Few may know about it now, but out of all camera manufacturers, Olympus was the first one to introduce a dedicated flash system with TTL flash metering capabilities. That was way back in the 1970s, and served, I believe, their legendary OM system cameras. At that time, all other manufacturers offered non-dedicated automatic/manual flashguns only.
Fast forward to present time, and we arrive at the FourThirds system, with its 4 camera bodies, almost 20 lenses and a host of other accessories. Among them, flashguns. The FL-36 is one of them, and after careful comparison of what's available, this is the one that I ended up buying for my E-1.
The FL-36 is a surprisingly compact flash (pun not intended). Especially if you consider its power and adjustability. The guide number for ISO 100 is 36 in metres, 118 in feet, though you will have to remember that this is valid when the flash head is fully zoomed in. For the standard angle of view of 47 degrees, provided by a 50mm lens on a 35mm body or a 25mm lens on a FourThirds body, the guide number is about 28 in metres, ie cca 92 in feet. Still not bad for such a small unit, and definitely suitable for indirect flash illumination (bouncing), at least with low ceilings.
An American gentleman who likes to call himself English Bob has put together some great recommendation for using the FL-36 - as well as the bigger and costlier FL-50 too, for that matter - both indoors and outdoors. I am not going to re-iterate here what he has come up with, instead, will provide a link: http://fourthirdsphoto.com/content/view/15/34/
I agree with everything he says, with the exception that in my experience, you can set your camera to Aperture Priority mode even when using the FL-36 outdoors, for fill.
One of the great things about this flash unit is that its head does not only tilt but will also swivel. That gives you a lot more creative freedom, and is quite unusual for a TTL flash in this price range. The head is protected from accidental tilting or swivelling by interlocks. The head also zooms, and can cover angles of view corresponding to 14 to 42mm focal lengths on a FourThirds camera (equivalent to 28 to 84mm in 35mm terms). The flash head zooming is actuated by a micromotor, and can be either automatic (in which case the flash gets focal length information from the lens through the camera circuitry and adjusts itself accordingly) or manual. There is a built-in diffuser which you can fold over the flash head to provide even illumination for wide-angle shots. In that case, the zoom range of the flash head is automatically limited to wide angle coverage.
The FL-36 has an infrared AF illuminator to aid your camera in low light. For the E-1, it's not necessary because it has its own and very well-working infrared AF assist. However, is may come in handy for owners of the E-300, E-500 or E-330 digital SLRs.
On the back side of the unit, there is an LCD panel, four buttons and a command wheel to make quick adjustments. This also includes flash exposure compensation, so you do not have to set that in camera.
One bonus for E-300 and E-330 owners is that, due to the design of those bodies, you can use the FL-36 in conjunction with the built-in pop-up flash, for combined bounce and fill. This is something none of the competition offers (nor does the E-1 or the E-500, for that matter).
I have done a simple timings test using two brand new Energizer Ultimate Lithium AA batteries. Here is what I have found, using the FL-36 on the E-1:
Startup (first time): 10 seconds
Startup (subsequent times): 2 seconds (i.e. ready by same time the camera is)
Recovery time (flash head position fixed @ 42mm)
GN 36: ~9.5 seconds. Awfully slow.
GN 25: ~5.5 seconds. Still quite a long wait.
GN 18: ~1.5 seconds. Fair.
GN 13 and less: instant. Now we're talking.
Continuous shooting [burst] mode lasts for
2 frames @ GN 13
4 frames @ GN 9
12 frames [full buffer] @ GN 6.4 and less
NB: the burst rate is about 2.5fps when using flash, down from 3fps without flash. Note that other FourThirds bodies may behave differently as regards their burst modes.
Once again, please be reminded that the above guide numbers are quoted for a flash head position of 42mm, i.e. fully zoomed in. For a more conventional flash head setting of 25mm, substitute GN 36 with GN 28, GN 18 with GN 14 and so forth.
Apart from the somewhat disappointing recovery times quoted above, my only real gripe about this flash is that it does not have a PC chord receptacle, so if you want to use it on a bracket or off the camera, you will have to purchase an adapter - or a TTL flash cable, which is in fact better than having standard PC (Prontor-Compur) connectivity but costs more.
Oh, if anyone was wondering, red-eye was never a problem with this flash!
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