420EX won't fire in continuous mode

Canon G3 in PROGRAM mode. The 420EX flash works in single exposure mode, but, when I switch to CONTINUOUS, the 420EX never fires. In fact the lightening bolt on the rear LCD screen goes out as soon as the flash is put on the hot shoe (I had the flash set to always fire).

I called Canon tech support. He said that his does the same thing. The 420EX or the 550EX would not fire when the camera was placed in CONTINUOUS mode.

If I remove the 420EX from the hot shoe. The built-in flash works properly in CONTINUOUS mode - taking a picture whenever the flash charges up.

The problem is the internal flash is too weak because my subject is about 20 feet away.

We have a deer feeder in our back yard. My wife wants pictures of the deer at her feeder.

I bought a motion activated outside light at Wal-Mart for $8.95. I got a 12 volt solenoid from Jameco for $8.95. When motion is detected, the solenoid presses the camera button and holds it down as long as motion is detected.

I set up the G3 on a tripod in the garage. I opened the window and removed the screen so the camera had an excellent view of the feeder. I turned off the AUTO POWER-OFF feature, and, set it to manual focus on infinity.

I had it set up for several hours. When I checked it, it took a total of 4 pictures. They were all great shots of my wife filling up the feeder. It worked perfectly!

But, I need more flash power because the deer only come at night.

Unfortunately the external flashes do not work in continuous mode.

--
Gowan

Ronald Urbassik said:

But, I need more flash power because the deer only come at night.

Click to expand...

Wouldn't the first flash scare the deer into running away, anyway?

• Olga

Kind of an odd limitation if it's true, but I have to admit, I never did try it once on the G2.

jason

Gowan said:

Unfortunately the external flashes do not work in continuous mode.

--
Gowan

Click to expand...

OlgaJ said:

Ronald Urbassik said:

But, I need more flash power because the deer only come at night.

Click to expand...

Wouldn't the first flash scare the deer into running away, anyway?

• Olga

Click to expand...

Not necessarily. Many wild anaimals are not disturbed at all by light.

But I think that it is next to impossible to call this kind of shooting continuous, since it takes a few seconds for the external flash before it can give output again after the previous flash.

Olga Johnson said:

Wouldn't the first flash scare the deer into running away, anyway?

Click to expand...

Maybe not. I found that wild birds ignore the flash. Also, I hear that if you shine a spotlight on deer, they freeze.

Andrus Suitsu said:

Not necessarily. Many wild anaimals are not disturbed at all by light.

Click to expand...

They probably thing that it is just lightning flashes.

Andrus Suitsu said:

But I think that it is next to impossible to call this kind of
shooting continuous, since it takes a few seconds for the external
flash before it can give output again after the previous flash.

Click to expand...

Every few seconds is just right for my application. that is continuous enough for me.

Maybe a slave flash is what I need. Preferably one that will work on AC current.

I have no idea on how to change either the flash or the camera settings, but I thought of some suggestions:

1- Use any external slave flash

2- Illuminate the scene with a permanent large enough light (500W?) and set ISO to "enough" (400?).

Either way, the deer will be scared by the light or ignore it. I don't know.

Maybe an infrared light could be used?

Bye,
Nuno Pedrosa.
Canon S45

Ronald Urbassik wrote:
[...]

Ronald Urbassik said:

But, I need more flash power because the deer only come at night.

Click to expand...

Yes it is a weird limitation but only seems to affect the G-series. How fast can the flash recycle when you're using it in continuous mode? I would assume it still takes a few seconds ..

Jason Hutchinson said:

Kind of an odd limitation if it's true, but I have to admit, I
never did try it once on the G2.

jason

Click to expand...

--
Gowan

I guess you have the solenoid holding down the shutter release until the action stops because there is always voltage to it when the pir sensor is activated?

You could rig up a simple timing circuit that is powered up from your movement sensor and just pulsed on and off at say 2 second intervals, or what ever time you want.

That would give the flash enough time to recharge, and you wouldn't have to use the continuous mode.

