EDP Manuals

EOS Documentation Project

  EDP Home
  Who
  Manuals
  Legal
  Links
  Join
  Credits

No PIC Popup - Preventing PIC-mode popup flash

by Julian Loke

Contents

Flash not allowed

The sign reads "Flash not allowed". On most EOS cameras, if a "Creative" mode (P, Av, Tv, M, A-DEP, or DEP) has been selected, the popup flash will not fire unless it has been manually deployed. So, disabling the flash is a simple matter of ensuring that the flash is retracted.

But with the Elan 7E camera in some "Programmed Image Control" (PIC) modes, the flash can automatically deploy and fire away, for both autofocus assist as well as for exposure. Unfortunately, this and other cameras do not have a "PIC" mode for "No flash".

Method

In common with most other EOS cameras, the Elan 7E camera has a switch to detect if any accessory has been inserted into hotshoe. Activating the switch will disable the popup flash. You can use nearly anything you wish, including:

  • Flash unit, with the power OFF.
  • Off-camera shoe cord.
  • TTL Hotshoe adapter (without attaching a flash).
  • Hotshoe bubble level.
  • A rectangular piece cut out from a plastic film canister.
  • Matchstick or toothpick.

The plastic film canister does the trick with the lowest cost, and will not fall out, like a toothpick. However, there can be too much of a good thing: a grimy switch can be stuck in the active position, producing the symptom of the "no-pop" popup flash, which was common on the EOS 5 / A2E. Once recognized, this is fixed easily by cleaning and lubricating the plunger of the switch. See:

Comments

I am not sure why 'the Elan 7E camera in some "Programmed Image Control" (PIC) modes' was specifically pointed out. But this is true of most, if not all, EOS cameras when shooting in "PIC" modes.

Like Julian said, one can simply use the creative modes to avoid this problem all together. I think, in the past, there was one or two entry-level EOS cameras that only has "PIC" modes and no creative modes. This trick comes in handy for those cameras.

Chieh Cheng 1/12/2004 10:50:12 PM

Not all EOS cameras have a flash.
Not all flash pops up automatically.
Not all EOS cameras have a hotshoe detection switch.
The Elan 7E just happens to be an example of a camera
where all three (flash, popup, switch) apply.
Julian Loke 1/13/2004 12:18:28 AM

When I first got my New then EOS 5 the flash would not Pop-up so I sent it back to be replaced. Now I wonder if it was just a sticking micro switch in the hot shoe.
Craig Robinson 10/20/2004 10:49:22 PM


© 2003 Nov 28 Julian Loke for EOS Documentation Project. All Rights Reserved.

Redistribution of any EDP document, text, image, or code, or any work derived therefrom, in any form, electronic or printed, is not allowed without prior written permission from EDP. Copyright notices, including this notice, must remain intact. Use of this document constitutes agreement to our terms and conditions.