Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

Hello,

I've been having problems with my 580ex ii's going to sleep between shots and the cybersync's not activating them when I begin shooting again. I've been having to switch my flashes off and back on again to activate them. I thought the cybersync's would wake them back up. Any suggestions?

Thanks
Bill

There's two ways to keep the 580ex II from going to sleep on you. My choice is to put the 580ex II in slave mode as if I'm going to use Canon's E-TTL system. That makes the flash go to sleep after an hour, which matches the idle timeout of the Cybersync. You can also make the flash turn off after 10 minutes of inactivity in slave mode with custom function 10.

The other way is to turn off the auto-sleep mode on the flash altogether. Custom function 1 can be set to "1" to disable auto-sleep mode.

The 580EXII will not wake up via the PC terminal or the Hotshoe (unless attached to the camera). This would be the case for virtually any radio remote. I would suggest turning sleep mode off, or extending the time out if that option is available. Incidentally, pressing the "Pilot" button wakes them without powering off.

I would "second" Kurt's reply - Custom mode 1 to setting 1. Problem solved.

We have put a sticker on all our 580EXII flashes to remind folks that this is required for "strobist" use.

BUD at theSOPHA.com

And... because Canon is Canon... the custom function on a 580EX is different than on the EXII... I think it's CF 14 on the 580EX.

Thanks for the great info everyone. I'll be making these changes today!