Olympus FL-40 Dedicated Flash for Camedia Digital Cameras

I borrowed this flash from friend as I have an Olympus 750C and have been using it for about 3 weeks. I may update this review in a month or so but let’s look at what I think so far.

The flash is bigger than my camera and looks hilarious on top of it, but was not heavy as most weight (batteries) is centred low over hot shoe. I never felt like I had to cradle flash when tilting it to protect camera hot shoe from ripping off. It has a multi swivel head which excellent and always allows you to "bounce" the flash off the ceiling no matter what angle the camera is at and this to me one of the main reasons for an external flash as most expensive small cameras popup flashes are OK at the right distance, their main flaw being redeye.

To use flash all I did was slide it in, screw lock and turn on and it went straight into TTL Auto. Then just Point and Shoot. On higher up E series Olympus cameras the FL_40 can be set to R-TTL, TTL or plain Auto whilst on mine it was TTL or plain Auto. In plain Auto mode the Flash decides itself on its exposure level determined by the embarrassing blob of visible red light it emits on to subject. Luckily it is not creepy like a snipers gun red dot. I have not used the flashes manual mode as I do not really understand GN settings. Camera displays GN settings in TTL Auto to help you get a feel for them so I may progress at a later stage. I cannot use both internal and external flash at same time which is annoying. This is not a problem with E series Olympus cameras I believe.
The automatic wide/tele feature is faster in adjusting than camera lens but is a bit noisy as it switches between wide/tele settings with a quick whirring sound (like camera lens extending but twice as loud). It appears to only have the two positions.

When it comes to how good this flash is I cannot find anything wrong with it. (I had a cheap SUNPAK flash for my Canon EOS 500 and this flash is much better). It does not seem to show any vignetting (shadows on edges). Has a big range (up to 11 metres). Seems to overexpose a little on people but I find most flashes get this wrong and after some camera adjustments were made it was perfect! Lighting effects were very accurate when bouncing of ceiling or wall. During the day it was very good at getting rid of unwanted shadows and was even able to overpower overcast sun to reverse shadow effect on subjects. It certainly does do what flashes at around this price do although I think Olympus overpriced it because it is made for a small range of digital cameras. It is definitely more than a match for my 750C which is no slouch by the way despite my cameras point and shoot compact look. (My camera was around $1450 when first released, I paid $400)
I put four no name 2000mAmp NiMh AAs in it and fiddled, zoomed and tested and I believe it takes around 20 shots before more rechargeables are required. On one occasion it took 5 shots only. (I am currently reviewing my batteries!) I find I use batteries quicker than most as I take a while to compose shots and use the screen often. But the booklet says 80 to 100 shots. HA! As an indicator I use a bit more than 128 meg of memory per set of four 2000mAmp NiMh AAs in my Olympus 750C that is about 70 shots, some short video and transferring.

Other flash features include:
A Test button as usual but when pushed the flash is meant to act like a light meter I think and give the all clear. I did not understand this feature. The leather pouch supplied offers little real protection but has a little slot to put camera plastic hot shoe cover in (nice touch). It is supplied with a clip on diffuser. It has a button to illuminate LCD screen in green at night. . Rear curtain synch ability set by camera and when set it is displayed in the flash LCD window.

Gripes: Olympus seems to spout doom and gloom about turning off this and that before plugging things in and out with their cameras. Everything with cameras should be quick and easy. Booklet says Camera and flash are meant to be turned off before adding or removing flash.
They do the same if another manufacturers flash is used with camera and who can afford to find out if it is scaremongering or not.

Summary: This is a real deal Flash and if you are going to buy one for your Olympus Camedia camera do not go past this but in saying that Olympus do not really give you a choice anyway. There is also a FL-20 which is very basic (no swivel) and then there is the FL-50 plus a newer cheaper FL-36 now I believe. Check compatibility with lower end Olympus cameras otherwise you may be paying for things it cannot do. Flashes always hold their value and they are about $US200 on EBay currently. If my friend asks for it back I will have to buy it off him as I cannot do without it now. Hope this information was helpful