# 430ex III overheating?



## echelonphoto (Jan 9, 2016)

anyone have this problem...took my new 430 mk3 on its first job and during a fast dance sequence...it overheated after about 8 shots...these were bounced with a card at iso 1200 f 5.6...I was also triggering and off camera flash for a room light....this never happened with my old 430 ex 2.


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## midluk (Feb 4, 2016)

I played around with my two 600EX-RT and one 430EXIII-RT during Christmas, had one 600EX-RT on the camera and the two other flashes linked and shooting with 100%. I haven't counted the shots (likely more than the maximum of 20 Canon recommends to do in 10 Minutes), but at some point everything slowed down because the 430 went into overheat mode. The 600EX-RTs were doing fine when I removed the 430 from the setup.
The 430EXIII-RT definitely overheats faster than the 600EX (with the 600 having about twice the power).
I originally intended to perhaps get more 430EXIII-RTs (two of them cost about as much and have roughly the power of one 600EX-RT, but you can spread out the flashes if you want to), but with the overheating I think if I need more power I will go for more 600s. 

I'm not completely sure if the 430EX II ever overheated for me. Once it was slow to recharge which might have been the overheat mode, but I assumed it was the batteries and I just replaced them and it was functioning normal afterwards. But I haven't shot much with that flash, because I quickly replaced it by a 600EX-RT because a flash is never powerful enough.

In the manual Canon gives an estimate of 32 shots at full power until the 430EX III goes into overheat mode. Seems to be roughly accurate for my observation. 8 Flashes is really low. Did you fire the flash before the 8 shots sequence? Was the ambient temperature higher than normal?


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## privatebydesign (Feb 4, 2016)

midluk said:


> I played around with my two 600EX-RT and one 430EXIII-RT during Christmas, had one 600EX-RT on the camera and the two other flashes linked and shooting with 100%. I haven't counted the shots (likely more than the maximum of 20 Canon recommends to do in 10 Minutes), but at some point everything slowed down because the 430 went into overheat mode. The 600EX-RTs were doing fine when I removed the 430 from the setup.
> The 430EXIII-RT definitely overheats faster than the 600EX (with the 600 having about twice the power).
> I originally intended to perhaps get more 430EXIII-RTs (two of them cost about as much and have roughly the power of one 600EX-RT, but you can spread out the flashes if you want to), but with the overheating I think if I need more power I will go for more 600s.
> 
> ...



If the 430 was trying to keep up with two 600's then there is your issue, particularly if you were in ETTL or in the higher ranges of manual.


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## midluk (Feb 5, 2016)

privatebydesign said:


> If the 430 was trying to keep up with two 600's then there is your issue, particularly if you were in ETTL or in the higher ranges of manual.



Having both at full power gives about twice as much light for the 600 as for the 430. So the assumption that they should both last equally long does not seem too far fetched. The recommendations for maximum number of consecutive shots (both max 20 shots, then wait 10 minutes) and estimates for shots until going to overheat mode (32 vs 48) in the manual are not that much different between the 430 and the 600. 
But likely the 600 exceeds the specifications by more than the 430 (or it was really the 32 vs 48 I have seen). Until now I have not seen a 600 overheating. I guess I will have to buy a CP-E4 and try again then (shots until overheating reduces to 32 in the manual and I will likely be tempted to take more images if I can fire again faster)...


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## skudography (Apr 3, 2016)

I got a 430EX III-RT for my birthday on thursday last week. I had a wedding saturday so i was excited to use it. I use a 5D Mark III along with another 430EX II. I had both on light stands triggered with my phottix odin at about 1/4 power I wasn't doing any burst shooting. simple shots of guests interacting before the reception began then all of a sudden the ex III-RT stopped firing or was really slow to recharge. I checked it and it was overheating my EX II was perfectly fine the entire time. then after a while the LCD started blinking and it wouldn't let me fire any more shots. the only way around would be to turn it on and off then i'd get more shots out of it.

I decided to take it off the stand and try it on camera bounced up at the sealing at 1/16 power while everyone was dancing I was using a lot of ambient light shooting at iso 1250 and about 1/80 shutter speed. same thing happened all of a sudden it started overheating again. operating at 1/16th power in an air conditioned room it should never do this.. I'm contemplating contacting customer support to see if i can get an exchange.


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