FL-36

I have been looking to buy a flash and really cant afford a FL-50, with the luck I have had with olympus cameras taking pictures in low light situations would I be ok with a FL-36? I am doing a wedding for a friend and I wondered if I could adjust the settings on the camera and the FL-36 be sufficient. The church is a small church well lit, all the churches in this area are very small since this is a small town. When would the FL-36 not be be suitable. I do understand the recharge time and I also read the type of batteries make a difference.

For someone to have a supposedly professional photograpy website ( http://www.photographybyangela.com ), and then state here "Im a definate newbie (sic)" ( http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1014&message=22697837 ).

Here, we have the ubiquitous "doing a wedding for a friend" (although your website lists wedding services).

NO, an FL-36 isn't enough. It isn't powerful enough, it doesn't recycle fast enough (you're really not going to want to use direct flash unless you have to). And an FL-50 isn't enough, either. You're risking people's irreplaceable memories here. Real professionals have backups for everything, and know what they're doing BEFORE booking the job.

An E-500 and a couple strobes off of eBay (that you don't know how to use) do not make a professional photographer.

PLEASE... before you ruin someone's wedding (and get yourself sued), learn to walk before you run.

ams2007 said:

I have been looking to buy a flash and really cant afford a FL-50,
with the luck I have had with olympus cameras taking pictures in
low light situations would I be ok with a FL-36? I am doing a
wedding for a friend and I wondered if I could adjust the settings
on the camera and the FL-36 be sufficient. The church is a small
church well lit, all the churches in this area are very small since
this is a small town. When would the FL-36 not be be suitable. I do
understand the recharge time and I also read the type of batteries
make a difference.

Click to expand...

Hi... I have an FL-36 that I used last year to shoot a friends wedding, the results from which I was very satisfied with (more importantly, so were the bride & groom! ) Flash recycle time was something of an issue as I only had 1700mh NiMH batteries available, and was using a LightSphere for pretty much the whole day, which was fine for the indoor shots but not necessary for a bit of outdoor fill flash (which would have saved my recycle time somewhat on the outdoor formals).

Have been asked to do another wedding later this year and this time will make sure that I've got plenty of 2700mh batteries available and not use the LightSphere quite so much.

As an aside, toward the end of the day, I noticed that Duracells (my fallback when the NiMH's were all gone) seemed to charge the thing up really quickly and made the assumption that the voltage difference was the reason (2.4v for NiMH as opposed to 3v for alkalines). I had no basis for that deduction beyond my simplistic thinking of "well more volts has to be better, right?" and had consequently thought about using rechargeable CR-V3's but apparently they don't work as the current drain of the flash is too high and it trips the short circuit protection.

I'm still looking into this as I've just had a reply from Uniross saying that 3 amps is the cut off. I just need to find out what the drain of the FL-36 is to be sure.

Don't know if any of the above ramblings are helpful... maybe they are...

Michael

OK, assuming that you are really doing it for a friend's wedding with no strings attached (I agree with Danny's sentiment on this), I think an FL-36 can do a passable job. Be aware that it is strictly not a professional tool and know it's limitations. To drive home the point, I have managed to fry my FL-36's circuit board once while shooting portraits in FP-TTL mode at a fast rate. No problem, as I was doing this as a favor, not for money.

So, what are the FL-36's weaknesses?

• Obviously, power. It's maximum light output is about half that of the FL-50.
• Slow recycle times. If you manage to get by with low-power bursts (depends on the location and your style), the recycle times can be near instantaneous in auto mode (NOT TTL auto).
• I don't care much for the lack of even illumination, compared to my Metz unit. An Omnibounce does help matters, though.

Cheers,
Simon

You'll find yourself frustrated with the FL-36 in the situation you described. You'll be wasting a lot of time just waiting for the thing to recycle. After a few shots you'll also want to let it cool down to prevent it from burning out. It's under powered and slow.

I have the FL-36 and can't stand it - I would have been better off waiting a bit and getting the 50. I almost never use it at this point because of the above issues. I'll update to the FL-50 the next time I seriously need a flash.

I did a wedding for a friend (for free) using a FL-50. Recharge with the FL-50 was limiting. I'd hate to try it with a fl-36.

I also found myself getting the flash head hot. I was popping off way more than 10 shots in a 10 minute period (limit in the manual). When I start to charge for my services, I will bring 2 cameras, each with a fl-50 so I can give them "cool down" breaks and still take lots of shots. Not to mention....having a backup which should be mandatory for anyone charging money.

I'm not to keen on the special battery pack for the fl-50. It would just cause me to fry a flash in my opinion.

That would be 10 in a one minute period, I highly recommend the battery pack as the recharge times for the 50 is impressive, you should note the 36 cannot use the battery pack. There have been other posts regarding the 36 recently, try doing a search.
--
Gary S P



When people are the art, and the art is the picture
http://www.garysworld.net

and if it is of any importance to you (which I dont think it should be) my son in laws brothers wedding. This website is for my family and friends right now. And I continuously work on it changing things. I would never take a wedding for hire not knowing what I was doing, so even though you think what I am doing is appalling as you say. Then please dont knock people down when they are trying to do in life what they really love. I know alot of websites set up the same way I have and they are just starting out I havent charged anyone for anything so I shouldnt be critiqued for it at all. And also I wouldnt knock people for what they can afford either I do not want to spend alot of money on equipment to practice with until I am really going to be using it professionally, then I will take the plunge.

