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Re: [OM] The joys of Flash repairs.

Subject: Re: [OM] The joys of Flash repairs.
From: Chuck Norcutt <chucknorcutt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 24 Oct 2011 14:00:51 -0700
Interesting.  I suspect the FL-50 might have been a refurbished unit, 
thus the glue.

Chuck Norcutt


On 10/24/2011 10:57 AM, Ian Manners wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> Here is one of my rare admissions of being thick.
>
> My old FL50 flash has never seemed to be 100%, ever since I bought
> it years ago, with periods of going through alkaline batterys after only
> 5-10 shots at the beginning of its life with me. The FL50 seemed to
> work much better after a couple of months so I never sent it back.
>
> I was planning on going to a wedding in the far future, and decided to do
> some equipment checking well in advance and notice I was having problems
> focusing, further investigation later lead me to conclude that THE red LEDs
> (Focus beam) at the front of the flash didnt work, yet the ones on my FL36
> worked fine in low light.
>
> So I swapped flashs between the E1, E330, and E450, the FL36 worked
> great but I cant use it on the FP1 flash bracket (which I bought to overcome
> the FL50 chewing up the battery's). The FL50 refused to light up the LED's
> on anything, I was limited to the red LED on the E1 for low light stuff,
> not that it bothered me as I rarely use my gear in situations that are that
> dark, and I like my F2.8 len's BUT I new there would be dark times at
> the wedding, I also new that there would be much white lacy stuff on
> the ceiling so I wanted a flash to light it up, as well as something to
> make sure I was focusing quickly with the E450 and FL50+bracket
> combo in very low light.
>
> Now, I figured I'd just open the flash up and give it the once over,
> especially as its now well out of warranty. Well bugger me, after
> much struggling, even asking JohnH if he had any ideas, I just couldn't
> get the flash foot off, it wouldn't budge.
>
> I was at the point of giving up (tried attacking it several times with no
> luck) and sending it to Olympus Australia but I then saw the price for a
> FL50R is 1/2 of what the FL50 originally cost me.
>
> So I bought a new FL50R for AU$411 from HK and waited for it to arrive,
> which it did, 2 days after the wedding :o)
>
> Anyway, it wasnt that important now if I fractured the FL50 case in gaining
> entry so I decided to have another attempt at cracking it, finally I managed
> to get the flash foot off, it was suppost to be just as easy as getting the 
> foot
> of a FL36 but as I eventually discovered, this one was fortified with glue,
> the sort you use in a hot glue gun. All very odd but I did manage to get the
> foot off without damaging the case, instead I cracked the seal around the
> glue which was pure luck.
>
> Now it was happening, the foot was off, the case was open, no need to
> access the head but I made sure there was no stray voltage on the boards.
>
> I spied two leads to the focus beam had been crushed BUT checking
> with a multimeter they appeared fine, I replaced them anyway, I couldnt
> see any damage to the PCB's, components, or other leads so put the flash
> back together but the focus beam still wouldnt work.
>
> Oh well, I'll leave it as a rainy day job and keep it as my spare.
>
> Well today I decided to read the manual, and noticed there is a setting
> for the FL50R for off camera usage. Stuffed if I could see what difference
> this would make, surely the time it takes for electrons to travel up and back
> in the lead couldnt make a difference, maybe it was something to do with
> the communications system ? Still didn't make sense but I changed the
> setting to off camera anyway as it was going to live on the bracket
> anyway.
>
> Hmm hmm, to cut this long story short, that setting turns the auto focus
> beam off ! Thats all it does, so once I recovered from the flash of light
> above my head I checked the FL50 settings, yep, it was set for off camera.
>
> All these years and I dont think I ever noticed the FL50's focus beam
> wasnt working. I changed the setting to 'on camera', and the focus beam
> works fine !
>
> I really should read manuals more often..
>
> The mystery of the shoe being fortified with hot glue remains but now
> there is nothing wrong with my old FL50 at all.
>
> Cheers
> Ian Manners
> I'm easy to please as long as I get my way.
-- 
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