Olympus Accessory Technology

[OzRay]

Following on from comments about the new flash for the E-M5 Mk II, which will not work on any previous Olympus camera, it's not exactly the first example of such idiocy. The small FL-LM2 that comes with the E-M1, which draws power from the accessory port, will not work with the likes of the E-P2 which has an accessory port to power the VF-2. Oddly enough, the VF-2 works quite happily with the E-M1, not that it's actually necessary. I have no idea whether this applies across other models with the accessory port.

However, it makes one wonder what rocket scientists and marketing wiz kids they have working at Olympus, such that they can't create simple compatibility and consistency when it comes to products such as accessories. What next? Can we expect the next hot shoe not to accept an FL-50 flash?

 

[eteless]

Following on from comments about the new flash for the E-M5 Mk II, which will not work on any previous Olympus camera, it's not exactly the first example of such idiocy. The small FL-LM2 that comes with the E-M1, which draws power from the accessory port, will not work with the likes of the E-P2 which has an accessory port to power the VF-2. Oddly enough, the VF-2 works quite happily with the E-M1, not that it's actually necessary. I have no idea whether this applies across other models with the accessory port.

However, it makes one wonder what rocket scientists and marketing wiz kids they have working at Olympus, such that they can't create simple compatibility and consistency when it comes to products such as accessories. What next? Can we expect the next hot shoe not to accept an FL-50 flash?

My biggest worry is that they've put a live pin on the top of the hot shoe which will fry flashes from other systems...

 

[Ross the fiddler]

My biggest worry is that they've put a live pin on the top of the hot shoe which will fry flashes from other systems...

The moral of that story is.... Don't use other (brand) flashes! The pins look like they line up with Canon so at least the Canon extension cable could be used if keen, but it has always been, don't connect other brand TTL flashes just because the pins line up, but if using that flash manually, then use an isolating adapter (with no TTL connections).

Another comment, is that pin actually powering that flash?

 

[Ross the fiddler]

Another disappointing aspect of that port was insufficient forward thinking, whereas Johnny Come Lately (Canon) into the mirrorless arena came up with a good accessories port (I think as on the PowerShot G1X Mark II) that is at the front of the hot shoe & any accessory just has an extended hot-shoe with the connector there.Then again, I'm not too sure if that is how they do it.

 

[fortwodriver]

It could just be that the AP2 port is now officially dead in the water and all future bodies will have the extra power pin on top of the hot-shoe.

There's a difference though. The AP2 port has a number of analog and digital signal points that include video, audio, and control. As far as we know, the single-pin hot-shoe solution doesn't do any of that.

 

[eteless]

The moral of that story is.... Don't use other (brand) flashes! The pins look like they line up with Canon so at least the Canon extension cable could be used if keen, but it has always been, don't connect other brand TTL flashes just because the pins line up, but if using that flash manually, then use an isolating adapter (with no TTL connections).

Another comment, is that pin actually powering that flash?

The flash hasn't got batteries, so it has to get power from somewhere...

Using flash systems designed for other systems gives the ability to do things that don't exist using m4/3 flashes (pushing past silly flash sync limitations).