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Stylus 1 and FL40 flash - will they play well with each other?

Started 11 months ago | Discussions
Bob A L Veteran Member • Posts: 7,071
Stylus 1 and FL40 flash - will they play well with each other?

Just inherited an FL40 flash that I thought would work with my Stylus 1, but then looked it up in the Stylus 1 manual and the FL40 is not listed.  It lists FL14, 36R, 50R, 300R, 600R as being compatible. Also, if it will work, how about connections, I have the bracket with the 5 pin connector besides just the hot shoe. Would prefer to use the bracket and cable arrangement.  Anybody with any experience here? Don't want to mess up the Stylus if there is a chance of that.  Thanks

Michael Meissner
Michael Meissner Forum Pro • Posts: 27,998
Re: Stylus 1 and FL40 flash - will they play well with each other?

Bob A L wrote:

Just inherited an FL40 flash that I thought would work with my Stylus 1, but then looked it up in the Stylus 1 manual and the FL40 is not listed. It lists FL14, 36R, 50R, 300R, 600R as being compatible. Also, if it will work, how about connections, I have the bracket with the 5 pin connector besides just the hot shoe. Would prefer to use the bracket and cable arrangement. Anybody with any experience here? Don't want to mess up the Stylus if there is a chance of that. Thanks

No, the FL-40 will not work with the Stylus-1 other than as a generic flash.

You should be able to set the flash to manual mode, where the flash delivers a given amount of light. If you are firing with the flash straight ahead, you figure out the aperture of the camera by dividing the guide number by the distance to the subject. The guide number is based on the ISO used.

There is also the 1970's 'auto' mode. In this mode, you set the camera to a given aperture from the flash settings. The flash has a sensor in it, and it looks for a reflection from the wall behind the subject. It will turn off the lamp when it figures that the subject should be illuminated properly.

However, the TTL mode cannot be used. The FL-40 flash was the flash used for some of the old C-* cameras as well as the E-10, E-20, and maybe E-100RS. Olympus used a different protocol for the FL-40 flash compared to the next generation of flashes (FL-36 and FL-50) that were introduced with the E-1 DSLR.

The E-1 claimed to have support for the FL-40, but all subsequent DSLRs and later micro 4/3rds and Stylus cameras dropped this support. I say claimed to have the support, because I had a FL-40 clone flash that I used with my C-2100UZ, and IIRC, the results were spotty on the E-1 with that flash.

 Michael Meissner's gear list:Michael Meissner's gear list
Olympus Stylus 1 Olympus TG-5 Olympus E-M5 III OM-1 Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 9-18mm F4.0-5.6 +13 more
OP Bob A L Veteran Member • Posts: 7,071
Re: Stylus 1 and FL40 flash - will they play well with each other?

Thanks - If it will work in manual and auto, I'll be a happy camper. I use manual frequently with flash, but when I want simple, I use auto flash and strongly favor thyristor control in the flash itself instead of TTL. Many flashes controlled by the camera use a preflash to set exposure and I hate that method, as thyristor in flash controlled is calculated during the exposure, not before and is usually quicker. It sounds like the FL40 could actually be used on almost anything in the manual or automatic mode, as according to the manual it has a sensor to control the flash duration for any preset aperture and iso combination. Any additional info or knowledge appreciated.

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