Cheers

Adam

Nuno Pedrosa said:

1- Use any external slave flash

2- Illuminate the scene with a permanent large enough light (500W?)
and set ISO to "enough" (400?).

Either way, the deer will be scared by the light or ignore it. I
don't know.

Maybe an infrared light could be used?

Bye,
Nuno Pedrosa.
Canon S45

Ronald Urbassik wrote:
[...]

Rifkind said:

But, I need more flash power because the deer only come at night.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

AdamC said:

I guess you have the solenoid holding down the shutter release
until the action stops because there is always voltage to it when
the pir sensor is activated?

Click to expand...

Correct.

AdamC said:

You could rig up a simple timing circuit that is powered up from
your movement sensor and just pulsed on and off at say 2 second
intervals, or what ever time you want.
That would give the flash enough time to recharge, and you wouldn't
have to use the continuous mode.

Click to expand...

That would solve the problem, but, I don't know how to do it.

Gowan said:

Yes it is a weird limitation but only seems to affect the G-series.
How fast can the flash recycle when you're using it in continuous
mode? I would assume it still takes a few seconds ..

Click to expand...

It took 5 sec, 9 sec, 6 sec.

Hmmm, maybe these were all single shots, and not really continuous.

This may sound weird, but I have noticed that while the light from the flash does not disturb my dogs, they do visibly react to the SOUND of the flash charging. The whine of the capacitor makes the ears stand straight up!

Ronald Urbassik said:

Ronald Urbassik said:

Not necessarily. Many wild anaimals are not disturbed at all by light.

Click to expand...

They probably thing that it is just lightning flashes.

Ronald Urbassik said:

But I think that it is next to impossible to call this kind of
shooting continuous, since it takes a few seconds for the external
flash before it can give output again after the previous flash.

Click to expand...

Every few seconds is just right for my application. that is
continuous enough for me.

Maybe a slave flash is what I need. Preferably one that will work
on AC current.

Click to expand...

Simple, if you have a basic understanding of electronics. Just use a 555 timer, a couple of resistors, capacitor and a relay to drive your solenoid.

Use the 555 timer in the astable mode. Should cost about $2 to build.

Here is a quick link I found,

http://fp.aleveldt.f9.co.uk/electronics_systems.htm#THE 555 ASTABLE

You set the time between on/off by changing the values of the resitors R1 & R2, and the capactor C1

Cheers

Adam

Ronald Urbassik said:

Ronald Urbassik said:

I guess you have the solenoid holding down the shutter release
until the action stops because there is always voltage to it when
the pir sensor is activated?

Click to expand...

Correct.

Ronald Urbassik said:

You could rig up a simple timing circuit that is powered up from
your movement sensor and just pulsed on and off at say 2 second
intervals, or what ever time you want.
That would give the flash enough time to recharge, and you wouldn't
have to use the continuous mode.

Click to expand...

That would solve the problem, but, I don't know how to do it.

Click to expand...

Or if that looks to much like hard work.....why not use an old indicator flasher unit from a car to power the solenoid ????

Adam

AdamC said:

Use the 555 timer in the astable mode. Should cost about $2 to build.

Here is a quick link I found,

http://fp.aleveldt.f9.co.uk/electronics_systems.htm#THE 555 ASTABLE

You set the time between on/off by changing the values of the
resitors R1 & R2, and the capactor C1

Cheers

Adam

Ronald Urbassik said:

AdamC said:

I guess you have the solenoid holding down the shutter release
until the action stops because there is always voltage to it when
the pir sensor is activated?

Click to expand...

Correct.

AdamC said:

You could rig up a simple timing circuit that is powered up from
your movement sensor and just pulsed on and off at say 2 second
intervals, or what ever time you want.
That would give the flash enough time to recharge, and you wouldn't
have to use the continuous mode.

Click to expand...

That would solve the problem, but, I don't know how to do it.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Andrus Suitsu said:

Wouldn't the first flash scare the deer into running away, anyway?

Click to expand...

Olga was right! It took 1 picture last night of a big buck looking right at the camera. Then just a 4 shot sequence of my wife filling the deer feeder in the morning.