Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

rms956 · Sun Jul 18, 2010 11:26 am

Bravo wrote:

I am having the exact same problem with my Canon XSI, and resetting to factory defaults didn't fix it. Has anyone else figured out how to solve this? I found the following:

-All the connections are good. The flash fires fine using the test button, and the hot shoe adapter works fine on a different model camera (Canon XT). The knob is neither too tight nor too loose. Live View is disabled.

-The flash DOES fire when the camera's pop-up internal flash is on. It even fires when the pop-up flash is on but covered (meaning that my B800 is firing via the PC connection and not the optical trigger).

It seems like the XSI disables the hot-shoe output unless the internal flash is switched on or a Canon speedlite is connected. I tried resetting everything to the factory defaults, I am using the latest firmware, and I can't find any settings that affect the problem.

I am considering upgrading to the CyberSync so that I can do away with the PC cord entirely, but I am worried that the same problem will occur since the hot shoe doesn't seem to be working right. Does anyone have any advice?

Some cameras tend to have different tolerances with their hotshoes from model to model. Try putting slight downward pressure on the adaptor to see if it fires then(please be careful not to break something or hurt yourself while doing this).

Bravo · Sun Jul 18, 2010 12:18 pm

Tried that... no luck. The camera is not closing the contact between the center pin and the outer area of the hotshoe. It does work normally when the pop up flash is up, and everything else is unchanged, so it is not an issue of the adapter being too loose or too tight.

Technical Support · Mon Jul 19, 2010 9:16 am

How is the built in flash up, if there is something in the hotshoe?

There is a small switch in the hotshoe that is supposed to prevent the pop up from opening if something is in the hot shoe.

Bravo · Mon Jul 19, 2010 9:29 am

The built in flash opens far enough that it bypasses the switch and fires normally- it doesn't bump into the hot shoe adapter until it nears the end of its travel.

Technical Support · Mon Jul 19, 2010 10:19 am

Different switch. In the hotshoe itself, under the right rail spring, there is a tiny switch that is supposed to keep the pop up from popping up. If this switch is engaged, the camera knows there is something in the hotshoe, and will pass a trigger signal, and prevent the pop up from popping up. If the switch is not engaged, the pop up can pop up, but the hotshoe will not pass a signal. I verified this with a Rebel XS.

I am not qualified to say that your camera has an issue, but it is doing things that it should not be doing.

You may try pulling the HSA back out just a tad to see if that helps.

Bravo · Mon Jul 19, 2010 12:04 pm

That was it! The microswitch in the hotshoe isn't fully engaged when the hotshoe adapter is inserted. It looks like I just need an adapter with a thicker mounting plate, or a shim of some sort. Thanks for all the help.

Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

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