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420EX Speedlite issue with Canon Rebel XS (1000D)

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SalSanto:
Hello, as most of us try our best to cut costs, we live and learn as we go on. Such as I did when I purchased the 420EX discontinued Speedlite from e-Bay! Well, maybe the speedlite is perfectly fine and it’s more of my own ignorance as I just started my hobby 3 months ago and have tons to learn. Anyway, here’s my issue. I placed brand new batteries in the speedlite and use a fully charged battery in my Rebel before taking my first shots. I slide the speedlite onto the hotshoe and securely lock in the pin. I am now taking GREAT indoor photo’s of my son and using  various angels with the bounce flash. I tried to see what else the Flash was capable of doing but unfortunately, curiosity killed this cat. That was my biggest regret! Ever since I played around with the speedlite’s settings my camera’s shutter no longer syncs up with the speedlite’s flash. The flash is firing but when looking at the picture it seems as if the photo was taken with absolutely no flash at all. Almost totally underexposed. It can’t be the Camera’s hotshoe because as I mentioned, I did manage to take a few great shots at first. Also, the camera is still telling the speedlite to fire. Does anyone know what I need to do ???

ingesche:
Hi, this doesn't sound like anything you need to be too worried about, yet.  I have a different Canon EOS model (50D) and different flash (550EX), but also managed to screw up the settings a couple of times when I didn't really know yet what I was doing. :)

The easiest way to fix this, would be to check your camera's manual to figure out if there is a reset flash menu item.  Fortunately, the 50D does.  I don't know about your camera though.  If your camera does not have such a menu option, maybe you know someone who does, and who would be willing to reset it for you?

If neither is the case, I suspect you may have set the flash's mode to manual and may have reduced its output to just a fraction of what it is capable of.  Since I am not familiar with the exact specifications of your flash, you will have to check out the flash's manual.  I am assuming that it does let you set it to manual mode and adjust its output.  In that case, the manual should contain a manual mode section that describes how to change the output "level".

Please let us know if you managed to solve the problem.  If not, there may be someone on this forum who has more experience with your particular flash model.

SalSanto:
Thank you so much for this! Please let me know if I'm in the right part of the manual. It looks as though there is a "Clear Speedlite Settings" option. Should I try this? And do you know if I should set the mode in my camera to Manual or E-TTL II? Thanks again!!!!

ingesche:
Yes, you can use the Clear Speelite Settings option to reset the speedlite.  It should then be reset to factory defaults, clearing any custom settings you have applied.  For clearing the settings, I don't think it makes a difference whether the flash mode is set to manual or ETTL-II.  But if one does not work, try the other.

When taking photos, which settings you want to use really depends on what you want to do.  I am by no means a flash expert, but I recognized your problem all too well.  I have been using my flash mainly as a fill flash (ETTL setting, full auto) and for photographing water drops.  In the latter case, I set the flash to manual, and reduce its output power.

The only other advice I can give you, is to read the manual. ;)  There might be people on this forum with more experience who can give you further advice.  What I usually do, is determine what I want to use the flash for.  Then I try to find the right section in the manual (just make sure you have glanced through the whole manual at least once, so you have at least some idea what it can do).  If I can't find it in the manual, Google is usually my best friend.  There are a lot of tutorials on the web.

Hope this helps.

SalSanto:
You're great! Thank you so much for your time and advice! I'll get it right!  ;D

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