All I have asked for is help not putting me down.

I've used both and still own the Sunpak 383, which I prefer because it has a swivel head, whereas the Vivitar 285HV does not. You can search this and other DPReview forums to get loads of info on these autothyrister flashes. You can also read user reviews at http://www.amazon.com . If you can live without TTL, these are powerful, cost effective alternatives to the FL-50.

Steve

ams2007 said:

I have been looking to buy a flash and really cant afford a FL-50,
with the luck I have had with olympus cameras taking pictures in
low light situations would I be ok with a FL-36? I am doing a
wedding for a friend and I wondered if I could adjust the settings
on the camera and the FL-36 be sufficient. The church is a small
church well lit, all the churches in this area are very small since
this is a small town. When would the FL-36 not be be suitable. I do
understand the recharge time and I also read the type of batteries
make a difference.

Click to expand...

Maybe for the interm look at a Vivitar 285HV. Takes 4-AA (use 2500 or 2700mAh battery recharges). You'll have a bounce head. Set the camera to manual. I think the guide number at ISO 100 is 120 so have good power and fast recycling time and be under 100$. Down side it DOES NOT have the features as the FL-50 but with a bounce type card you will still be able to take pictures. Even though I have two FL-50's an E1 and E500 I still cary 2 Metz 402 potato mashers that still work and I do use when I need light when I shoot weddings.

Ciao,
Lou Cioccio

The pricing page on my site it has been removed. So there is not anything to get side tracked.

But setting up that website seems to be putting the cart before the horse.

The original post in this thread seemed to be rationalizing an underpowered flash ("The church is a small church well lit, all the churches in this area are very small since this is a small town.")... implying use beyond the current wedding.

I'm in no way trying to put you down. There are plenty on the Pro Digital forum all too willing to eviscerate you for what you've posted.

There's a lot to learn... perhaps a local library or bookstore might be a good place to start. Even pre-digital books about film photography are pretty-much completely useful. By all means follow your dreams.

the reason i worded it like that is I dont want to buy something and turn around have to buy another because it is insufficient. I have already done a lot of that. The studio strobes buying them cheap is one thing but my camera equipment I take anywhere is another. I have purchased a few different lenses so far 500.00 a piece. But I know I will use them all the time. And a flash is next for the camera. I do a whole lot of outdoor photography is why I really dont want to pay so much for a flash I may not use much. If it is better lighting than the on camera flash I probably would. But if it is just stronger I dont know if I would.

The website is somewhere I go and my family and friends browse frequently just to see new pictures, my reasoning is to see what I want to be. I am my own worse critic I am very hard on myself and if it doesnt satisfy me I wouldnt have anyone pay for my imperfection. I wont stop until I get it right thats the way I am. I just need help. As far as the wedding they couldnt afford a photographer so I am better than none

1. (Much) stronger flash
2. Head can be rotated/tilted (e.g., for bounce flash)
3. You can mount a 'light modifier' like Sto-Fen omnibounce

4. Flash higher off the camera (or with appropriate cable entirely off the camera).
5. Focus-assist light
6. FP-TTL mode, ideal for outdoor fill flash
7. Flash beam width adjusts with lens focal length

1-4 also apply to inexpensive generic flashes (such as the Sunpak 383) in Auto mode (which isn't the same thing as Auto-TTL on the Olympus flashes, but has worked 'well enough' for several decades now).

I used the FL-36 at two weddings. The recharge is a slug and it's inadequate for elevated church ceiling. If you are going to go pro, get decent equipment. The FL-50 is worth the money.
--
Theresa K
http://theresak.smugmug.com/

that is what I will probably do, I have a few months before I have to do this wedding and I want to do a good job. Even if it is free word of mouth can make you or break you in anything you do.

As others have suggested, get a Sunpak 383 or a Vivitar 285HV, the latter of which is now in production again, for the indoor shots when you need lots of power and fast recycling. An FL-36 may come in handy for outdoor fill, as it has an FP mode so you can sync it with fast shutter speeds to balance a bright background. Do NOT use the FL-36 as your main light though unless you know you will have plenty time in between shots. For that, use the Sunpak or the Vivitar.

ams2007 said:

I have been looking to buy a flash and really cant afford a FL-50,
with the luck I have had with olympus cameras taking pictures in
low light situations would I be ok with a FL-36? I am doing a
wedding for a friend and I wondered if I could adjust the settings
on the camera and the FL-36 be sufficient. The church is a small
church well lit, all the churches in this area are very small since
this is a small town. When would the FL-36 not be be suitable. I do
understand the recharge time and I also read the type of batteries
make a difference.

Click to expand...

--
pbase Supporter