Why, oh why, isn't there a good matching flash for LX3?

Following advice on this forum, I've just bought (on eBay) an Olympus FL36 flash to work with my LX3 which is a fairly new acquisition.

The FL36 works fine, but the silly thing is that it is so big! It is at least a third bigger than the Kodak P20 dedicated flash for my Kodak P880, but it is slightly less powerful and has only one better feature -- the swivel head. I happily would sacrifice the swivel head for size in this case; the Kodak P20 flash is truly pocketable but the Olympus FL36 (and the Panasonic FL360) a just that bit too big to qualify.

In addition, with the P880, you can use the in-camera and the auxiliary flash together (e.g. for direct light + bounce); you can't do that with the FL30 on the LX3 because the locking nut fouls the pop-up in-camera flash.

So I have the choice of carrying a small camera and a big flash, or a bigger camera and a smaller flash~! Oh no~!

I regard it as a serious negative that the LX3 doesn't have a flash with bounce that matches the size advantage of the camera. \The Kodak P880 demonstrates that it is possible to make a significantly smaller flash which is just as powerful as the FL36/FL360.

I've been interested to read in another thread about the quality of the Schneider lens on the Samsung EX1. The P880 has a beautiful Schneider Xenon f2.8 24-140mm (135 equivalent) lens.

Incidentally, I have bought the Clearviewer magnifying viewfinder for the LX3 -- turns a ditzy snapshotter into a real camera in my view! ;-)

Are you complaining about flash or camera?

Kodak P880 has nothing to do with flashes. This is just a camera with two times more weight and size than LX3 and very worse IQ.

There are lots of flashes you can use with your LX3 used in manual or auto modes (your Kodak P20 will work fine). The best approach with any flash is to have your camera exposing in "M" (manual) mode. Just set your aperture and shutter speed to whatever you like (for example, f/5.6 if you want nice DOF using your LX3 lens sweet point) and shutter speed to 1/60 - 1/150 to freeze most people movements.

The best of all: Buy a cheap eBay remote wireless trigger (Yongnuo, Cactus) like this:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonasby/3271342893/#/photos/jonasby/3271342893/lightbox/

Works wonderful and now you can really use your flash off the camera. You can put your flash with remote receiver in tripod bouncing to the ceiling, your camera in M mode and enjoy with excellent lighting and very light equipment (no pun intended).

Best Regards,

--
Enrique Freire
***********

'It is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye'

How about Metz 36-4O. Isn't it more compact then the Oly FL? You do love the swivel head (just vertical tilt for bounce). But it does work full TTL with LX3.
--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/61829611@N00/

I understand the OPs pain.

Panasonic makes a nice compact camera yet the only shoe mount flash they make that matches the size is pretty pathetic and very expensive.

All other TTL flashes, especially those with tilting heads, are massive behemoths that look ridiculous when mounted on the camera.

I think what he (and I ) are looking for is a tilt/swivel unit with TTL metering, even using just 2 AA batteries, to keep it compact.

Tim S

Hen3ry said:

I regard it as a serious negative that the LX3 doesn't have a flash with bounce that matches the size advantage of the camera. \

Click to expand...

You may be interested to note that 43Rumours has an item today about an expected Olympus announcement tomorrow re the EP2, I think, plus a new flashgun .

I presume this might be something like the little Nikon SB400, unless Oly. screws up yet again !

Ray

I have the FL36R flash. It is large, compared with the camera, but does a wonderful bounce job. Most of the small bounce-capable flashes just don't have the power to get it done right. The LX3 and FL36 fit nicely into a relatively small camera bag and it sure is nice to have that flash power, when needed. And the combo actually balances well, once you pick it up for use.

For those who have not used this camera/flash combination, some image examples, taken with my LX3 and the FL36 flash are attached below. I also use the optional Olympus FLRA-1 Reflector Adapter, shown attached to the flash head. The reflector Adapter diverts a small part of the bounce light directly toward the subject, to even out shadows and provide a "catch-light" in the subject's eyes.







And, this is what the combo looks like:





--
Bill McClung (a.k.a. 'NC BILL')
Image galleries at http://www.pbase.com/nc_bill

NEVER BE AFRAID TO TRY SOMETHING NEW.
REMEMBER, AMATEURS BUILT THE ARK.
PROFESSIONALS BUILT THE TITANIC!

All the external flashes for this camera & others are too large.

I'd like to get a low-profile wireless (RF) radio commander that will attach to the LX3 hotshoe & trigger one of my Nikon Speedlights (SB800 and SB900). That would be ideal.

