# Canon Speedlite 430 EX



## Honi0803 (May 27, 2012)

The other night I was asked by my employer to take some photos of a fundraiser we were doing. I have a canon t3i and a speedlite 430 EX. There were times during the night where I would find that the flash wouldn't fire. I played around with it for a while taking it off and putting it back on and then it would fire. 

Can anyone explain why this would be happening? Is it because it doesn't fit right on the T3i? Would it work fine with a 7D?


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## TCampbell (May 27, 2012)

Is it a 430EX or a 430EX II?  (e.g. is it a relatively new flash?  They haven't made the 430EX (original) in a while so if you bought this new in the last few years it's probably a 430EX II.

How fresh are the batteries?  The flash will normally take a few seconds to recycle after taking the last shot... but if the batteries are old it may quite a few seconds to recycle and you'll start missing shots.  When the flash is ready to fire, you should get the red "pilot" light.  If that light isn't on, the flash isn't ready.

It should fit PERFECTLY on your T3i... and pretty much every other EOS body.  The hot-shoe design hasn't changed in decades (though the number of pins has).  But all bodies and flashes that use E-TTL or E-TTL II will fit and work correctly.

My guess is your batteries are getting low and the flash wasn't recycled and ready to fire.

Once you slide the flash foot into the hot-shoe and all the way forward, make sure you slide the lock lever to the right until it clicks.


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## Honi0803 (May 27, 2012)

Sorry, it is a 430EX II. I had fresh batteries in the flash when the night started. It is only about 2 months old with no more then about 400 uses out of it. I know it does need some time to recycle after a shot and that wasn't what I was referring to. One of the times is didn't go off was several seconds (10-20) after the last time I used it and it didn't work for about 3 shots until I took it off and put it back on. 

I just wanted to know if this is a frequent problem with the flash or the camera or the combination of the two?


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## cloneragan (May 30, 2012)

Honi0803 said:


> Sorry, it is a 430EX II. I had fresh batteries in the flash when the night started. It is only about 2 months old with no more then about 400 uses out of it. I know it does need some time to recycle after a shot and that wasn't what I was referring to. One of the times is didn't go off was several seconds (10-20) after the last time I used it and it didn't work for about 3 shots until I took it off and put it back on.
> 
> I just wanted to know if this is a frequent problem with the flash or the camera or the combination of the two?



I have a 430EX and love it. It has never let me down, and I have never encountered the problem you are describing. I use the flash a lot for wedding photography, and improve the recycling time to under 1 second by using high capacity NiMH batteries.


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