580EX beamwidth anomaly - who goes first?

Doug Kerr · Mar 2, 2006

Hi, John,

John Pane said:
I think the issue is: there has to be a complete path within Canon
from people who understand the problem, to people who can make a
decision to replace/repair defective units under warranty, to the
front-line customer support staff.

From our experience so far it appears that attempting to forge this
path bottom-up, via customer support staff, may not be all that
effective.

Some of us are apparently hoping that there is another way to make
this connection occur within Canon. Thus the attempts to get Chuck
Westfall engaged in the process, or the hopes that "somebody" is
watching these forum discussions.

Myself, always guardedly optimistic (as one might expect from my Scots-German ancestry!), I hope that perhaps since the earlier unsatisfying approaches of various of the member to Canon Customer Service, they have been brought internally or externally to some epiphany in this regard, and are now ready to confront The Truth in some beneficial way.

Best regards,

Doug

Lee Jay · Mar 2, 2006

Doug Kerr said:
ljfinger said:

Doug Kerr said:

If somebody has a piece of equipment they think is not performing
properly, they should contact the manufacturer and request them to
correct it.

Click to expand...

I did. They refused to acknowledge the problem and they refused to
fix it. Yet they altered the design (software or hardware, I'm not
sure) to fix the problem they refused to acknowledge.

I'm going to ask again and see what they say this time.

Click to expand...

Good idea. Things change.

Apparently so. From Canon service:

"You are more than welcome to forward the flash to our Factory for
evaluation and repair."

--
Lee Jay
(see profile for equipment)

HoppyUK · Mar 2, 2006

That reads like Canon is holding its hands up on this. Top job, Lee Jay!

I'll let you know what Canon UK has to say over the next few days.

Richard.

Lee Jay said:
From Canon service:

"You are more than welcome to forward the flash to our Factory for
evaluation and repair."

Lee Jay said:
Lee Jay

DRG · Mar 2, 2006

Doug Kerr said:
If somebody has a piece of equipment they think is not performing
properly, they should contact the manufacturer and request them to
correct it.

If somebody will give me an "old" 580EX, I will certainly do that.
("In warranty" would certainly be best.)

Well, my attempt to contact Canon resulted in a letter back stating that they had no service reports on the 580EX but that I was welcome to send in the flash for evaluation.

I'm 90% sure that doing so will result in them telling me nothing's wrong. I'll have wasted time and, based on prior experience, the flash will come back dirtier and perhaps scratched from less than careful handling. Or, they'll try to charge me for a board swap since I'm out of warranty, despite the fact that this is a design flaw.

Any way it goes, it's wasted time. Hence the drama.

I'm thinking of just eBaying mine and buying a fresh one as a more palatable alternative.

David

Doug Kerr · Mar 2, 2006

Hi, Lee Jay,

Let us know how this progresses.

Best regards,

Doug

Mike. · Mar 2, 2006

Flip out wide angle diffusor for wide angle work not solve this problem?
--
-Mike

kk66 · Mar 2, 2006

...reporting the infamous design flaw and asking them "to make my unit working the same way as my colleague's units work."

Now will see what's going to happen... I'll keep you informed.

Ciao, Enrico

Lee Jay · Mar 2, 2006

Mike. said:
Flip out wide angle diffusor for wide angle work not solve this
problem?

Yeah, but it costs you a TON of range.

--
Lee Jay
(see profile for equipment)

kk66 · Mar 2, 2006

Mike. said:
Flip out wide angle diffusor for wide angle work not solve this
problem?

Yes, but it is a more logical solution to set CF11 to 1.

Ciao, Enrico

Doug Kerr · Mar 2, 2006

Hi, Mike,

When the wide panel is deployed, the beamwidth becomes "14 mm" (on the same basis as the head positions are denominated).

That would, simplistically, be ideal on a 20D for a lens focal length of about 9 mm.

For larger focal lengthes (such as 20 mm), the beam would be far wider than necessary, safe, but resulitng in a reduced range (not that we usually run out of that with a 580-EX!).

