FZ100 & strange Flash problem--Help

I've had my FZ100 for a couple of months and have updated it to 1.2 firmware. I attached a "Compatible Olympus Zoom Flash" to my Pany to test it. It worked and controlled the flash for 4 shots. Then it seems the flash died and would no longer come ready. I'm in the process of returning the unit for replacement. However now I find I can not get the built flash to function at all under any settings. In the REC mode I set the FLASH to forced on and still the symbol on the screen in all modes was a round red circle and a red line through the flash,...meaning NO FLASH. I tried everything and then I did a total reset of all function on the camera except the picture file number. After this reset the crossed out flash symbol went away and I had all function back again.

The question is,..."What would cause the camera to lock up and disable the flash",... and is there no other way of correcting the condition except by a TOTAL RESET.

I'm going to try a basic flash that has no built in function, no zoom, no ttl control, etc. and see what happens there.

The flash I was testing is a new flash designed specifically for Olympus TTL cameras and is also supposed to be 100% compatible with all of the new Panasonic models including the FZ100 and several others. The hot shoe system on Olympus 4/3 and Pany are identical. The Flash is the Zeikos ZE-FL70, a very powerful flash with auto TTL, Manual, and Slave function, Tilt, Swivel, Zoom, etc.

I would like to get some more feedback before I send in the same questions to Pany.

Hi Trig...I used the Canon 270EX last night for many shots and even though it's not TTL I had no problems at all...strange that you would have that?

Hello,

You stated "I would like to get some more feedback before I send in the same questions to Pany. "

I would make sure your pop-up flash still works before you do anything else, if it does not you know what you have to do and I would not tell Panasonic service about the after-market flash you used.

Just a thought.

Regards,

Paul

Sorry for the delay in updating this post, but the house is full of people and kids and there is no time for PaPa. Anyway, it was a simple problem. Yes the flash unit is dead but there is noting wrong with the FZ100. It turns out I had left the "Burst Mode" on and that disables all FLASH function. Burst mode is not reset, (like many other functions) when you turn the camera off. Turn it on again and you are back in burst mode, which can interfer with a lot of things.

There are some functions that I want to set and have then stay on but they won't even if you don't turn the camera off. For example, I really like to use the 2sec or 10sec timer on many kinds of shot but you have to re-set it each time you want to use it even if you never turn the camera off. So why would they leave the burst mode on even if you turn the camera off???????

I tested the FZ100 with an external Slave flash and that was easy. For some reason the Hot shoe on the FZ100 is so tight, I can get my basic Manual flash to fit into the shoe. I'll keep trying.

Trig glad you figured it out...yes I have done the same before...it's heck getting old...if I had knew I was going to live this long I would've taken better care of meself...lol...

Mark me down in the column of guys that had burst mode on and didn't know why he couldn't get the flash to operate.

Jack

I thought I had read through the manual pretty close, but now that I go back and read the extra long pages of details on "Burst Mode", they have it darkened in large print,..."Brust Mode disables Flash"

trigger1937 said:

I thought I had read through the manual pretty close, but now that I go back and read the extra long pages of details on "Burst Mode", they have it darkened in large print,..."Brust Mode disables Flash"

Click to expand...

Does that on every camera I have had, but a message on the LCD appears and tells me the flash is disabled in burst mode in plain English. Never needed to look in the manual.

Basically the flash cannot recycle quick enough, or the camera believes it can't.
--
Oll an gwella,
Jim

trigger1937 said:

Sorry for the delay in updating this post, but the house is full of people and kids and there is no time for PaPa. Anyway, it was a simple problem. Yes the flash unit is dead but there is noting wrong with the FZ100. It turns out I had left the "Burst Mode" on and that disables all FLASH function. Burst mode is not reset, (like many other functions) when you turn the camera off. Turn it on again and you are back in burst mode, which can interfer with a lot of things.

There are some functions that I want to set and have then stay on but they won't even if you don't turn the camera off. For example, I really like to use the 2sec or 10sec timer on many kinds of shot but you have to re-set it each time you want to use it even if you never turn the camera off. So why would they leave the burst mode on even if you turn the camera off???????

I tested the FZ100 with an external Slave flash and that was easy. For some reason the Hot shoe on the FZ100 is so tight, I can get my basic Manual flash to fit into the shoe. I'll keep trying.

Click to expand...

My Olympus camera lets me leave the self timer on no matter if I turn it on, but that can cause problems too. I forgot a couple of times and then took a shot only to be puzzled that the shutter didn't release. Then I moved the camera as the shutter went off.
--
Oll an gwella,
Jim