Flash Not Syncing with Camera: Bad Flash or Broken Camera

[WSC33]

I have a Canon 70D with a 430EXII flash.  From time to time, the flash with overpower the photo with a huge amount of light.  When I examine the picture in Adobe Elements, it reports that the flash didn’t fire which leads me to believe that the flash and camera were not properly connected.  Is this the fault of the flash or the shoe on the camera?  I don’t know anyone with a Canon like mine or I’d test my flash with theirs.

What is likely the problem?  How can I isolate the cause?

thanks.

WSC33

[RobertTheFat]

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@WSC33 wrote:

I have a Canon 70D with a 430EXII flash.  From time to time, the flash with overpower the photo with a huge amount of light.  When I examine the picture in Adobe Elements, it reports that the flash didn’t fire which leads me to believe that the flash and camera were not properly connected.  Is this the fault of the flash or the shoe on the camera?  I don’t know anyone with a Canon like mine or I’d test my flash with theirs.

What is likely the problem?  How can I isolate the cause?

thanks.

WSC33

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One thing that can cause that effect is the flash being set to TTL mode instead of E-TTL mode.

[WSC33]

Hey RTF,

Mine is set in ETTL.  In fact, I can't even find "TTL" mode.  ETTL seems to be the only one other than "M"anual.  Other thoughts?

Thanks.

[kvbarkley]

Clean the hot-shoe contacts and make sure that the flash is fully seated and locked.

[WSC33]

I will clean the hot-shoe, but I've reseated it in the past to see if I couldn't get it to perform properly w/o much success.  thanks though. 

[wq9nsc]

Check that the spring loaded contacts on the bottom of the flash are moving smoothly back out after you press them in, my 580EX had one sticking due to some substance many years ago causing intermittent glitches.  Also try cleaning those with a clean cloth and isopropyl alcohol and carefully do the same for the mating camera contacts.

Rodger

[WSC33]

I have just done as you suggested and we'll see how it works.  It's an intermittent problem.

[BurnUnit]

Is it possible that there's a setting that can be made from the camer's menus to switch the flash between TTL and E-TTL modes, or would this typically only be something that can be changed from the flash only? Or is there some other settings from the camera that might make the flash act this way?

[RobertTheFat]

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@BurnUnit wrote:

Is it possible that there's a setting that can be made from the camer's menus to switch the flash between TTL and E-TTL modes, or would this typically only be something that can be changed from the flash only? Or is there some other settings from the camera that might make the flash act this way?

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Typically, a camera will function in one of those two modes, but not in the other. The flash unit has to adapt to the camera, not the other way around.