Oopsie

Matt Charlton

Matt Charlton

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Whilst getting ready to go out for a walk on Saturday I'd gotten my camera out and ready with 100-400 and 580ex attached. I'd placed it on the dining room table at Sue's mum and dads and it was there for 10 minutes or so. As far as I remember, it was nowhere near the edge and wasn't balancing because the 100-400 and tripod ring support it all the way along. Its not like I had the 28-105 on and the flash was giving it balance.

Whilst stood in the kitchen, I noticed movement in the dining room and I could only stand there open mouthed as my kit fell onto the carpeted floor :eek:

The flash broke the fall and whilst it was by no means a cheap thing it was the cheapest thing that could have sustained damage. The hotshoe on the flash snapped off pretty much completely on both sides, leaving the contacts and the locking pin looking okay.

Camera and lens appear fine.

I wasn't in a good mood for the rest of the day, for obvious reasons. I did a bit of googling when we got back and found this little gem.....

http://planetneil.com/tangents/2007/05/31/repairing-the-canon-580ex-hotshoe-foot/

I emailed a few of the canon repair centres asking for a price on the part including postage and I've had my first reply back this morning from Colchester Camera repair service (at 8:36am!) and the total cost will be £17.63. So all isn't lost, there won't be a hefty repair bill and I don't feel quite so bad about it anymore.
 
Ho hum. You'll be taking pics outside for a bit then...
Under £20 isnt too bad. Chalk it up to one of life's little experiences.
 
Blimey Matt, sounds like you've had a luck escape there :suspect: I'm so glad to hear it's not worse news, imagine if it had landed lens first :eek:
 
I can still take piccies inside OG, I have the onboard flash still :), Under £20 is better than sending it off and paying £110 for a repair.

I'd have just claimed it on the house insurance Paul ;)
At least the carpet pile was really thick.
 
Bit of an unlucky lucky escape, like people have said could have been so much worse.
 
Part arrived today, its since been fitted and I've tested my flash, everything is a-ok.

Out of the three places I emailed on Satuday, only one of them (Colchester) returned my email by tonight at 16:20. They replied to my email, took payment details and had the part with me today, thats service. The other two places, one of them being fixation have been somewhat of a disappointment.

If I ever need to send any camera or lens off for repair, based on this experience I would recommend Colchester (www.camera-repair.co.uk) every single time.

The instructions made the repair easy peasy, I didn't struggle with getting the pins through the holes (I've never had that problem :naughty: ) like one of the people who commented did.

So what could have been a very nasty and expensive accident turned out to be a £17.63 lesson in flash repair. I'm quite glad it happened in a way - It'll teach me not to leave things on tables unattended and it's also demystified the flash hotshoe a bit for me.
 
Glad it all worked out in the end Matt especially without costing you a fortune :thumbs:
 
yikes, good service from colchester though, they are the people that fixed my 300d when the mirror broke...did they also do Janices camera after that kango incident?
 
I'm glad to hear it didn't dent your wallet too much Matt.
It'll be interesting to know if the new metal hot shoe will fit the 580 mk1.
 
Matt said:
I'm glad to hear it didn't dent your wallet too much Matt.
It'll be interesting to know if the new metal hot shoe will fit the 580 mk1.
Click to expand...

Metal hotshoe? :thinking:

The part I got was plastic. Didn't realise there was an older version of the 580ex.

Thanks for the words of support folks.
 
Lucky escape there mate, definately could have been much worse!
There are two 580EX flashes - the original one & the Mark2 version.
 
Just got a reply this morning at 7am from Lehmanns direct

http://www.lehmannsdirect.co.uk/

Who could have supplied the part at £7.50 including postage and VAT.

Oh well, I paid a tenner over the odds but I got the part fast.

Didn't expect there to be that much of a difference in price, I wonder if he's missed a 1 off.
 
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