FL36 or FL50 for normal shooting

[MarcusK]

Dear all,
Just a short introduction of myself, I'm a new owner of a brand new Olympus E500 DSLR and also my 1st DSLR camera since the day I'm start taking photos during sec sch days.
Personally a bit lost touch in photograhy. Currently I'm working and have my own income, I've decided to invest on one DSLR to fullfill my childhood dreams of capturing memorable moments.
Anyway, right now, with the full kit available, what I notice is lack of a decent flash to complete my collection. But on the other hand, I'm certain of which flash is preferred. Also the market price for these 2 model flash.
I wonder if anyone could assist me.
Please advise. All your generous comments and feedback will be very much appreciated.
Thx!!

[Kid Shotter]

Buy a FL50,FL36 u will upgrade one day.

[wind30]

you should post this in the four thirds forum. Not many oly DSLR user frequent this forum.

The main adv for the FL50 is the recharge is much faster than the FL36.

[wrx_sti_22b]

FL50 cost $650 new... FL30 is something like $340 i think...

[halcy0n]

I use the FL-36 and passed the FL-50 because of the price. Have not had personal experience with the FL-50 but I find the FL-36 pretty sufficient in terms of range and the recharge cycle is acceptable as well. Have tried taking pics for an event with the FL-36 and the recharge cycle was sufficient to take most shots I wanted to. I was using 1600mah rechargeable batt and the recharge cycle got real slow later but I think a higher powered batt or using non-rechargeable batt might last longer....

[casey4355]

Originally Posted by halcy0n I use the FL-36 and passed the FL-50 because of the price. Have not had personal experience with the FL-50 but I find the FL-36 pretty sufficient in terms of range and the recharge cycle is acceptable as well. Have tried taking pics for an event with the FL-36 and the recharge cycle was sufficient to take most shots I wanted to. I was using 1600mah rechargeable batt and the recharge cycle got real slow later but I think a higher powered batt or using non-rechargeable batt might last longer....

i jus did a wedding on FL-50, and wished recycling time was faster bcos my cam would not fire if the flash is not recharged. i replace the batteries b4 every scene where i think i need to shoot fast.

[tunghk]

My personnal advise is that if you require faster flash recycle time in your shooting, then you have to go for the FL-50, if not then I think the FL-36 is more cost effective as it cost about half the price.

A point to note here, I have tried shooting my brother's wedding dinner with the FL-50 and found that the recycle time is not that fast as well, so the FL-36 I presume will be much worst off.

[thevar]

Originally Posted by tunghk My personnal advise is that if you require faster flash recycle time in your shooting, then you have to go for the FL-50, if not then I think the FL-36 is more cost effective as it cost about half the price. A point to note here, I have tried shooting my brother's wedding dinner with the FL-50 and found that the recycle time is not that fast as well, so the FL-36 I presume will be much worst off.

Hi, I use FL 50 on my E 300 for weddings, use 2700mah batteries,unicross,GP are good, after about 200-300 shots replace fresh batteries,I use bounce and 1-2 + intensity on flash. For me FL 50 works great!

[thevar]

Originally Posted by thevar Hi, I use FL 50 on my E 300 for weddings, use 2700mah batteries,unicross,GP are good, after about 200-300 shots replace fresh batteries,I use bounce and 1-2 + intensity on flash. For me FL 50 works great!

Additional tip always use freshly charged batteries and charged batteries kept unused there will be a drop in voltage over period of 2 to 3 days and more.

[kenjii]

thanz thevar for tip, yeap i discover dat also recently,

cheers;
kenjii

[MarcusK]

Thx for all the advise. I think my choice is going for a budget FL 36 for now. Anyone selling a second hand FL 36? can PM me.
Thx!!

[Blu-By-U]

Just go to the Buy sell section of Club Snap then advance search "Olympus"

[selamatlzh]

Originally Posted by tunghk My personnal advise is that if you require faster flash recycle time in your shooting, then you have to go for the FL-50, if not then I think the FL-36 is more cost effective as it cost about half the price. A point to note here, I have tried shooting my brother's wedding dinner with the FL-50 and found that the recycle time is not that fast as well, so the FL-36 I presume will be much worst off.

Actually base on my personal experience with the 2 flash. Their RECYCLING TIME are quite the same. Though FL 50 is more powerful thats all that might help is some situation. The only way to bring down the recycle time on fl50 is to buy the original batt pack or 3rd party one. Hope that helps.

[selamatlzh]

Consider metz..... Made in germany, half the recycling time without gimmicks. Can also use on other brand if you decide to switch system or sell it away. For the same or lesser than fl50 price.

[Mikefellh]

Originally Posted by selamatlzh Consider metz..... Made in germany, half the recycling time without gimmicks. Can also use on other brand if you decide to switch system or sell it away. For the same or lesser than fl50 price.

But they're NOT 100% compatible with Olympus TTL...I have used Metz in the past, but use an FL-36 with my E-300 (for 18 months) because of that.

[microcosm]

TTL is not totally important in flash photography... I was with a Nikon SB28DX set on auto for the longest time, and till today, it has never failed me. So you can safely consider the Metz... but I believe they are working for full Olympus compatibility anyway...

[Mikefellh]

Originally Posted by microcosm TTL is not totally important in flash photography...

I never said it was...personally I use monolights via a PC cord all the time. But for the beginner who doesn't want to fool with setting shutter speeds and apertures on the camera every time they use the flash, or never used anything other than Program, Scene, or AUTO modes TTL is a benefit...personally I recommend things that I KNOW will work without problem.

[microcosm]

Originally Posted by casey4355 i jus did a wedding on FL-50, and wished recycling time was faster bcos my cam would not fire if the flash is not recharged. i replace the batteries b4 every scene where i think i need to shoot fast.

Originally Posted by tunghk My personnal advise is that if you require faster flash recycle time in your shooting, then you have to go for the FL-50, if not then I think the FL-36 is more cost effective as it cost about half the price. A point to note here, I have tried shooting my brother's wedding dinner with the FL-50 and found that the recycle time is not that fast as well, so the FL-36 I presume will be much worst off.

Originally Posted by selamatlzh Actually base on my personal experience with the 2 flash. Their RECYCLING TIME are quite the same. Though FL 50 is more powerful thats all that might help is some situation. The only way to bring down the recycle time on fl50 is to buy the original batt pack or 3rd party one. Hope that helps.

Bingo... that is exactly what I wanted to say... if one needs to have a little "machine gunning time", then the battery power pack is the way to go, the only solution at the moment. BUT be warned... machine gunning any camera mounted flash unit will shorten the lifespan of the flash unit considerably, as it heats up too much. Use with care. Afterall, this is not a studio flash (strobe).

[microcosm]

Originally Posted by Mikefellh I never said it was...personally I use monolights via a PC cord all the time. But for the beginner who doesn't want to fool with setting shutter speeds and apertures on the camera every time they use the flash, or never used anything other than Program, Scene, or AUTO modes TTL is a benefit...personally I recommend things that I KNOW will work without problem.

Yes, you are so right about that my friend. I forgot, for a moment, that there are still many shooters out there who are using DSLRs as a PnS camera on steroids. My bad.

[MarcusK]

Thx!!