Last Thursday night I fixed my broken Canon 580EX Flash. The customer service representative that sold me the replacement part told me it was ‘user servicable’. The part was a replacement front panel to the flash which included the auto focus sensor.

After removing the two top screws hidden by the flash head, and then the bottom two screws at the base of the front panel, the two screws holding the camera mount, and the screw hidden by the rubber panel, I began to delicately pry the unit apart. Delicate didn’t work, so I forced it.

The front panel ripped off and exposed an array of ribbon wires and dangerously sized capacitors. There was a final screw hidden inside under the camera mount holding the front panel on. I was unable to remove this screw with even the smallest jeweler’s screw driver. I ended up taking a pair of pliers and ripping the plastic out and then using a pair of metal cutters to crush the screw. While doing this, I shocked myself on (thankfully) one of the lesser sized capacitors.

User serviceable my ass. After reassembling the unit, I had little hope in it working again. I hooked it up to my camera and, by some miracle, it worked.