EOS R5 Mark II struggling with ETTL and AWB when Godox Speedlite is attached

[itsrebeccajoell]

Hi everyone, 

I recently purchased an R5 mii and at the same time, had to replace my speedlite and purchased the new Godox V100c Pro. Before that I had an R6 mii and a V1C pro which worked fine on ETTL! The new set up is not working at ALL and I thought it was the flash so I got that replaced but it's still giving me issues and I'm wondering if it's a setting on the R5 mark ii that's not communicating with the flash for ETTL? Even using the flash in manual mode it's struggling with the AWB feature (whereas the camera is fine with AWB without flash). But when the speedlite is attached and I try ETTL, it cannot figure out the light output so one shot looks super over exposed and the next shot (same composition, distance etc - think a step and repeat) looks like barely any light was sent out through ETTL. Even on Kelvin sometimes it will change the color of the shot. This only happens when the flash is attached. I am struggling to figure out if maybe this specific flash is not compatible with the R5 mark ii for some reason?? Has anyone else had these issues? 

[deebatman316]

It sounds like the speedlite is INCOMPATIBLE with your camera. 3rd Party gear can be hit or miss with compatibility. Just because it works with an older camera doesn't mean it's going to work with a newer camera. Godox reverse engineers Canon's E-TTL flash protocol. So incompatibilities do arise between older 3rd Party gear and new cameras. Canon's own speedlites report color temperature information as part of E-TTL II. Have you tried using the speedlite with the camera set to full Auto mode to see if the shots are correctly exposed. Also could you post example pictures in the forum so we can see what's happening exactly. I would also test a Canon brand EX/EL speedlite to see if it works correctly.

[p4pictures]

I could not find the Godox V100 C Pro flash, but the one I did find on the Godox site was the V100 C. In the compatibility chart that was linked at the foot of the page there is no mention of EOS R5 Mark II, but EOS R6 Mark II is listed. 

One thing that is significantly different between the EOS R6 Mark II and the EOS R5 Mark II is that the default shutter mode for EOS R5 Mark II is electronic shutter, yet the EOS R6 Mark II default is electronic first curtain shutter, and EOS R6 Mark II will not fire any flash when set to electronic shutter mode. It is quite possible that with electronic shutter mode active on the EOS R5 Mark II that the Godox flash is not working correctly. If they reverse engineered Canon's flash protocol for older cameras it may have been incomplete or incorrect so that it doesn't work with newer models. 

You have two possibilities to experiment with:-

1. Change to electronic first curtain shutter mode, or mechanical shutter mode on your EOS R5 Mark II and retry with the Godox flash
2. Try a Canon Speedlite with your camera in every shutter mode. If it works then it's not the camera causing the problems.

You have to remember that with a third party flash, it is the responsibility of the third party to ensure compatibility.  Canon does not provide support / engineering help to the third party flash makers. If you ask Canon to check your camera they will use a Canon Speedlite to test it with. 

[itsrebeccajoell]

Thank you!! I actually always shoot in electronic first curtain shutter mode, but I can try mechanical and see if that helps at all? I've never used it - do you know if it will have an affect on high speed shooting in general at all? 

[p4pictures]

Not quite sure what you mean by shooting speed, but the different shutter modes do have some impact.

• Mechanical shutter mode - H+ drive mode max 12fps, sync speed for flash is 1/200th
• Electronic 1st curtain shutter mode - H+ drive mode max 12fps, sync speed for flash is 1/250th
• Electronic shutter mode - H+ drive mode max 30fps, sync speed for flash is 1/160th

Drive mode speeds in the manual here: https://cam.start.canon/en/C017/manual/html/UG-04_AF-Drive_0120.html

Sync speeds in the manual here: https://cam.start.canon/en/C017/manual/html/UG-03_Shooting-1_0090.html 

[JeffXB]

I have the Godox V100 C, but I’m using on an R6 M2. The instructions state if you push the flash fully into the shoe the contract pins don’t line up properly. Need to only push it in until you hear / feel a click, then lock it in place. Could the same be happening with your R5 M2?