Used Olympus FL-LM1 Flash for E-PM1/E-PL3 Cameras, Guide Number 10 at ISO 200

2016-11-01T20:00:00

Compact and Handy, no problem to keep it in the camera bag all the time, just in case it is needed. Obviously not super powerful, but that is not its' purpose

Courtney

Originally posted at

2016-08-11T23:17:29

Despite the less complete specs, this strobe is functionally identical to the FL-LM2. (I have the E-PL5 and E-M1 bodies, and they each came with one) There are minor cosmetic/physical differences. The FL-LM1 is a bit thicker in the hotshoe, and can be a bit snug sliding into the E-M1, but once you get it in, it works. The FL-LM2 is a few mm farther forward, which helps reduce shadow from wide angle lenses. If you shoot underwater, you need to use the one that came with your camera, or else the fibers won't line up. Everywhere else it doesn't matter. Coverage angle is wide and uniform. I tried it with the (very nice) 12mm f/2.0 lens, outdoors, and only saw a slight fall off at the edges. Indoors, there will be enough light bouncing off walls to get acceptably uniform illumination. It's not super powerful, but at f/2.0 and ISO 800 it will have no trouble lighting up the side of a 2 story house! Closer in, where depth of field matters, you can stop down and/or turn down the ISO. Anything longer than 12mm should be very uniform, but longer lenses will only use a smaller and smaller piece at the center of the light 'puddle'. I've used it with the 45mm or 75mm f/1.8 to take decent indoor portraits from 20' away. It's a waste of light, but it works. Of course, with a crappy lens like the 14-42 kit zoom, this strobe will appear wimpy. In that case you could get a monster strobe that uses 4 AAs & is as big as your camera body, but you might consider retiring the kit zoom instead.... This strobe is terrible with the f/1.8 fisheye. But that thing is so wide, I can't think of any strobe that would be agreeable, except maybe a swivel head that bounces off a white wall behind you.

Ralph W.