How to use FL50?

Oly5050 · 29th September 2007

Initially, it looks quite easy. Put on the external flash and start shooting. But I realized that there appear to be a bunch of controls and parameters that you can change. Could I just ask a couple of questions :

1. What do u use the external flash for? I know night is obvious. But is it used for day too?
2. What settings do you usually leave it on when u use external flash?

Zoobiee · 29th September 2007

Well there's tons of things you can use it for.

You can bounce it off the ceiling to provide a more pleasing illumination.
With its swivel head you can also be more creative and bounce it off different surfaces and angles compared to the one on the camera itself which is pretty stuck forward and direct.

In daylight and outdoors, you can use it for fill flash.

Well the settings can differ a lot. You can leave it to TTL Auto (it communicates with your camera to get exposure, GN, zoom etc settings so its automatic).

From your camera you can use it to do some neat effects as well such as Slow Sync, 2nd curtain etc.

Your FL50 also comes with an AF Assist. Its kinda red beam which shines off your flash and assists in focusing in darkness. The equivalent for the on-camera flash is the feature where it flickers many times before getting a focus lock. The one on your FL50 is less annoying and intrusive.

http://www.cs.mtu.edu/~shene/DigiCam...Functions.html

Hope that helps.

Z

bousozoku · 29th September 2007

TTL Auto is the most useful mode and you can use Super FP mode for fill flash in daylight, if your camera supports it.

I tend to leave things alone unless I'm prepared to do some math to determine distance and coverage.

Make sure you keep an extra set of batteries with you. I've gone through a set of NiMH rechargeables in a couple of hours, so I always keep 4 sets with me since I shoot indoors quite a bit.

Mikefellh · 29th September 2007

Originally Posted by Oly5050

Initially, it looks quite easy. Put on the external flash and start shooting. But I realized that there appear to be a bunch of controls and parameters that you can change. Could I just ask a couple of questions :

1. What do u use the external flash for? I know night is obvious. But is it used for day too?
2. What settings do you usually leave it on when u use external flash?

1st check out this thread on DPReview, and all its replies for information about the flash's settings:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/re...ssage=16048466

As for using the flash, there are many general flash resources out there like books, videos, websites, classes, etc. It doesn't need to be Olympus specific as it's all about light, not brand name. Personally I've used all of those resources. Here's a good place to start though:
http://olympusdigitalschool.com/phot...ons/index.html

Regarding using the flash in daylight, look up "fill flash"...in that situation you would set the flash to one of the FP modes, in order to be able to shoot faster than 1/180.

Blu-By-U · 2nd October 2007

Originally Posted by Mikefellh

....
Regarding using the flash in daylight, look up "fill flash"...in that situation you would set the flash to one of the FP modes, in order to be able to shoot faster than 1/180.

Thanks Mike, I was looking for that.

cjtune · 4th October 2007

Its diffuser plate can be retracted about 80-90% up and it becomes a small bounce card if you don't want to carry any larger ones... to bad you can use it to bounce for vertical orientation shots.

29th September 2007	#1
Oly5050 Contributor Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 1,329	How to use FL50? Initially, it looks quite easy. Put on the external flash and start shooting. But I realized that there appear to be a bunch of controls and parameters that you can change. Could I just ask a couple of questions : 1. What do u use the external flash for? I know night is obvious. But is it used for day too? 2. What settings do you usually leave it on when u use external flash? __________________ E3, E620, 14-54 2.8-3.5 MkII, 50 2.0, 50-200 2.8-3.5 SWD

29th September 2007	#2
Zoobiee Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: East of SG Posts: 234	Re: How to use FL50? Well there's tons of things you can use it for. You can bounce it off the ceiling to provide a more pleasing illumination. With its swivel head you can also be more creative and bounce it off different surfaces and angles compared to the one on the camera itself which is pretty stuck forward and direct. In daylight and outdoors, you can use it for fill flash. Well the settings can differ a lot. You can leave it to TTL Auto (it communicates with your camera to get exposure, GN, zoom etc settings so its automatic). From your camera you can use it to do some neat effects as well such as Slow Sync, 2nd curtain etc. Your FL50 also comes with an AF Assist. Its kinda red beam which shines off your flash and assists in focusing in darkness. The equivalent for the on-camera flash is the feature where it flickers many times before getting a focus lock. The one on your FL50 is less annoying and intrusive. http://www.cs.mtu.edu/~shene/DigiCam...Functions.html Hope that helps. Z __________________ http://onzoob.com Last edited by Zoobiee; 29th September 2007 at 04:32 PM.

29th September 2007	#3
bousozoku Member Join Date: May 2007 Location: No dust, no auto focus area Posts: 802	Re: How to use FL50? TTL Auto is the most useful mode and you can use Super FP mode for fill flash in daylight, if your camera supports it. I tend to leave things alone unless I'm prepared to do some math to determine distance and coverage. Make sure you keep an extra set of batteries with you. I've gone through a set of NiMH rechargeables in a couple of hours, so I always keep 4 sets with me since I shoot indoors quite a bit.

4th October 2007	#6
cjtune Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 1,516	Re: How to use FL50? Its diffuser plate can be retracted about 80-90% up and it becomes a small bounce card if you don't want to carry any larger ones... to bad you can use it to bounce for vertical orientation shots.