What do you think of the clip on flash?

[Tim F 101]

Photographers for the Ethical Treatment of Subjects endorses any solution that makes it slightly more difficult to make awful direct flash pictures of friends and family. If you want to use it to control an off camera flash then clip it on. If you want to bounce flash from on the camera then put that on instead. It provides a nice and very portable solution without compromising the size or weather sealing of the camera.

 

[Louis_Dobson]

Fine by me. I rarely go out without at least one extra lens, so carrying a flash as well is no big deal...

They seem to have put allot of features into this thing that people love, but I am confused by this flash vs. doing an on-board flash option. I usually just use the on-board to fill, when I can quickly pop it up, without having to plan ahead of time the shots I need it for. Having to remember to bring this add-on, or to leave it on, or to clip it on, seems like a step back to the first ep-1. What does everyone else think? You'd think that hump could carry a flash and be a storage compartment for keys at the same time.

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/acam
http://thegentlemansnapper.blogspot.com

 

[Anders W]

Fine with me, I'm not sure I've ever popped up the flash on my GH2 or G1. Not even sure they work to be honest! Just dead weight for me. I've always hated the look of fill flash from an on-board flash.

+1

I'd use the on-board flash for three different purposes but not for fill: a) pictures I take for purely documentary purposes, without any "artistic" aspirations whatsoever, b) occasionally for "macro", c) to trigger slave flashes. In none of these cases do I have any trouble with the clip-on idea. The flash is small and presumably light so it would probably be in my bag most of the time. But I'd usually have no trouble deciding whether I am likely to need it or not. Furthermore, the fact that the clip-on flash sits further away from the optical axis is sometimes an advantage for purposes a) and b). There is less of a risk that the lens blocks the light from the flash.

It is a pity though that you can't angle the clip-on flash for bouncing. Seems to me that they could easily have designed it to allow that and I think it might occassionally have been useful, in spite of the low GN.

 

[photodan1]

The low guide number on these small flashes makes for a poor bounce flash anyway. If you do much artificial light shooting I recommend a bigger flash with bounce and swivel. I just bought an emp1 and I'm sure Olympus and Panasonic both make one.