Best regards,

Doug

Doug Kerr · Mar 2, 2006

Ken Schmidt · Mar 2, 2006

Found it...149747

Doug Kerr · Mar 2, 2006

Hi, Jim,

I have lost track - did that unit (149747) exhibit Behavior X or Behavior Y?

Thanks.

Best regards,

Doug

kk66 · Mar 3, 2006

Dear Doug,

we all want to tell you "thanks!" for your effort and dedication in our problems, and I said "our problems" 'cause we all know you do not own a 580EX yet.

So if the rest of the forum agree with me, would you accept a 580EX as a little gift from the forum, original model behavior X of course?

))

Ciao, and truly thanks!
Enrico

Doug Kerr · Mar 3, 2006

Hi, Enrico,

kk66 said:
Dear Doug,
we all want to tell you "thanks!" for your effort and dedication in
our problems, and I said "our problems" 'cause we all know you do
not own a 580EX yet.
So if the rest of the forum agree with me, would you accept a 580EX
as a little gift from the forum, original model behavior X of
course? ))

Well, what a lovely idea. I would be delighted.

If you are indeed able to arrange this, please e-mail me for my shipping address.

I will of course (after doing extensive testing of its behavior) send it to Canon, saying, "My 580EX . . . "

Thanks so much.

Best regards,

Doug

GST · Mar 10, 2006

Hi Doug,

my 580EX (sn 1839xx, purchased April 2005) clearly showed behaviour x.
Canon Germany fully acknowledged the problem, so I sent it in Friday last week.

7 days later I received my flash back again, still same sn, but it seems Canon has swapped everthing in between the shoe and the head. On the bill (under warranty, no cost) it states "electronics repaired, AF-system calibrated (?), cover and rear assy replaced"

Its now definitly behaviour y and changing its head positions four times between 18 and 50mm.

thanks for your efforts
GST

HoppyUK · Mar 10, 2006

Phoned Canon, they said send faulty units (I have two 'Behaviour X' units) with purchase receipts to prove warranty still valid (not that I think this is relevant in this case, but whatever).

Got a letter confirming recepit at repair centre, and today I got another letter saying there would be a delay waiting for parts, plus apologies.

I am now away for a week and will post a progress report on my return, but it looks like Canon knows about this problem and is fixing it

Richard.

John Pane · Mar 10, 2006

GST, Hoppy,

This is great news. I'm sending mine in today.

Also, GST's report further narrows the SN boundary between Behavior X and Behavior Y. We now know it is somewhere between 1839xx and 1909xx.

John

Doug Kerr · Mar 10, 2006

Hi, G,

GST said:
Hi Doug,

my 580EX (sn 1839xx, purchased April 2005) clearly showed behaviour x.
Canon Germany fully acknowledged the problem, so I sent it in
Friday last week.
7 days later I received my flash back again, still same sn, but it
seems Canon has swapped everthing in between the shoe and the head.

Not surprising that they would dfo it that way, but fabulous that they did!

GST said:
On the bill (under warranty, no cost) it states "electronics
repaired, AF-system calibrated (?), . . .

Curious notation; probably poart of their lists of things they can do to Canon machines!

GST said:
Its now definitly behaviour y and changing its head positions four
times between 18 and 50mm.

Great news.

Best regards,

Doug

Doug Kerr · Mar 10, 2006

Hi, Richard,

HoppyUK said:
Phoned Canon, they said send faulty units (I have two 'Behaviour X'
units) with purchase receipts to prove warranty still valid (not
that I think this is relevant in this case, but whatever).

Got a letter confirming recepit at repair centre, and today I got
another letter saying there would be a delay waiting for parts,
plus apologies.

I am now away for a week and will post a progress report on my
return, but it looks like Canon knows about this problem and is
fixing it

Sounds very promising. Keep us advised.

Best regards,

Doug

580EX beamwidth anomaly - who goes first?

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