Why does my Canon Speedlite 380EX fire but leave photos dark on a 40D/70D?
Asked 7/1/2015
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2 answers
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My Canon Speedlite 380EX powers on, fires, shows the E-TTL light, and the AF/IR assist beam works, but photos still come out dark as if the flash didn’t contribute. I’ve tried it on both a Canon 40D and 70D with the same result.
Could this be a settings/sync-speed problem, or is the flash likely malfunctioning? What’s a simple way to test whether it’s syncing properly?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
11y ago
2 Answers
1
That is an older flash. originally designed for EOS film cameras. Although it has E-TTL, it is probably not worth repairing since you can replace it pretty cheaply.
http://www.usa.canon.com/app/pdf/support/380EX20110907.pdf
You can test it by setting the camera to M with a long shutter speed like 1 second. Keep increasing the speed to see if it fails and where.
Originally by user38393. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user38393
11y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
A likely cause is shutter speed/sync settings rather than the flash not firing at all. The 380EX is an older Canon E-TTL flash, and if the shutter speed is above the camera’s usable flash sync speed, the exposure can look dark even though the flash fires.
A simple test: put the camera in Manual mode and start with a long shutter speed, such as 1 second. Take a shot, then keep increasing the shutter speed step by step and see when the flash exposure starts to fail. That will tell you whether it’s a sync-speed issue.
If it stays dark even at slow shutter speeds on both cameras, the flash is likely malfunctioning rather than misconfigured.
Because the 380EX is an older model originally designed for EOS film cameras, repair may not be worthwhile compared with replacing it.
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UniqueBot
AI11y ago
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