Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
needs nail polish and an extension cord, May 26, 2005
The Canon Off Camera Shoe Cord 2 is indispensable for those who use a speedlight bracket for portrait photography. Raising the speedlight off the camera body helps eliminate hotspots, redeye and lens hood shadow in flash photography.
Canon needs to make the cord much, much longer (don't know what electrical resistance problems this will cause) to utilize directly (as a master) with umbrella lights. I must use the umbrellas as slave units - because of the short cord length.
One look at the set screws in the base reminded me of a problem pair of eyeglasses where the set screws backed out if you just looked at them wrong. A very careful application of CLEAR nail polish over each screw has prevented problems others have had (so far) with the screws backing out. This etches the plastic - apply sparingly and carefully.
I'm CONSTANTLY checking, tightening, checking, remounting this cord and speedlight interface to insure reliable function of my 420EX and 580EX speedlights - mounted on a flashbracket with an adjustable arm. Flipping the arm back and forth for landscape and portrait picture formats - puts stress on the hotshoe and speedlight sides of the cord. After some failures - these compulsive actions become "normal" procedure!
If someone has a better cord - I'll use it. In the meanwhile - if you use a flashbracket - you need this cord.
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20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Canon needs to re-ingineer this cord, May 30, 2006
As a professional photographer, I find myself going through 5-6 of these cords each year. My equipment is my livelyhood and although it is used often, I am exceptionally careful with all of my gear and do not bang it around or abuse it. I use a stroboframe which makes it necessary to use this cord to raise the flash well above the focal plane of the camera. These cords are very expensive to get just a few months out of them. Eventually, the hot shoe connector will either become loose and the connection will no longer function or the plastic connector will break and your flash unit will fall to the ground. (This has happened twice to me and fortunately I was able to catch the flash unit!)
The cord is indespensible if you need it, but contact Canon USA and ask them to reengineer this cord or expect to replace them every few months.
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Be aware of gravity . . ., March 13, 2005
Using a flash bracket allows the flash unit to be located away from the camera, which reduces shadows and generally improves the quality of your flash photography. Canon's Off Camera Shoe Cord 2 is a convenient accessory that provides the required link between the camera's hot shoe and the flash bracket's clamp.
Cord 2 is easy to use, and is generally very sturdy, however care should be taken to avoid putting excess stress on the critical screws that hold the components together. This applies primarily to the connector that the flash unit is attached to, as this connector bears the weight of the flash unit and batteries.
When attached to a bracket, and the camera is held horizontally in the landscape mode, the flash unit is upright and the stress due to gravity is minimal. However when the camera is held vertically (portrait mode), the weight of flash imparts significantly more stress on the connector, and the screws that hold it together. The affect of gravity on the flash unit tends to pull the connector apart. Similar stresses occur when the arm of the bracket is rotated between the vertical and horizontal position, or simply when the camera with the bracket attached is swung around. The housing of the connector is made up of two hard plastic sections held together by three tiny machine screws. Over time, stress and torque can cause these screws to work loose, or even strip their threads.
The flash contacts area a second potential problem area. The flash contacts are mounted to a plate that is held in place by four screws located under the metal retaining clip that holds the flash unit in place after it slides in. Under stress, these screws can also work loose, resulting in the flash failing to operate. Tightening the screws will usually make the cord usable again, but you may need to have a small screwdriver handy in case this happens during a shoot.
In my case, the four screws securing the contacts became loose, causing my flash to fail to operate. By tightening the screws after every use, I was able to continue using the cord a few more times, until the connector actually split apart and broke. While the camera was in the vertical position, the screws stripped out of the base of the connector. Fortunately the wiring remained attached between the broken pieces, because they prevented my flash unit from falling to the floor and possibly being damaged.
I'm on my second cord now, and am constantly aware of any stress that I put on the tiny screws in that critical fitting. Cord 2 is a great accessory, but it definitely has a weak spot. Care must be taken to minimize the stress that gravity places on the flash unit connector, to insure that it lasts as long as possible. It is not an inexpensive item, so buying replacement cords is a rather costly proposition.
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