Just wanted to pass along something that happened to my 60D tonight as well as how to fix it.

I was shooting some pictures at a fundraiser and could not get my internal flash to pop up.  Tried everything.  In the menu, I went to Menu>First Camera Tab (the first tab on the left)>Flash Control>Built-in Flash Func. setting – it gave me a message saying something like “This option not available when external flash connected”.  The issue is I don’t own an external flash for this camera and nothing was connected.

I have, however, been using the hotshoe to hold other camera accessories, such as a Zoom H4n, a shotgun mic, a wireless Sennheiser receiver, etc.  I am wondering if we are all overloading what these hotshoes and how much they were really designed to hold???

After getting home and in bright light I figured out what the issue is and it is a “small” one.  Underneath the right rail on the cameras hotshoe there is a flexible piece of metal that pushes a tiny, and I mean TINY, little black plastic pin switch down when something is slid into the hot shoe.

SOLUTION:  Take a tiny little flat head screwdriver or pick and GENTLY lift up the flexible piece of metal a bit so it takes pressure of the tiny black pin switch.