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

[PabloZee]

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?

[PabloZee · Accepted solution]

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

[Stephen]

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!

[PabloZee · Accepted solution]

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

[ebiggs1 · Accepted solution]

"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.

[guil]

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

[TCampbell]

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

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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.

[guil]

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

[TCampbell]

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.

[guil]

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

[Philushka]

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.

[PabloZee]

Thanks Philushka

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

Paul