Here is the problem:
You are trying to take a photo with your Canon DSLR camera. The lighting is a bit dark, so the flash should pop up, but instead of the flash popping up, you just hear a clicking sound until your camera gives your an error (Err 05 The built-in flash could not be raised. Turn the camera off and on again).
Solution:
Your flash is stuck and needs to be cleaned. Use WD-40 (Warning: don't do something stupid. This blog is not to be held accountable for other people's negligence, haste, stupidity, or lack of research).
OK. Let me provide some more details and specifics. Please read this if you feel your camera has the same problem.
I have the Canon EOS D500. The pictures and problem shown in this blog post are specific to that camera but the solution is quite general and could probably be used for just about any camera that has a problem with the built in flash popping up (obviously though, this is only one solution there many be many problems or solutions for your specific camera).
For quite some time I have had a problem with my camera. Every time the flash should have popped up, it would make a clicking sound and give me the error: "Err 05 The built-in flash could not be raised. Turn the camera off and on again." To fix this, I would just manually pull the flash up as it was trying to come up. After a recent trip to Thailand, this problem caused me to lose a few timely pictures and I came home being fully prepared to take my camera apart to fix this problem. Luckily, this is an easy fix and requires nothing to be taken apart.
If you are having this problem, the first thing you will need to do is open your flash.
To open your flash, you will need to turn your camera on. Leave the lens cap on (or get in a dark room) so that when you take a picture, the flash will trigger to go up. Put the camera into Automatic mode and pry your fingernail under the flash (see the photo above). Right now the flash is locked, so you will not be able to raise the flash; with your fingernail under the flash however, we can now press the shutter and since it is dark, the flash should unlock.
If your camera is like mine, the flash will not move freely; the spring is not pushing it up all the way.
With the flash open, you will need to take a look at a few things (see photo above). The trigger button is what lets the camera know if your flash is open or not. You should be able to manually push this in.
The flash spring is what opens the flash and keeps it open. You should only be able to see a part of the spring. If you don't see anything here, chances are your spring is broken and you will need to send your camera to Canon to be fixed.
The flash hook is what releases the flash.
To make sure the trigger button and flash hook are working correctly, manually press the trigger button down and with the lens cap on, press the shutter. As long as you are pressing the trigger button down, the flash hook should move up and back (three to four times before your camera gives you an error).
If these two things are working then you can verify it is a problem with the spring.
The solution for me was very simple. I added some WD-40. Turns out there was something in the flash mechanism slowing things down and WD-40 cleaned it out. (Note: WD-40 is used to displace water and does not conduct electricity. WD-40 in theory should not destroy any electronics (and in many instances is used to fix electronics) but you should still exercise great caution when using it. I recommend using the least amount possible. Please don't hold me responsible for this ruining your camera... just use some common sense.)
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| Spray the WD-40 as shown. |
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| Do the same thing on the other side. |
Once you have sprayed the WD-40, manually move the flash back and forth (without actually closing it). After you do this a few times, you should notice that your flash now springs back into place. Hooray! This means it worked. Go ahead and clean up any excess WD-40 that is on your camera.
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| You should now have a working built in flash! |
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I would NOT recommend spraying WD40 anywhere on your camera.
ReplyDeleteIf you feel the need for WD40, spray some in a container, and then use a toothpick to transfer one drop to where you want it.
Not sure Anon specific reasoning for NOT recommending WD-40. Perhaps the reasoning is to not spray anywhere besides the joints shown above. To this I would agree. I recommend using the little red straw that the WD-40 comes with so you can put it in the precise location.
ReplyDeleteWhile I don't think WD-40 is likely to do any damage to the body of the camera, like any liquid, if it were to get into the lens, it could cause problems. As stated many times in the tutorial, just be careful and smart. My camera is still working great and there have been absolutely NO problems from using WD-40.
Thank you so much!! I was having the same problem with my Rebel XS. My flash would only pop up if I "helped" it, and even after, it would pop up and make more clicking sounds. After leaving it off for a day or two, I would have to do the same thing again. I followed your advice and voila, it worked perfectly. Now the flash pops up every time and it doesn't make the extra clicking sounds. Thank you!!!
ReplyDeleteYou are very welcome! Glad it worked for you.
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot for the help! It worked for me as well. I have EOS 600, followed your instruction and had it fixed in just a few minutes. Great! :)
ReplyDeletetnx for d tutorial (Y) it's really works... i cn use my canon kiss x4
ReplyDeleteproperly