How To Fix Your 550 EX

This is a public service announcement for all of my photographer friends.

Last year while hiking in Maine, I slipped on a wet piece of rock and busted the hotshoe on my 1Ds and the foot off of my 550 EX. When we arrived home I ordered the parts from Canon, but for the life of me could not figure out how to fix either one of them.

The other day when I stumbled across Big Daddy (my 1Ds) in my camera bag I decided to give it a go again. After searching everywhere I was unable to locate the original pieces I'd ordered last year, I called Canon's part's department and ordered more. This time, instead of ordering just the plastic "foot" for the 550, I ordered the main bottom piece. The nice lady on the phone told me it would be easier that way.

Now, I have beef with Canon because they don't ship instructions with the parts. I guess they figure you'll get frustrated and eventually send it in for them to fix. Not me...I'll just wait a year and try again!

So the big plastic piece arrives yesterday and I notice this morning that it doesn't exactly match the big plastic piece I already had. (Warning: I may not be using the correct technical names here.)

The one on your right is my broken piece. You can clearly see the new piece on the left is missing some wires and stuff. I'm convinced Canon has sent me the wrong part, so I spend some more time talking technical stuff with someone else from parts. She suggests I A) Google instructions for fixing it or B) send it in to have it fixed.

I Google and find instructions on replacing the broken foot (which is really the only piece I need) but I cannot not figure out how in the world it comes off.

Now I'm getting irritated. Which is when I do my best work.

I look down again and see the wires that are tacked to the side of the big plastic thing are really tacked to a plastic piece that is screwed in. I realize that I can unscrew it at both ends with my ridiculously small eyeglass screwdriver and insert it into the new part. Done.

Then I see that I can also unscrew the bulby thing in front and move that to the new piece. Done. All it took was 45 minutes on the phone with Canon, $34 for parts, a year to get up the nerve to try to fix it again, and 15 minutes to find the insanely tiny screws when they dropped on the floor. Once all of the pieces are screwed in you just have to connect all of the wires and screw the big plastic thingy on the flash head and you're done!