Sort of like this:
http://pixelhk.com/en/proview.asp?P_ID=1549
--
Dez

http://photos.dezmix.com

It would be a perfect size for the LX and give bounce abilities. But for now if you want bounce, you have little to no choice.
--
Greg Gebhardt in
Jacksonville, Florida

Hiya all

Tim -- you got it in one, you share my pain. A compact camera that’s aimed at the prosumer market as a walk-around camera like the LX3 should have a compact flash capable of bounce to go with it to extend its capabilities just that much. Swivel, I’m not so worried about (you can kludge that by turning the camera sideways), but bounce is non-negotiable and being able to use the built-in and shoe-mounted flashes together is kind of “Doh!” obvious.

Thanks for your samples, Bill, in fact, one reason I bought the FL36 in the first place was these results you showed in another thread. My samples look fine too. I’m pleased with that part of it. It’s just the size and weight of the flash compared with the camera that reminds me of fingernails on a chalkboard.

As I said originally, the Kodak P20 flash is much smaller and lighter. The picture shows it is shorter and narrower. It is also slimmer. I weighed both flashes: with batteries, P20 is 195 grams and the FL36 is 275 grams. That makes the FL36 about 10 grams heavier than the LX3 itself~! Huh~! And despite efraire’s dismissal of the Kodak’s smarts, the P880 camera with the P20 do TTL, zoom, and dual flash with the built-in.

efraire, as far as I am concerned, you just don’t get it. Going back to manual or adding more gear is not worth discussing.


Maxim_C, thanks for the thought about the Metz 36-40. I did notice mention of the Metz on this forum, but I couldn’t find its dimensions anywhere. Since it takes 4 batteries (vs 2 in the Oly and the Kodak) I assumed it would be larger. My bad. I’ll keep it in mind if the FL36 bulk really does drive me nuts~! ;-)

I think the Nissin Di466 for Four-Thirds camera will TTL on the LX series

RayUK said:

You may be interested to note that 43Rumours has an item today about an expected Olympus announcement tomorrow re the EP2, I think, plus a new flashgun .

I presume this might be something like the little Nikon SB400, unless Oly. screws up yet again !

Ray

Click to expand...

Nope. Oly have screwed up again. I live in hope!

Ray

The compatibility charts says "YES", specifically mentioning the LX3. It looks small and compact in the illustration on the Nissen site, but sadly it turns out it is "squat"; the specs say is nearly the same size as the Olympus FL36 (it's weighs only 10 grams less and would be heavier with batteries -- it has 4 while the FL36 has 2) and is slightly less powerful -- GN33 vs 36 (in metres).

Damn that Kodak is hard to beat -- weighs a third less, is smaller all round and is a lkittle more pwoerful at GN 40 (in metres).

If the Olympus FL14 will work on the Olympus line, it will surely be OK for Panasonic. Might be worth a further look.....

--
Mike C.,
Denver, Colorado

Mike C said:

If the Olympus FL14 will work on the Olympus line, it will surely be OK for Panasonic. Might be worth a further look.....

Click to expand...

It will work on Pany cameras, but it doesn't bounce !

Ray

I'd go for such a small bounce flash for the FZ50 as well, but more from a point of view it being pocketable.
--


The FZ50: DSLR handling of a bright Leica 35-420mm lens that's this good: http://www.flickr.com/groups/panasonicfz50/pool/ (slideshow always good)
[Tomorrows camera is better and smaller than todays]

Sorry but that Olympus FL14 flash looks hideous and it doesn't bounce.
--
Dez

http://photos.dezmix.com

where can we find more information on these wireless triggers?

efreire said:

The best of all: Buy a cheap eBay remote wireless trigger () like this:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonasby/3271342893/#/photos/jonasby/3271342893/lightbox/

Works wonderful and now you can really use your flash off the camera. You can put your flash with remote receiver in tripod bouncing to the ceiling, your camera in M mode and enjoy with excellent lighting and very light equipment (no pun intended).

Best Regards,

--
Enrique Freire
***********

'It is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye'

Click to expand...

--
http://davidmarset.blogspot.com

If it is going to be powerful enough to do some decent bounce work, the flash will not be that small. The only exception I have seen it the Nikon SB400 which I leave on my D3x all the time.
--
Greg Gebhardt in
Jacksonville, Florida

Oops, inadvertently deleted the image. Here it is again.

What about the Panasonic PE-28s? That does bounce. Here is someone using it on a GRD 3

http://ray1684.blogspot.com/2010/06/panasonic-pe-28s.html

I noticed it at my local SiG store. But they label it as FL220, but the picture shows the PE-28s??? Weird..

Check out the photo of the product. (Hopefully they don't change it and make me look like a lier! )

http://www.sigelectronics.com/Electronics/Panasonic_3/Panasonic-DMWFL220-External-Flash-For-G-Series-GN22-4-3-System

Found the Japanese link:

http://ctlg.panasonic.jp/product/info.do?pg=04&hb=PE-28S

Looking for the PDF now...