Olympus flash for OM-1 FL-LM3 failing

[jlyle]

The flash unit (FL-LM3) included with my new OM-1 is failing. Luckily I bought a spare to carry with me on vacation.

The flash is not shown on the Olympus Systems webpage. I've sent email to them about warranty replacement or repair.

If you buy an OM-1 you should get a spare flash or two.

The flash units units on my old EM-5 were prone to fail as well.

 

[rmorgan]

I spent the evening before a dive trip driving across the city to find one of these for use with my Mk ii, and while I appreciate that they are included with the cameras, view them as the weakest link in the use of Olympos/OM cameras underwater. Since then, I've used an o-Turtle smart trigger for my strobes. It works perfectly with the OM-1. I have a couple of the mini-flashes too, in case something goes wrong with the Turtle, but unreservedly recommend the o-Turtle (the European manufacturer, TRT-Electronics, has outstanding customer service.)

 

[jlyle]

OM is sending me a replacement for the flash. I'll look into the o-Turtle smart trigger. Thanks.

 

[bvanant]

I believe that Nauticam has an LED trigger as well.
Bill

 

[bvanant]

B&H says the LM-3 is discontinued with no replacement, Amazon has some from Olympus but not from OM-Systems

 

[jlyle]

B&H says the LM-3 is discontinued with no replacement, Amazon has some from Olympus but not from OM-Systems

That's a problem. Above water, there are other flashes that can be used with the OM-1, but housings are designed with the original unit. LED triggers are expensive and most do not do TTL.

 

[WS007]

I have the Nauticam LED trigger with EM1II. It takes two CR2450 (same as the housing and the diving computer) and works only in manual mode (I never use TTL anyhow). It allows me to flash syncronize as short as 1/500 s, a property that has also been described by Jim Dekker in the Backscatter OM-1 review...

Wolfgang

P.S.: a pity that the miniflash has been discontinued, I like it for easy photos over the water. It is, however, a weak part of equipment, my wife and me (EM1II and EM5II) had three defective units within the last five years, probably that is the reason they were discontinued...

 

[d^2b]

OK, y'all convinced me to order a spare from fleabay / shenzen. I hope that works out, but there didn't seem to be a lot of options for less sketchy sources.

 

[BoltSnap]

OK, y'all convinced me to order a spare from fleabay / shenzen. I hope that works out, but there didn't seem to be a lot of options for less sketchy sources.

Order what?

 

[d^2b]

Order what?

A spare fl-lm3 flash. BTW for those in the US, getolympus.com has the fl-lm3 in stock for USD80. The version of the site that ships to Canada doesn't though.