PC cable keeps falling out of my 580EXII

[iboden]

Hi,

I'm a new strobist and new to Syl's forum.

I recently purchased a set of Pocket Wizard Plus II's for my Canon 5D and 580EXII flash.

The supplied PC cable that connects to either my camera or my flash fits too loose and either falls out, or does not trigger the flash.

If I press on it, it will trigger. As a workaround, I had to put a piece of tape to hold it in.

I thought of crimping the end a little, but I'm afraid of ruining the connector.

Can anyone recommend a solution?

Thanks!

Ivan B.

[davemphoto]

I ran into the same situation with 2 different cables. It was either too loose or too tight and always a bit unreliable in triggering the flash. I switched out to a hot shoe connection instead. Fires all the time and no worries about cables falling off. I think the PC Port is over rated, in my opinion.

[iboden]

Thanks Davemphoto!

I did some more research and found a PC cord that has a screw-lock mechanism that will work perfectly well !!

Here's the link: http://flashzebra.com/products/0108/index.shtml

The only thing that irritates me is, it'll cost an additional $15 per cord, on top of the big bucks I already have invested in "Poverty" Wizards.

:-)

[what2be]

someone can correct me if im wrong, but its my understanding that you will lose all TTL functionality if you use the screw lock or any other trigger type cable unless it has a hot shoe connection on the flash side. The reason im told is that you need the 4 (or is it 5) pins to trigger ttl and the screwlock cables (and such) are for manual flash shooting.

[Eyegasms]

That's correct. The other option is to use wireless via an additional Speedlite, pop-up flash on the 7D or transmitters (Pocket Wizard Flex, Radio Poppers etc.) As an alternative you could use off-camera cords like these: http://www.flashzebra.com/ttlcords/e...ds/index.shtml

I've always disliked the reliability of PC connections. They should have died a quick death years ago. It's a shame Canon chose to use 'em on the 580's.

Mark V

someone can correct me if im wrong, but its my understanding that you will lose all TTL functionality if you use the screw lock or any other trigger type cable unless it has a hot shoe connection on the flash side. The reason im told is that you need the 4 (or is it 5) pins to trigger ttl and the screwlock cables (and such) are for manual flash shooting.