Canon 70 D My internal flash wont fire. Is it broken or do I have a mistake in settings.

[CCTeen]

My Canon 70 D internal flash wont fire. Im not sure if I have made a mistake in my settings.  I usually shoot with a remote flash 580 exii on slave. The internal wont flash now or fire a preflash. So I'm thinking it is broken by need help to rule out any possible mistake in settings... thanks 

[kvbarkley]

Put in green square mode. It should ignore any other settings and fire if required.

[diverhank]

Does your internal flash pop up and not fired or it doesn't even pop up?

If it pops up but won't fire then either it's broken or you have enabled the Flash off option (2nd red menu from the left).

If it won't pop up, it might think there's an external flash sitting on top.  There is a micro switch located underneath one of the spring-loaded bar of the flash hot shoe.  When this switch is depressed (when you install an external flash), it tells the camera to ignore the internal flash.  When you remove the external flash this spring-loaded bar is supposed to pop back up, and the switch pops up telling the camera, there is no external flash.  With time, this bar gets stuck or the switch itself gets stuck.  You can inspect it and help these two pop back up then you would be good to go.

[CCTeen]

Yes it will pop up and not fire.  Even on A (green) mode it will pop up and not fire. On inspection I do see the sprin g loaded bars and the micro switch on the right is visible and appears to be in the upright position but beneth the spring bar on the left there is a tiny hole with no switch visible.  Should there be one on that side also? 

[diverhank]

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@CCTeen wrote:

Yes it will pop up and not fire.  Even on A (green) mode it will pop up and not fire. On inspection I do see the sprin g loaded bars and the micro switch on the right is visible and appears to be in the upright position but beneth the spring bar on the left there is a tiny hole with no switch visible.  Should there be one on that side also? 

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So did you check the MENU option to make sure you didn't disable the flash by mistake?

There is only one switch...so that looks OK.

Also make sure your camera is not set on the Flash Disable mode on the round dial.  The 70D has a non-flash mode.

[CCTeen]

All of the above are in the correct sittings. So can the "bulb" break on the flash?

[diverhank · Accepted solution]

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@CCTeen wrote:
All of the above are in the correct sittings. So can the "bulb" break on the flash?

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Yes, definitely.  

High ISO NR option set to Multi Shot Noise reduction will also disable the flash, though.  So check that option also.

When in doubt, do a  reset to default settings.  Now I'm really out of clues :).  You might have to send it in.

[CCTeen]

I have checked all of these settings as suggested and no change in the flash. It does look like the flash is broken! I have really learned a lot about my camera by following your suggestions. Thanks so much

[RobertTheFat]

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@CCTeen wrote:
I have checked all of these settings as suggested and no change in the flash. It does look like the flash is broken! I have really learned a lot about my camera by following your suggestions. Thanks so much

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To make the best of a bad situation, recognize that some of the best lenses for a 70D (the EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8, for example) will cast a serious shadow in the coverage field of the built-in flash, rendering it nearly useless. So you have the option of foregoing a repair and putting the money towards one of Canon's really good external speedlites. The 600EX-RT, for example, will do a far more comprehensive job of controlling external flash units than the internal flash would ever do.