550EX Foot Replacement

[rpcrowe]

The plastic foot on my 550EX has finally bit the dust. Are there metal feet available? There were third party Metal Shoes available for the Vivitar 285 flashes and the 550EX is every bit as big and heavy as the 285. It would certainly benefit from a metal shoe.

If there are no metal feet available, where is the best place to purchase a replacement plastic foot?

[Manfred M]

When I lost the foot for my SB600, my local camera store was able to order one for me from Nikon. I would expect that Canon would be much the same thing.

[Carl in Louisiana]

Check page 10 & 11. Hope this helps you out some.

http://f20c.com/stuff/canon/partslis...TE%20550EX.PDF

[Melkus]

Common problem. I don't know of any metal ones but you can get the replacement plastic ones.

[rpcrowe]

Thanks friends... I found a plastic foot on my second go around on Google. I didn't find one the first time I looked on google; perhaps because I was looking for a metal foot! The total price from San Diego Camera was $13.11 with tax and shipping...

I am crossing my fingers that the instructions I found on the Net will allow me to install the foot!

[ktuli]

My 580EXII comes with a metal foot... wouldn't that work for the 550EX?

[Colin Southern]

My 580EXII comes with a metal foot... wouldn't that work for the 550EX?

No - they're quite different.

@ Richard,

On one hand, the metal feet are more robust -- on the other hand, plastic feet act as a good "safety fuse"

[rpcrowe]

No - they're quite different.

@ Richard,

On one hand, the metal feet are more robust -- on the other hand, plastic feet act as a good "safety fuse"

Colin,
Thanks... I never thought of it that way. I guess that the broken foot could have saved more expensive damage. Just like the composite body of some racing cars which are built to disintegrate and absorb the kenetic punishment of a crash.

I had a round, screw-in lens hood save my 70-200mm f/4L IS lens when I took a spill as I was crossing the street. The hood disintegrated but the lens wasn't scratched...

[Colin Southern]

Hi Richard,

Let me tell you a story about how I killed 3 feet in one weekend ...

On the Saturday I decided to have a little fun photographing my daughter in front of moving stars. Had 2x 580EX IIs attached to 2x PocketWizard TT5 - into a shoot-through umbrella - attached to a boom arm. No wind. Flash daughter - leave shutter open for 20 minutes - about 1/2 way through a little gust of wind came along and the rig came tumbling down. Despite the fact that umbrellas make wonderful shock absorbers, it still broke a couple of plastic feet on the TT5s.

Fast forward to next day - had my other 2 TT5s with same flashes - into umbrella - held by #1 daughter. Little brass thing at the end of the umbrella shaft came off (it's only super-glued on as I found) resulting in a couple of grands worth of lighting gear crashing to the ground (that's what the bracket was attached to to stop it crushing the umbrella shaft) whilst my daughter is left holding the $12 umbrella. Murphy was a wise man. Another broken TT5 foot.

The good news is that when I contacted LPA design (PocketWizard people) I found that the feet were easily replaceable and only about $12 each. The new 580EX IIs and 600EX-RTs have metal feet, but I'd hate to think what damage would occur if it wasn't a foot that was going to break -- if it was on a camera it would probably torque the hotshoe right out of the camera,