Customer Reviews

Olympus FL-BK01 Flash Bracket

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

By using a flash bracket and cord (of course you'll need one!), you can move the flash up and away from the lens. This will create a more natural appearance in the shadows of your subject. I have always had problem with flash photography, your wife may roll their eyes when they see you with an E-10, Bracket and an FL-40 ... but it really will make a big difference in your flash pictures.

Amazon's service was great! Flash bracket is a fixed flash bracket and feels solid and works great with my Olympus E-500 with an additional flash cable. Being it is a fixed handle, this does not allow the flash to be flipped when the camera is turned vertically, thus the flash is on the side rather than the top. Otherwise very nice.

The flash bracket itself is a good well designed product. However, the flash hotshoe cable (separate purchase) that goes with the bracket has, in my opinion, a design flaw. I am using an Olympus Evolt E500 digital SLR with pop-up flash. When you connect the hotshoe cable to the camera's hotshoe, the hotshoe cable physically prevents the camera's flash from popping up thus you can't use your external flash and the pop-up flash at the same time. I am using an Olympus FL40 external flash unit. I must turn off the pop-up flash to use the external flash which renders some of the camera's pre-flash functions inoperable.

Pro: I bought the FL-BK01 flash bracket, to use with my Olympus C4000 camera. The bracket mounts easy to the camera and is very well made. I am using the Nikon speedlight SB 50DX flash with it. The TTL metering feature of the flash work with this adaptor and camera. Since the flash is mounted higher, I no longer have to worry about red eye. Also, able to use bounce flash with my pictures. Has allow my C4000 to perform like more expensive cameras. Should have bought this 5 years ago.

Con: Need to buy the correct cord to connect the camera and flash bracket for the flash to work. The cost of the bracket and cord together is high. Not able to turn the flash if you rotate the camera. This means that bounce flash feature cannot be used when camera is rotated 90 degrees.

I'm used to shooting with my Olympus OM-4's, OM-4T's, and OM-2N's, all with power bounce grips. When I purchased the digital XZ-1, holding the small camera was tough. This solved the problem. A great solid grip. Not only that, but the added flash power of the Olympus FL-50R is amazing and also, by raising up the flash, eliminated red eye. And just so you know, the XZ-1's built in flash can be used together with the FL-50R. The sync cord does not block the operation of the built in flash. I posted photos of this set up here at Amazon. Well worth the money! I only wish it accepted four C batteries like the Olympus Power Bounce Grip does, to provide addtional power to the flash.

I use these on the E500. The fit is perfect and for general "walk around" photography the bracket is perfect. If you want to get more creative, however, you would need a much more adjustable bracket.

This bracket is a great combination with the hot shoe for my evolt e300.

being able to raise the flash has eliinated the need to fix red eye after the fact. I also find it easier to handle the camera with grip

The bracket isn't terrible, but it was a waste of money for me. It throws shadows on the wall to the left of my subject because it positions the flash to the left of the lens, rather than directly above the lens, where it should be. Yeah, the flash is placed higher, but I think the drawback of the shadows it creates (by being to the left of the lens) is actually worse than red-eye. You can at least fix red-eye! I didn't realize how much of a problem shadows would be until I bought/used this thing. This was just a bad purchase. I'll be buying a new flash bracket at some point, and throwing this one away. I'll need a hot-shoe cable for any other bracket, so the cable that I bought with this bracket was a waste of money, too. Live and learn.
One good thing I can say about this bracket is that it allows you to remove the handle and manually hold/position the flash away from the camera. That's nice I guess. It's a pain in the a-- to screw the thing on and off though. It should have had a simpler locking/unlocking mechanism.
My advice to others would be to save up for a proper flash bracket, and a hot-shoe cable. Like me, you may find that this bracket creates more problems than it solves, and you may wind up having to buy a different one. So get it right the first time. Don't make my mistake.