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e510 budget flash

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PDenman

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I'm looking to buy an external flash for my e510, however I'm having trouble find a quality flash on a relatively low budget. And worse, the few "cheap" flashes I have found I haven't been able to find and real reviews for them.

I'm looking for a decent external flash that is relatively easy to use and versatile. I'm first choice would be to stick with the family, but the cheapest Olympus flash I found is the FL-36 for $160 [ http://www.amazon.com/Olympus-FL-36-Electronic-Flash-Cameras/dp/B0006O4VNC]

I have found a few, such as the Cullmann 34 AF-O, Cameta Slave, Precision Design DSLR300 and the Bower SFD290 ranging from $50-$100 BUT I haven't been able to find anything about the quality of these flashes.

Does anyone have any suggestions for a good budget flash, or should I just bite the bullet and go for the Olympus?

--
Olympus E-510
 
I have also been in the market for one. So far these look good.
Vivitar 285HV $80 Good reviews on most sites (B&H, Amazon, Adorama, strobist)
Sunpak 383 (discontinued and hard to find) (same deal/ comparable reviews)

This is $70 Sigma EF500 DG http://www.wolfcamera.com/product/CLR543090088.htm
but I have only seen one person recommend it and have not researched it yet.

check your local Circuit city for the FL36...hear they are going for $100, but the ones near me only had display models left.

don't take my word for it, but just passing along some things I have read on here and other sites. Do your own searches. Ebay has some older models of the Vivitar 285 too.

I'd also be interested to hear what others say.

--
I'm not a professional, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn express last night.

http://wisertime.zenfolio.com
http://www.pbase.com/wisertime/glacier&page=2
http://picasaweb.google.com/steve.feistel
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21868346@N00/
 
PDenman said:
I have found a few, such as the Cullmann 34 AF-O, Cameta Slave,
Precision Design DSLR300 and the Bower SFD290 ranging from $50-$100
BUT I haven't been able to find anything about the quality of these
flashes.
Click to expand...
I think I've only seen one person who has ever gotten one of these flashes. Some of the early Cullmann's got bad reviews, because it was for earlier Olympus cameras and not the DSLRs.
PDenman said:
Does anyone have any suggestions for a good budget flash, or should I
just bite the bullet and go for the Olympus?
Click to expand...
I put together a list of all of the flashes that work with Olympus DSLRs that I could find:
http://www.the-meissners.org/olympus-flash2.html
 
Not having much need for a flash for fast moving subjects (animals, children) I decided for a very cheap solution: a Yin Yan 28 automatic flash, and 2 hotshoe triggers.

It allows me to use the in-body flash and 2 automatic slave flashes (the Yin Yan and an old Popular), or any combination of the three. The Yin Yan also works fairly well as a bounce and zoom flash, and can be used alone.

The amount I paid is ridiculous: some 30 euros, including 2 triggers. I only made sure that the Yin Yan had a low voltage, and then I ordered it in China: it took a couple of weeks, and now everything works fine together, as a portrait setup.

The Yin Yan might also help outdoors, if the in body flash is not enough, and can be positioned at will, thanks to the trigger.

Am.
--
Photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/amalric
 
I use the Metz 44AF on my E330 and E510 and I am very satisfied. It's reviews are very good and you can find one for around 100 dollars.
Kind regards Roelof
 
Yea, thats the exact reason why I am so apprehensive of going with one of those. Normally, if a product is good you can find recommendations or reviews.

Also, that you very much for the list, extremely helpful!

--
Olympus E-510
 
Its a shame I didn't ask about this sooner, that is a great deal! However, just went to check their website and got the following message:

"Circuit City would like to thank all of the customers who have shopped with us over the past 60 years. Unfortunately, we announced on January 16, 2009, that we are going out of business."

Sounds like you found the silver lining to a crummy economy... going out of business sales

--
Olympus E-510
 
Hi Amalric,

Can you expand on this set up a little bit?

Thank you.
amalric said:
Not having much need for a flash for fast moving subjects (animals,
children) I decided for a very cheap solution: a Yin Yan 28 automatic
flash, and 2 hotshoe triggers.

It allows me to use the in-body flash and 2 automatic slave flashes
(the Yin Yan and an old Popular), or any combination of the three.
The Yin Yan also works fairly well as a bounce and zoom flash, and
can be used alone.

The amount I paid is ridiculous: some 30 euros, including 2 triggers.
I only made sure that the Yin Yan had a low voltage, and then I
ordered it in China: it took a couple of weeks, and now everything
works fine together, as a portrait setup.

The Yin Yan might also help outdoors, if the in body flash is not
enough, and can be positioned at will, thanks to the trigger.

Am.
--
Photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/amalric
Click to expand...
 
I had time only to test the flashes and the triggers, so I can explain only the principle.

