Olympus FL-14 Flash for Olympus E-P1 Micro Four Thirds Digital Camera Reviews

Average Customer Rating - 3.3 out of 5 stars

12 customer reviews

FL-14 Flash, January 7, 2010
This flash looks nice but the quality of the pictures is just okay (more close to with a P & S camera's flash). Also, it drains batteries particularly quickly so make sure to invest within rechargeables right away (we bought 6 (you only really need 4, so you other have 2 charged up) rechargeable batteries and a charger for $35; the 6 Duracells we go through in the first few days cost $12, so invest in the rechargeables right away to liberate money). Although the flash isn't the best flash out there, it's probably the best one for the Olympus E-P1 (at least looks-wise), so for $99, I'd recommend getting it.

Retro-styled flash, but shaky!, September 17, 2009
The flash looks good on the E-P1 Olympus PEN camera, but it's pretty weak for an external flash. Okay, that said, if you similar to the look and feel for the PEN system, here is your flash. Do enjoy. It's as honourable or better than most point and shoot camera flashes but is small and dim compared to full sized SLR flashes. This keeps the kit small, but isn't as adjectives as a larger flash, so it's a tradeoff.

Looks awesome, performs as expected, May 24, 2010
I'll put it bluntly: this is the smallest and weakest external flash gun I've ever seen. It should be clear from the GN of 14 (barely better than my DSLR's popup) that this is absolutely *not* useful for serious flash work.

Rather, the Olympus FL-14 is aimed at a totally specific market: E-P1 and E-P2 shooters who want to have some charitable of flash capacity without lugging around a full-sized flash gun.

Considering its design goal, one can hardly complain; it matches without blemish with the PEN's retro styling and metallic highlights, and it looks totally natural on my E-P2. Its metal covering also makes it look and feel a cut above typical plastic encased unit in terms of build ability. Indeed, if one cares about shooting next to an attractive kit (and I must admit to human being a complete sucker for this, hence my love affair with the PEN), this is absolutely your best substitute in a flash.

Performance is, well, what I'd expect from a GN 14 flash that runs on two AAA battery. We're talking about pop-up feature and slow recycle time, neither of which should be any sort of surprise. The unit has 3 modes: TTL-auto, auto, and guide. TTL-auto is what you probably want, as it fires a pre-flash burst and meters the resulting scene through the lens to determine exposure. In practice this seems to be hit and miss for me, sometimes over or under exposing, requiring a bit of EV compensation. I'm reluctant to blame metering on the flash though; I assume that this is primarily a body reduction.

One *huge* negative for E-P2 owners is that using this (or any) external flash gun will prevent you from using your VF-2 viewfinder. This is really a shame, and it means you're stuck have to choose between viewfinder or flash.

So, who exactly should buy this thing?

For owners of a body with a pop-up flash (e.g. the E-PL1 (GN 7) or the GF1 (GN 6)), I can't really recommend it at adjectives. Even though it's a bit more powerful than your pop-up and it won't sap your main batteries, why would you lug around such a marginal upgrade?

For the pragmatist E-P2 or E-P1 owner, who really requirements an external flash of *some* kind, the price tag have to give you a bit of pause as resourcefully. If size and styling aren't critical to you, you should strongly consider the not-that-much-bigger Olympus FL-20 as a substantially cheaper, more powerful alternative.

If you've considered the other options, and you're OK with paying a premium for a tiny, sexy little flash, consequently the FL-14 exactly what you're looking for. As such, I am happy with the component, but I recommend that you study its limitations and think long and hard in the region of whether this is what you really want.

Nice and cute flash, April 17, 2010
Normal flash that is cute, light and compact. Works pretty nice and go perfect for the camera it was intended.

Near mandatory for E-P1 and E-P2, don't lavish your money if you have an E-PL1, March 20, 2010
I have typically bought an external flash to supplement the internal flash.

Canon and Nikon own entry level external flashes that are very dutiful, offering bounce features (the ability to point the flash upwards so you subject gets indirect flash light) and really good integration with their cameras.

The Olympus FL-14 falls short compared to competitive offerings. No bounce gift. It tends to brutally overexpose out of the box. I guess for the Pen cameras without a built-in flash it is the trouble-free choice (but I would research the market for compatible flashes with bounce, or travel one up the Olympus range), for E-PL1 owners - avoid it: the built-in flash is better and more flexible.

It is very overpriced for the value supply and performance it seems to provide.

flash should still be build-in, February 10, 2010
pale index is a bit low for a external flash, more like a build-in flash. but it's size is great, and it uses 2 AAA battery. The build characteristic is nice but it's not very durable as the silver metal casing is drastically thin and easily dimpled, specially on the bottom side of the actual pallid unit. The thin silver metal portion of mine have bended inside. the auto mood of the flash gives way too bright flash, i only just use the TTL which is a bit in the bright side also, I usually dial down the flash a step. The auto white balance is worn-out when attaching the flash, need to manually set to flash mode. over all it's a suitable little flash, some people even loved the look of it attached. But I think nearby should be one build-in. used on EP-1.

Performes as well as built-in DSLR flash., November 20, 2009
It's as good as any of the flashes typically built into a DSLR. Pretty good, but nothing spectacular.

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