liking all the images so far.... The sharpness......

Thanks

Pablo

Re: Canon 5d mark III does not recognize the Canon Speedlite 580EX II is connected

TCampbell — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 15:22:04 GMT

The loose foot plate is a fairly common issue (and easily fixed).

But also keep in mind that there are 5 metal contact pins on the foot of the flash and these mate with the 5 pins on the camera hot-shoe. The 6th contact is the hot-shoe itself (the metal foot plate is actually the ground contact and it mates with the rails on the camera hot-shoe to provide the ground connection.)

Those 5 pins are spring-loaded. If you push them with your finger tips, they should push in and spring back out when you release them. If a piece of dirt manages to get widged into the pin, then it might keep it from springing back out properly and prevent it from making a good connection to the camera. If this happens, the camera may believe it does not have an ETTL flash connected. The pins would need to be cleaned (Do not oil them... that would only attract more dirt. The pins have a loose fit that requires no lubricant. Just clean out whatever dirt may be present if the pins are not performing as they should).

Re: Canon 5d mark III does not recognize the Canon Speedlite 580EX II is connected

MikeSowsun — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 16:19:32 GMT

If you are still experiencing problems, take a look at the pins on your hotshoe. Older 430EX II and 580EX II had rounded pins which can sometimes cause problems. Canon changed these pins and now all their flashes haves "pointy" pins.

If your flash is still on warranty, Canon can replace the entire foot with one that has the "pointy" pins.

I don't have a problem with mine but I called Canon Canon about my 5 year old 580EX II. They won't repair it for free, but they can sell me a replacement part. The old Canon part number is CY2-4220, but the new "Pointy Contact" replacement part is CY2-4220-020

Re: Canon 5d mark III does not recognize the Canon Speedlite 580EX II is connected

PabloZee — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 17:17:28 GMT

Thank you very much - very helpful info

Pablo

Re: Canon 5d mark III does not recognize the Canon Speedlite 580EX II is connected

Stephen — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 17:42:53 GMT

The replacement hot shoe assembly is available from our Parts Department, however, please be aware that here in the US all parts are sold as is, and do not come with any instructions for how to complete the installation.

We always recommend sending your gear to a Canon Factory Service Center for repairs to ensure the safety of you and your equipment!

Re: Canon 5d mark III does not recognize the Canon Speedlite 580EX II is connected

PabloZee — Sun, 09 Mar 2014 18:25:07 GMT

As this is a Canon known problem with the Canon 580EX II flash - you would think Canon would do everything to ensure the integrity of their eqipment.

I have a friend with Nikon equipment, and the store went out of their way to fix his equipment.

From as far back as I can remember Canon was a respected brand. I can't say I would recomend them to anyone in future. Certainly not without telling them what happened to me.

Canon has to realize the customer is paying top dollar because we trust they are putting out good equipment that works and does what they say it will.

Pablo

Re: Canon 5d mark III does not recognize the Canon Speedlite 580EX II is connected

ebiggs1 — Mon, 10 Mar 2014 14:12:03 GMT

"I can't say I would recomend them to anyone in future."

Maybe this is a problem with the 580 EX II known or not to Canon at the time of release. Who knows? I can without doubt say Canon is so far ahead of the other pro photo equipment maker, in customer service, it isn't even a consideration.

Believe me, my photographic friend, you are with the best CS company in the photographic industry.

Re: Canon 5d mark III does not recognize the Canon Speedlite 580EX II is connected

guil — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 18:50:23 GMT

I fully agree with you. I am having the same problem with my 60D and a 320 EX. Unbelievable !!!

Re: Canon 5d mark III does not recognize the Canon Speedlite 580EX II is connected

TCampbell — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 19:01:19 GMT

@guil wrote:
I fully agree with you. I am having the same problem with my 60D and a 320 EX. Unbelievable !!!

The issue of a loose foot on the 580EX II resuling in loss of communication between flash and camera for purposes of doing E-TTL II flash photography is, as far as I'm aware, unique to the 580EX II. The "fix" is actually fairly easy (remove the part of the base holding the foot plate on the flash -- that's 4 screws -- tighten the 4 screws on the foot, then re-attach. Canon has a replacement foot as well.)

If you are having an issue with a 320EX then you may want to contact Canon or provide more detail here. It is not likely related to the "loose" foot issue that the 580EX II could potentially have. And I say "potentially" because lots of 580EX II's would never have this problem. I have a 580EX II and it has been solid for me. Even as I learned of the issue and inspected by own flash to see if there was even the slightest hint of it getting lose, I find that my unit is solid and I have never needed to check it. I will probably never have an issue with it as now I'm primarily using the 600EX-RT Speedlites. My 580EX II is more or less treated as a spare these days.

Re: Canon 60d does not recognize the Canon Speedlite 320 EX II off camera

guil — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 19:48:26 GMT

Thanks Tim - The problem I am having seems to be different. I get the infamous "this menu cannot be displayed. Incompatible flash or flash's power turned off" message when I try to use the 320 EX off camera. Can you help ? Regards

Re: Canon 60d does not recognize the Canon Speedlite 320 EX II off camera

TCampbell — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 20:34:17 GMT

Are you attempting to use the 320EX off-camera via the wireless (optical) connection or via a wired (off-camer cord)?

e.g. you could use a Canon OC-E3 off-camera cord which supports E-TTL use, but these are fairly short cords. They are usually used to mount the flash to a flash bracket or to hold out at "arm's length" but not intended for uses where the flash will be more than just a couple of feet away.