An automatic flash doesn't need to interact with the camera. It has a little sensor window which varies the light intensity according to distance. Depending on the ISO you choose you will have a range of acceptable distances for a certain aperture, therefore you shoot in M - manual, with a shutter speed that on the 410 must be below 1/180sec.

A slave flash is a flash that is triggered by another, thanks to a small hotshoe accessory with a small lens, which fits on the slave.

The basic setup is to use the in-body flash for frontal illumination and the slave as a bounceflash on a tripod to soften the shadows made by the former.

If you have yet another triggered flash you can try to position 3 flashes: one frontal and two lateral according to the rule of 45 deg vertical 45 horizontal from your subject on both sides, to achieve natural shadows.

The only thing which varies is your aperture/diaphragm and if you do some tests it's easy to find the right one.

You can also shoot the in-body flash at very low power (1/16 or 1/64) leaving most of the illumination to the lateral flashes, for a more natural effect.

It is reallly more complicated to explain than to do a few tests, until you are satisfied with the position of your flashes, and the shadows behind your subject

Since the whole setup is very cheap you can use two flashes, instead of only one TTL dedicated flash, and still spend one tenth of an Olympus flash.

The setup works well for mainly static subjects in an average room. However the Yin Yan 28 is compact enough to be carried outside, and used either as a main flash on the hotshoe , or as a slave flash, laterally.

Hope it helps.

Am.
--
Photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/amalric
 
I use a Promaster 5750 + adaptor for my E-510 (i have to test it with my E3 but i guess it is ok).

Good bargain (even with high shipping fees for me ).
 
I got a cheap Tumax flash a couple of months ago for my E-510. It charges faster than the Oly fl36 (has 4 batteries), and the power is somewhere between the fl36 and fl50. The size is similar to the fl50. There's also a smaller model without tilt-swivel.

So far, it works very well: I like its tilt-swivel design and bounce card and diffusor, and the TTL means it "talks" to the camera without my having to fiddle with it. Note though that I don't use it more than once every two-three weeks. Here's the link (take out the space)
http://www . icorpandtumax.com/product_info_b.php?cat=263&id=98&pre=95

Cheers
Christa

--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ch_cnb/
 
I do not know if this will help. I found an Ebay external flash item that claims full TTL compatibility with the Olympus digital cameras. It is quite cheap too for a TTL flash. It costs something like $78.99 plus free shipping. It has a claimed maximum range of 38 meters with four (4) AA batteries.

Here is the Ebay Item # for this cheap TTL Cheap for Olympus Digital Cameras: 200296563893. Search it at Ebay.

But I am not sure about its quality and full synchronization capability with Oly Digital cameras. I have not used one.

Maybe other forum members who may have used this flash before can give some comments about it.

Good luck for the search.

Sonny

---------------------------------------------------------------------
PDenman said:
I'm looking to buy an external flash for my e510, however I'm having
trouble find a quality flash on a relatively low budget. And worse,
the few "cheap" flashes I have found I haven't been able to find and
real reviews for them.

I'm looking for a decent external flash that is relatively easy to
use and versatile. I'm first choice would be to stick with the
family, but the cheapest Olympus flash I found is the FL-36 for $160
[ http://www.amazon.com/Olympus-FL-36-Electronic-Flash-Cameras/dp/B0006O4VNC]

I have found a few, such as the Cullmann 34 AF-O, Cameta Slave,
Precision Design DSLR300 and the Bower SFD290 ranging from $50-$100
BUT I haven't been able to find anything about the quality of these
flashes.

Does anyone have any suggestions for a good budget flash, or should I
just bite the bullet and go for the Olympus?

--
Olympus E-510
Click to expand...
 
AmateurOM said:
I do not know if this will help. I found an Ebay external flash item
that claims full TTL compatibility with the Olympus digital cameras.
It is quite cheap too for a TTL flash. It costs something like $78.99
plus free shipping. It has a claimed maximum range of 38 meters with
four (4) AA batteries.

Here is the Ebay Item # for this cheap TTL Cheap for Olympus Digital
Cameras: 200296563893. Search it at Ebay.

But I am not sure about its quality and full synchronization
capability with Oly Digital cameras. I have not used one.

Maybe other forum members who may have used this flash before can
give some comments about it.
Click to expand...
This is the Digital Concepts flash (also similar to flashes by Sakar, Vivitar, and Cullmann). So far, nobody seems to have bought the flash, so there are no reviews. From the pictures, it looks like there are no controls on the flash, which means it likely doesn't have FP-TTL mode (ability to send out multiple pulses so that you can use a faster shutter speed than 1/180 which is useful for fill flash in bright sun). I would imagine it also does not have auto/manual modes, so you won't be able to use it on a camera without the Olympus ttl flash hot-shoe, or use it as a slave flash with a radio or light wave trigger.
 
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