Olympus announces remote control (RC) wireless flash units FL-50R and FL-36R

[E1-2-E3]

Hey OG
Actually, it's all in the manual. If one of us had read this a few days ago, we wouldn't be having this conversation now (Pleasant though it is). :-)

It's basically: the pop-up emits the signals and there's a port on the flash that recieves that signal.

Which is what Jim told you.

.. and I'm not gonna touch 'light values'! ;-)

p.s One thing I did learn from the manual about why it's always best to use 'Auto' WB in flash is that the kelvin value changes according to the output from the flash. The variable in the 'Auto' setting taking up the change.

I didn't know that so thought I'd share.

[Beardedwombat]

Originally Posted by OlympusGuy

Here's the message I received when I wrote to Jim Lee of Olympus. (Jim travels around the U.S. to various large camera stores giving Olympus camera classes. He's an Olympus tech wonk.)

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Hi Leonard,

The new FL-50 R flash receives information from the E-3 pop-up flash. This is a Flash triggered system and not a wireless or IR based flash system. The pop-up flash has a range limit so the FL-50 R must be able to see the flash from the E-3 in order to fire.

From my testing, the pop-up flash did not interfere with the overall light value. Since it is giving you TTL reading it is very accurate even at a close range to the subject.

I hope this information helps you.

Best,

Jim
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Jim Lee
Olympus Imaging America Inc.
Sr. Technical Representative

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What he means by "the pop-up flash did not interfere with the overall light value" is that the light from the popup flash doesn't interfere with the (tightly calculated) lighting effects from the off-camera light sources.

Evidently confusion reigns, at least at Olympus tech support (you should have heard the technobabble I heard when talking to their tech support about "near-infrared transmissions," "no need to raise the popup," etc.). I take what Jim says over what I heard from the TS guy.

Leonard

Basically confirms what I have found except that the flashgun does not necessarily need to be in line of sight and will fire if it sees reflections from the popup on a wall or ceiling etc. For example I have just been firing it indoors under tungsten lighting with the camera 30ft away, directly behind the flashgun so the sensor is facing away from the camera. I have also fired it from around corners as long as the sensor can see the reflected light from the popup. All on lo setting. The system seems to work very well.

The hi & med, popup settings will possibly be needed outdoors or if the ambient light is higher.
Chris

[OlympusGuy]

Well, all of your experimentation allays my fears about the pop-up giving off unwanted fill flash! Now we know more than Olympus Tech Support (U.S. at least) does! :p

Leonard