Customer Reviews

Panasonic DMW-FL360 External Flash (GN36) for Panasonic L1 DSLR and FZ50 Digital Camera

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

 

 

This is well-matched to the needs of the Panasonic LX3. It integrates well with the camera. It is bulky, but it is difficult to see how a smaller unit could work well. Flash angle is adequate to cover the 24mm-equivalent wide angle of the LX3. One issue is batteries. Panasonic recommends alkalines or Ni-MH recharageables, but this results in short battery life and long recharge cycles. I use Energizer Ulitimate Lithium batteries which seem much more practical. At 200 ISO and f2.0 aperture the flash can reach out 50 feet for wide angle shots or 70 feet for normal angle shots. For most of my shots I use it in bounce mode, often with a bounce card, and have no trouble illuminating subjects more than 30 feet away.

The flash works fine in all the functions. However, it only takes 2 AA batteries. The recharge the power seems a little slow.

This flash is good enough for amateur photografers and offers very good features.
I use it on a lx3 and it's great for indoor photos. It offers medium power. Not enough for large spaces as churches.

The ordering and shipping from Amazon went very well, no problems. The flash unit is a good one with many options and automatic features. One big problem with the construction of the unit is that it has a very weak plastic part that connects the unit to a camera flash hot shoe. Because it is structurally weak it is prone to breaking off at that place on the flash. There is no replacement part for this that I am aware of.

I really dig this flash, although it weighs just as much as the camera and lens combined, and kind of puts it all off balance. It also doesn't light read as fast as id like, and takes a while after each shot to recharge the flash.

As I'm not a big user of a flash this one is fine. It definately increases the distance of the on camera flash and does have a bounce head. I feel for my needs this will be good.

I use with Panasonic DMC-LX3K 10.1MP Digital Camera with 2.5x Wide Angle MEGA Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Black)when I need more wide-angle lighting. GN 36. If you need more light, consider FL500 or use slave flashes. Larger than the camera, which is tiny. 2 AA alkalines offer flexibility. Can also use rechargeable Ni-MH.

I purchased the FL-360 for use with my new Panasonic LX-5. While it does a great job of illumination, it is larger than I had hoped for, ( the LX-5 is smaller than the flash unit). I will continue to use the FL-360 because of it's flexibility, bounce, rotation, etc.