DISASTER ! My New (used) camera's flash has stopped working - EDIT Sorted Thanks !

gothgirl

gothgirl

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DISASTER ! My New (used) camera's flash has stopped working

My 350d I bought a few weeks ago off a member on here, the flash has stopped working

What can I do :(

It doesn't pop up on its own or when pressed the button, and if you manually open it it still doesn't work


EDIT - After reading the suggestions below I went to clean my hotshoe.. removed the hotshoe cover, and PING up pops the flash!

Turns out it was the the hotshoe cover that was making the camera think a external flash was attached, and when taken off the camera pops up the in built flash!

Looks Like I'm going bareback from now ;)
 
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It'll probably be cheaper to buy an external flash to run off the hotshoe rather than get it repaired..
 
oddly mandy said the flash on her 350d never worked either :x

you may need to buy a external flash as the cheapest option
 
I'd see it as a blessing in disguise personally as on camera flash (direct) it 99% turd in terms of usability for anything remotely decent. Its also not powerful enough to overpower sunlight, making direct flash useless even for that with the built in flash.
 
does it think that there is an external flash attached? check on the hotshoe - there is a spring on one of the sides that gets pushed down when an external flash is attached and if that is down push it up.
 
Apologies for asking, but I do so because it happened to me. Since you're new to the camera, maybe it happens to you too. Sometimes in certain modes, or with certain settings made, under certain circumstances the flash may not fire, but that may change once you change the mode or the settings.

I can't guess which settings this might be on your camera, but maybe you could try to see if it is something in this ballpark?
 
I've tried all the user manual modes where I SHOULD be able to manually activate the flash with the flash release button (p,a,m,av) and I cannot activate the flash myself

Then I tried the preset modes such as Portrait, which should automatically release flash, regardless of light and they do not work either

Can anyone reccommend a good cheap flash to buy?

I will try the above method, but a new flash was on my want list anyway
 
The YONGNUO YN-560 II is just over £40 and seems to get a lot of good user reviews. :)
 
gothgirl said:
I've tried all the user manual modes where I SHOULD be able to manually activate the flash with the flash release button (p,a,m,av) and I cannot activate the flash myself

Then I tried the preset modes such as Portrait, which should automatically release flash, regardless of light and they do not work either

Can anyone reccommend a good cheap flash to buy?

I will try the above method, but a new flash was on my want list anyway
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If you want full E-TTL flash look no further than the Yongnuo 565ex or even better if you want full HSS flash look at either of these Yongnuo 500ex or the more powerful Yongnuo 568ex
 
Any of the above flashes are good, there's also a Nissin Di622 that you can pick up second hand for around £50 and they are excellent flashes too. I used to have one but had to change it when I got a 650D as the camera was far newer than the flash and wasn't compatible. There'll be no problems with your 350D though.
 
I'd offer to let you have my on-camera flash as I've not used it since about 3 days after I purchased my camera! As said previously, take it as a blessing in disguise as despite the fact a big ol' flash is a pain to lug around, your shots will see a huge improvement.
 
This happened on my old 20D I had and even with an external flash it still wouldn't fire.
 
Vettahead said:
Do you get an err message? Dues it click first?

Had a 1000 d that all it needed was contacts massaged and cleaned up
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No error message, and the camera still takes a photo but the shutter speed is slowed waaaay down, to a ridiculous point, unless its in bright light e.g outside where it wouldn't need flash anyway, and then it takes pics fine
 
the slow shutter speed sounds like the camera knows ther flash isnt firing and is metering for ambient conditions.

it might be worth setting the camera to restore factory defaults in the setting menus in case its been set to something odd

but that aside as others have said an external flash is waaay better anyway - get one with a poseable head not one of the really cheap fixed sort.

in addition to the various third party flashes already mentioned you can also get older canon flashes cheaply second hand like the 420ex and the 550ex - don't be tempted by the older (and cheaper) Ez series as they don't work with canon DSLRs
 
May be a long shot, but try and update the camera's firmware, there may be something as simple as a corrupt file.
You can download the latest updates from the canon uk site.
 
