Response to Ali...
Hmmm. "Better" is a relative term. Even "best" is a relative term since
it's relative you what your purpose is and what your wallet can withstand.
For technical details of Olympus flashes see the eSIF flash section at:
<http://olympus.dementia.org/eSIF/om-sif/flashphotogroup.htm>
First, be aware that you cannot use the QA-310 in TTL mode on other than
an OM-2... not even an OM-2n.
Since you have an OM-2s you have an option of easily using two flashes
simultaneously. You can mount a T-32 in the BG-2 (Bounce Grip 2) with a
0.3 (straight) or 0.6 meter (coiled) TTL cable running from the BG-2 or
T-32 down to the TTL connector on the front of the body. You can then
mount another TTL compatible flash (not necessarily Olympus) in the hotshoe.
The T-32 is a very powerful and capable flash. It has the unusual
characteristic of being able to cover the angle of view of a 24mm lens
within its stated guide number. Most flashes only go to 35mm coverage
at their stated guide number. The drawback of a T-32 is that it can
only do up/down vertical bounce and can not swivel side-to-side.
Putting it in the BG-2 solves the swivel problem and also gets the flash
well off the camera body to defeat red-eye in straight on shooting. And
it also frees the hotshoe for a secondary flash to help fill in the
shadows.
The T-20 is a much less powerful T-32 with only 35mm coverage angle.
Other than Olympus your best bet is Metz or Sunpak who also made a
number of TTL flashes which were made compatible with different brands
of cameras usually with some sort of interchangeable modules. All of
the flashes are easily found on ebay with more difficulty finding an OM
specific version or the optional OM module. I think the Sunpak 383 with
OM module is particularly attractive as it is inexpensive, both swivels
and tilts and has a manually adjustable power ratio with much more range
than the T-32 which can only do full or 1/4 power.
John Lind (who seems to have disappeared from the list recently) seemed
to be our resident expert on non-Olympus TTL compatible flashes. I have
saved multiple historical posts from him on Sunpak and Metz flashes and
will send them to you off list. Anybody else who would also like a copy
can ask me off list.
If you're a dedicated professional wedding or event photographer then
you might want to consider spending some bigger bucks on Quantum flashes
and battery pack power supplies. These are general purpose, high power
TTL flashes with special modules to adapt to different cameras. You can
still buy OM adapters from Quantum brand new.
For myself: I have 4 T-32's, a Sunpak 522, Sunpak 383, two Vivitar
555-FD's (very nice *little* TTL flash) and another Vivitar TTL flash
whose number I can't remember. I also just got the other day 4 Alien
Bees B800 studio flashes. But they're not TTL and they don't count. I
didn't bother to list the several other non-TTL flashes I have.
Chuck Norcutt
Ali Shah wrote:
> Ok here is another newbie question...
>
> What is the best flash to get for an OM-2S? I am thinking about getting a
> T-32 cuz it seems to be within budget...but if there is something better...I
> would appreciate the info.
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