You can also enable the optical wireless mode for off-camera shooting. The flash needs to be put into wireless slave mode (chapter 4 of the manual explains how to do this... put the power switch to "slave" mode instead of the normal "on" mode, pick a channel number (it must match the channel number you set on your camera) and set the firing group (if this is the only off-camera flash, pick group "a").

Meanwhile, the 60D _also_ needs to know you plan to use wireless off-camera flash. See page 139 of the 60D manual (chapter 6 - but a bit into the chapter where it gets to wireless off camera flash vs. the onboard flash).

You will need to

1) pop-up the on-board flash

2) go into the menu system and navigate to flash-control (left-most menu page... bottom choice)

3) go into "built-in flash func. setting" (even though you plan to control an external flash) NOTE: There is an "External flahs func. setting" category. IGNORE THIS. That category probably should have had a name such as "hot-shoe mounted flash function setting" because it only applies to the flash if it's attached via the hot shoe and not via wireless optical mode.)

4) make sure the flash mode is set to "E-TTL II"

5) navigate down the menu to "Wireless func." and here you get a choice. Canon uses a couple of icons... one icon sort of looks like an external flash and that's exactly what it means to represent. The other is supposed to look like the side profile view of the pop-up flash and that icon is meant to represent the pop-up flash.

The camera wants to know if you want neither flash to fire ("Disable", if you want BOTH flashes to fire using the SAME settings (the one where the icons have a "+" sign between them), if you want BOTH flashes to fire using DIFFERENT power outputs (the one where the icons have a ":" sign betweeen them to indicate a ratio), or if you want ONLY the EXTERNAL flash to fire.

The external one might seem a bit confusing until you know what's going on. The built in flash will actually fire BEFORE the camera shutter opens. The E-TTL system performs some pre-flash exposure testing to help it determine the real amount of power required, but it also fires the on-board flash to tell the external flash WHEN to fire. The camera then has the ability to open the shutter and let ONLY the external flash fire (at that moment the on-board flash will not fire) and you get an exposure which is only illuminated by the external flash.

But when it does this... you will swear you saw BOTH fire (you did... you didn't imagine anything). But in reality the flashes communicate by firing more than once but it all happens so quickly that it looks like it only fired once.

6) Back up on the "Built-in flash func. setting" menu.. make sure the channel number matches the channel number of your flash (if it's just you... then you'd probably just pick "1". They give you choices in case other photographers are there who are also using Canon flashes and you don't want to end up having someone else firing your flash when you're trying to work.)

7) You can set the firing group to "all" (this is where the firing group a, b, and c come in).

😎 IF you picked a ratio mode back at step 5, then there will be an extra row displayed which lets you decide what that ratio should be (e.g. 1:1 means both flashes fire at the same power. 2:1 means one flash will be twice as powerful as the other, etc.)

One last comment... keep in mind that when doing wireless off-camera flash with a 60D and 320EX speedlite that the communication between camera and off-camera flash is handled OPTICALLY (not radio) using VISIBLE LIGHT (not IR). The 320EX speedlite needs a line-of-sight to "see" the flash fire on the 60D. If it cannot see it, then it will not fire (or at least not reliably.)

But also keep in mind that since the base and head of the 320EX can swivel, you can swivel the flash so that the base (where the optical sensor is located) can "see" the 60D flash, but the flash head can be pointed wherever you want to direct the light.

Some people make the mistake of trying to point the off-camera flash straight ahead. If the flash and camera are close enough then that may work. But as distance increases you'll find that's no longer reliable. Just rotate the flash so that it's base (where the remote sensor is located) is pointed at the 60D so that it can "see" it's flash and you'll find you have MUCH more reliable operation.

Re: Canon 60d does not recognize the Canon Speedlite 320 EX II off camera

guil — Tue, 18 Mar 2014 00:22:13 GMT

Many thanks Tim. I have now a better understand of what is going on. I can trigger the 320 EX off camera via the optical connection. However, the infamous message is still there (the menu cannot be displayed.....flash incompatible or turned off..). I can only access this menu when the 320 EX is mounted on camera, which is in line with what you say in item 3

Why do I want to access the external flash setting menu then ? Because the high speed synch option is in this menu

Also, I was trying to use radio transmitters to fire the 320 ex and they don´t work - that is when I noticed the external was not being recognized.

So my conclusion is the external flash menu is only accessible when the external flash is mounted on camera and therefore, high speed sych is only available with an on camera external flash

all the best

Re: Canon 60d does not recognize the Canon Speedlite 320 EX II off camera

Philushka — Mon, 25 Aug 2014 17:37:23 GMT

Hi,

I don't know if you've fixed your problem regarding 'incompatible flash' message, but I had the same issue with both my 60D and my 5D Mark III after using the 580. I found this solution on an obscure forum about 4 years ago and it worked for me.

Look at the hot shoe mount on the camera and underneath the metal guides that hold the flash in place you will notice two thin strips of metal used as contacts for the flash. I found that one of these thin strips had been pushed down flat to the body of the hot shoe. I pushed a small flat blade screwdriver underneath it and raised it up from the body. Hey presto, the 'incompatible flash' message disappeared and I was able to access the menu again.

Why this affects the camera I don't know. The strips of metal only seem to come into play when the flash is mounted, but it worked for me on both cameras.

Hope this helps.

All the best.

Re: Canon 60d does not recognize the Canon Speedlite 320 EX II off camera

PabloZee — Tue, 26 Aug 2014 22:56:06 GMT

Thanks Philushka

Problem with the 580EX II was fixed. Shoe issue not in contact properly.

Paul