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RE: [OM] (Fwd) Need flash advice

Subject: RE: [OM] (Fwd) Need flash advice
From: "Daniel J. Mitchell" <DanielMitchell@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 4 Sep 2001 18:15:09 -0600
>  I would also be happy to make recommendations and 
> comments regarding other flash units that are on the market.

 Not exactly "on the market", but the flash I'm using is a Miranda "650 OM";
says "olympus dedication" on the front. I got it used (UKP 10 = US$15 or
so), so no instructions -- most of it makes sense, but I have a couple of
questions, in case it's similar to anything anyone else recognises: (I
looked at the T32 instructions on om-sif in case they were relevant, but the
manual doesn't really tell me a lot; the OM-2S manual also just says
"connect the flash, off you go" pretty much)

 There's a set of sliders on the back I can use to set the ISO speed and the
amount of zoom (W/N/S/T, wide/normal/slightly-zoom/telephoto, I'm guessing)
-- all these seem to do is move a little bit of plastic back and forth which
tells me the range and f-stop I should be using.

 The thing I don't understand is what the TTL/red/yellow/blue switch does;
it has "TTL" on the left, and "M/red/yellow/blue" on the top. The sliding
range guide implies that red = short range, blue = long range, fine -- so
what does "M" stand for? Manual? I'd have expected that to be what I set by
setting the colours, though..

 There's also a little switch on the bottom next to the connector marked
"M/TTL" -- again, I'm not sure exactly what this does.


 Experimenting with it, I find that if I set it to red, it recharges a lot
faster than if I set it to blue, and if I point it at near things it
recharges faster -- so it seems as if the light sensor is working and only
putting out an amount of light based somehow on what I'm telling it with the
various switches (and the "check" light on the back of the flash will light
up/not depending on other things) -- but what I don't understand is how
these switches relate to stuff.
 
 I also get various flashing things in the viewfinder when using it; the
green "ready" light shows up at the right time, and depending on what I do
it will say "over" or "under" at various times. I think; it's always a bit
dim to see the 'under' light, so I'm guessing that that's what it's telling
me. Why would it ever give me 'under', though? Surely the flash should stay
on until it's illuminated things enough?

 How much influence does the camera have on this? Are the pins (three metal
ones, one plastic one) on the bottom of the flash just so the flash can tell
the camera what's going on, or do things go both ways?
 
 Is there some sort of basic introduction to what the heck is going on here
anywhere? I feel like I'm missing some fundamental information, but I'm not
sure where to go to find it.

 
 thanks,

 -- dan
 

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