DSLRUsers.com

Yesterday, went for my first shoot with my camera since getting it back from Maxwells.

Took some shots with the kit lens, then some macro. The light was fading, so I pulled out my spare sun - the SB800. Popped it on the camera (both SB800 and camera were off) and it turned itself on, then off.

Then I couldn't get it to turn on again. On camera or off, with a new set of batteries - no action. The sun was dead, I thought.

Had a closer look and found this on the 5th battery compartment:


I tried brushing the crud off, then scraping. Eventually, I managed to get it going again. Once it turned on - no problem. I think it may have been a dud battery? There was a bit of crud on the corresponding battery, but it didn't look like it was leaking or bulging.

Anyone else had this happen to them?

Hi Nick
Not with the SB-800, fortunately.
But I have had it occur with an SB-28, an older model, and it was caused by a leaking battery. The flash was a write-off.
So now my practice is to load batteries before I set off for a shoot; and then when I return, I remove the batteries BEFORE I download images.
If I don't remove the batteries first, I tend to get caught up in the whole looking, PPing thing and it can be forgotten.
Glad your flash is OK.

Oooh! - just removed the batteries from my SB800