After reading the suggestions below I went to clean my hotshoe.. removed the hotshoe cover, and PING up pops the flash!

Turns out it was the the hotshoe cover that was making the camera think a external flash was attached, and when taken off the camera pops up the in built flash!

Looks Like I'm going bareback from now
 
Yay sorted - but get an external flash anyway - unless you want hard nasty light and redeye onboard flash is bobbins in a lot of situations
 
Yes I'm still going to try and get hold of one, its just funding is an issue
 
I always disliked flash... especially when someone walks in with a DSLR+speedlight and proceeds to fire off at anything and everything and completely destroys it for everyone else.

Flash is for weddings, fashion shoots and when there's no one else around only IMVHO :D I prefer vailable light and fast primes.
 
woof woof said:
I always disliked flash... especially when someone walks in with a DSLR+speedlight and proceeds to fire off at anything and everything and completely destroys it for everyone else.

Flash is for weddings, fashion shoots and when there's no one else around only IMVHO :D I prefer vailable light and fast primes.
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Fast primes are not great for everyone and are out of budget for even more! Glad Ita fixed. I can't agree more though a good flash is in invaluable, i even use it with my fast prime ;-)
 
Vettahead said:
Fast primes are not great for everyone and are out of budget for even more!
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That's true, a 50mm f1.7 could set you back £15.

I know my views are not everyones but personally I like to be as unobtrusive as possible in public so flash just isn't for me. Good luck to those who use it responsibly though :D
 
a manual focus pentax lens isnt going to do the OP a lot of good on a 350D - and a nifty (which is the cheapests canon autofocus prime) is still goint to cost her fifty or so notes even second hand
 
big soft moose said:
a manual focus pentax lens isnt going to do the OP a lot of good on a 350D - and a nifty (which is the cheapests canon autofocus prime) is still goint to cost her fifty or so notes even second hand
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Why's that?

I use an old manual focus 50mm F2 Pentax and love the quality it produces with lovely BOKEH.

Edit: and that was on my old 20D, now looking for a PK to nikon mount adaptor.
 
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Because you can't autofocus or TTL which kind of defeats the point of buying the modern technology in the first place.

If you like using retro lenses and doing everything manually then thats your choice, but its just plain daft to claim that it's an alternative for everyone - hence if you want to use fast primes that actually work as canon intended you'll need to spend at least 50 quid.

(also even if you do want to use legacy lenses , you'l still need to also buy a converter, so the claim that you can do it for 15 quid isstill flawed)
 
big soft moose said:
Yay sorted - but get an external flash anyway - unless you want hard nasty light and redeye onboard flash is bobbins in a lot of situations
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But it can have its uses when there is no better option. Here's a quick illustration with my 7D, with and without popup flash....

20130713_171234_.JPG


And looking more closely at the facial features, she actually does have a pair of eyes after all....

20130713_171415_.JPG


It might have turned out better if I'd oriented the camera with the flash on the right, but I find it awkward to turn the camera in that direction. Even so, I think the addition of flash, basic as it might be in this example, is an improvement over nature's own light.

People should not consider flash to only be a tool to use when it gets dark. There are plenty of reasons to use it in bright light too.
 
well yeah - but theres still some pretty direct light on the 'with' shot - which wouldnt have happened with a a flash gun with a poseable head and a bounce card or diffuser
 
woof woof said:
I always disliked flash... especially when someone walks in with a DSLR+speedlight and proceeds to fire off at anything and everything and completely destroys it for everyone else.

Flash is for weddings, fashion shoots and when there's no one else around only IMVHO :D I prefer vailable light and fast primes.
Click to expand...

I borrowed my friends Nikon SB-600 for a week, and I bounced the flash of ceilings and walls. I was amazed at the quality of the images, but I find it did attract too much attention, plus it's a pain to carry about.

I now use a Canon compact, yes and I do use the dreaded in built flash, but hand held in the late evening it's either built in flash or no shot!

Tweaking the exposure comp and turning the flash power output down, does give images I am pretty happy with.
 
Shows what a photography noob I still am, never really thought too much about using a flash to reduce shadows, will have to give that a try given all the sunny weather we've been having. :D
 
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