EF-X500 TTL Not Syncing?

[mjfpx]

Hello Everybody,

I am new to the forum and unfortunately I have start out with a technical problem.

I have a EF-X500 flash unit and seemingly out of nowhere if I use TTL the flash will fire but I get nothing but black. If you put it on manual and multi it works as it should. I am not sure if it is some sort of sync issue or what. I get the same result when I have it on FP or Front or Rear Curtain. I usually don’t put the shutter above 125th anyway. I tried resetting all the settings on the flash. I am sort of stumped and the only thing I can think of is that it is just not syncing somehow.  

Anybody have any thought. 

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[raspberryrat]

I had a few similar problems.My fault was the type of shutter setting.Check it is in mechanical mode as in electronic it does not work (I assume it is the same for the similar variations)

Also check the contacts on camera and flash are seated square and clean (a little waggle seemed to work when the above failed)

Hopefully this may assist

Regards

Mark

[rivers]

On 6/1/2019 at 1:28 PM, mjfpx said:

Hello Everybody,

I am new to the forum and unfortunately I have start out with a technical problem.

I have a EF-X500 flash unit and seemingly out of nowhere if I use TTL the flash will fire but I get nothing but black. If you put it on manual and multi it works as it should. I am not sure if it is some sort of sync issue or what. I get the same result when I have it on FP or Front or Rear Curtain. I usually don’t put the shutter above 125th anyway. I tried resetting all the settings on the flash. I am sort of stumped and the only thing I can think of is that it is just not syncing somehow.  

Anybody have any thought. 

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Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

Hi, i am having the same exact issue. Did you ever figure this out?

[itchy shutter finger]

Is your shutter set to Mechanical Only? Flash will not fire if Electronic Shutter is engaged, and this can occur if the shutter is set to Mechanical+Electronic.

[rivers]

On 5/27/2023 at 8:15 AM, itchy shutter finger said:

Is your shutter set to Mechanical Only? Flash will not fire if Electronic Shutter is engaged, and this can occur if the shutter is set to Mechanical+Electronic.

It is set to mechanical only

[itchy shutter finger]

9 hours ago, rivers said:

It is set to mechanical only

Would your exif data be similar to the OP as shown in the original post? Which camera body are you using? Can you give some of the shooting settings, such as metering mode, etc.; and the flash settings?

Without knowing any details of your system, and thinking on nothing more than TTL flash and a black photo, the first two things that pop into my mind are commander mode or the flash syncing on the wrong curtain for the chosen shutter speed. Unless there is an electronic problem with the EF-X500, there are sooooo many.... opportunities for an errant setting, and the EF-X500 is the flash with the most features, and settings for those features.

I do not own an EF-X500 (but I would like to), but I use the little EF-X8 as a commander for large widespread flash arrays, and I am always amazed at the possibilities with this system...and it has the ability to take a black photo. If the flash is not defective, it's always going to be in the settings...

Another fleeting thought, if your camera body is X-Trans2 or older, it may not support all that the EF-X500 can do.

[itchy shutter finger]

I just came across something I forgot about. All of the X-Trans III cameras had firmware upgrades to fix the problem this thread describes. The upgrades were released in September 2020. No poster in this thread specifies what camera body they are having issue with, but right now my money is on X-E3, X-T20, X-T2, or X-Pro2.