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Canon 60D Hot Shoe/Onboard Flash Problem

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???

Canon 60D Hotshoe - notice small flexible piece of metal tucked under rail.

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.

Notice tiny black button under rail.

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.

The Lost Bus

Had the chance to shoot some video the other day of some guys who were passing through Charleston on their year-long adventure that just started. Leon Griffin, owner of WVO Designs.com, called and said “Hey, I’m going to be pulling up in front of your house in a few minutes with some guys in a bus that runs on veggie oil and want to shoot some video.” So, I was like, “Ummm, Okay!”

Cameras: 60D and T2i
Lenses: Sigma 30mm f1.4 on the 60D / Tokina 11-16 f2.8 on the T2i.

Audio: Audio Technica AT897 into a Zoom H4n into the 60D.

Great Day With Friends

Just a simple video of some great friends. A bunch of us have had kids lately and we decided to head downtown Charleston to “go see Santa!” Unfortunately, we got downtown on a rainy Saturday and Santa had already left his hangout so we decided to grab some lunch. Later that night we we had a little holiday gathering at our house. Still getting used to the form factor of the Canon 60D and pulling focus.

Camera: Canon 60D
Lens: Sigma 30mm f1.4

Just Purchased A Canon 60D

I recently bit the bullet and jumped into the DSLR video world.  Right off the bat the form factor of the camera freaked me out.  My main camera for a while has been a Canon XH-A1 – a proper video camera, with proper buttons/switches as well as proper XLR phantom powered audio jacks with knobs for audio control.  The XH-A1 has a built in mic mount.  You hold it in your right hand and it has a proper viewfinder.  Jumping in a DSLR has hardly any of the above!

I chose a Canon 60D.  I chose this camera for several reasons:

Continue reading Just Purchased A Canon 60D

American College of Building Arts

Short piece I put together for the American College of Building Arts. Really an amazing concept for a college as the skills they teach are becoming lost and there is a high demand for people with the know-how to restore and preserve the world’s architectural heritage.

Camera: Canon XH-A1
Audio: Sennheiser G2 lav mic
Lighting: Lowell dv creator kit
Slider: DIY ZaZa Slider (Igus rail system)
Edit: Premiere Pro CS5 with MBL