Sony flash

The Sony Alpha hotshoe is a different size than the standard hotshoe which everybody else uses, and the NEX flash can't even fit on a hotshoe! It just plugs into a little port which exists only on the NEX cameras. Sony is very proprietary, whereas you would be able to use a flash from just about any other manufacturer BUT Sony if you set it up right.

However, there are plenty of similar options for Four-Thirds and Micro Four-Thirds, so I'm not sure why you would want to look to Sony... Like for instance the Olympus FL-20, FL-14, or FL-300R (pictured below in the same order of release). The FL-20 has been around since the early days of the Four-Thirds E-System (and the other two since the early days of the PEN system).

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That's going to depend a lot on what you mean by "uncomplicated."

Do you mean "uncomplicated" as in "the flash talks to the camera and they figure everything out together so when I press the shutter I get a beautiful picture every time"?

Or do you mean "uncomplicated" as in "the flash has just three settings - bright, really bright, and blindingly bright, which is controlled by a single manual switch that I have change according to the situation"?

Because they are very different things!! And the first interpretation is going to cost you a lot more.

 

how does the wireless function work on the FL-300R on say an e-pl3?
do you have to use the supplied flash to trigger the FL-300R?
or does it work using RF?
thought you might know, since you guys brought this up already