Olympus T20 and T32 Series Flash
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- Опубликовано: 16 окт 2024
- An unscripted and amateur look at the Olympus T20 and T32 series flashguns. Please excuse any inaccuracies or errors on my part as I am not an expert by any means and these videos are purely taken from an amateur's viewpoint.
Very thorough, and well done. A couple of notes though (including special notes regarding use of certain OM-10 bodies, see below):
Olympus made an accessory to help remove red-eye called the "Flash Extender". It was basically a tower to attach between the OM hot shoe and a flash to lift the flash about 50mm above the camera. But the Power Bounce Grip 2 was much better -- it has it's own separate oscillating circuit to provide an additional power source for a T-Flash that runs off 4 C-cell batteries inside to reduce recycle time. For an OM without a PC (flash sync) plug, you will need to have an adapter that attaches to the hot shoe of the camera with a PC plug of it's own.
Note that the T-Flashes were designed so that, if subjected to impact or excessive force, the shoe on the bottom of the flash would normally break before the shoe on the camera. For a pro in the field, losing an accessory such as a flash might be inconvenient, but having a camera with it's shoe ripped off (light leaks, torn circuits, etc) would mean no more images at all. (Hard to make a living with a broken camera, after all.) Big, tall non-Olympus flashes were well known for severely damaging cameras.
Special Notes on the OM-10!!: A horizontally traveling shutter curtain such as is used on the OM-10 requires a shutter speed no faster that 1/60th second to sync with flash. The very earliest OM-10 cameras (bodies with only two bottom cover screws) had two wiring schemes for the flash system. Originally, the presence of a charged T-Flash would override the speed normally provided by the "Auto" setting and revert the camera to provide THE SPEED SET ON THE MANUAL ADAPTER (if one was present). In other words, there are SOME early 10's that, if the Manual Adapter was set on the white speeds (1000, 500, 250,125), that would be the speed delivered! If this happened, one of the curtains would be caught by the flash, resulting in only a portion of the image receiving light from the flash. After a while, this was corrected so that the setting on the Manual Adapter was irrelevant. Never the less, we in Olympus Service would advise users to be sure to either remove the Manual Adapter, or be sure it was set on one of the blue speeds (60 or slower). This would not be a problem on OM-10's with the bottom cover that had 3 screws.
excellent explanation I have an Olympus OM10 and bought a T32 years ago, thanks to your explanation I have been able to link them , many thanks
What a wonderful explanation of TTL versus Computer Flash, I could listen for hours, so informative thank you
Thanks for this, @Big Will. Although I don't actually have either of these it has helped me understand some issues about flash units in general. I actually have a bargain basement Miranda 130M for a similarly bargain basement OM 30 and it was quite reassuring to learn that its flash bulb's relatively great distance from the lens should obviate those red-eye problems! Unfortunately it cannot be tilted but I have had experience of home-improvising bounce-flash attachments in any case.
Thank you for the video! If I use my camera (Olympus OM10) on automatic mode, can I use the T20 flash on auto as well?
Yes, absolutely, the T20 is dedicated to the om10.....just be careful with red eye!
Big Will when setting the distance and bounce flash. Distance = camera to Subject or Distance = light travel (bounce to ceiling+ceiling to Subject) I would think we are figuring for power out vs light fall off. Thanks. New OM1 and T32 owner.
Have you had much experience using the T20 with an OM1? I recently just picked up a cheap T20 and haven't actually had a chance to use it with the OM1 yet but hoping it will be okay. I believe it is quite limited on the OM1 compared to other models. Kind of wishing I got the T32 now for the fact you can adjust the direction of the flash!
The T20 is a fine little flash unit despite it's lack of a bounce head. The only real problem with it is that you tend to get a lot of "red eye" with it if you use it in the hotshoe of the OM1. If you could buy a cheap off camera flash bracket and mount the T20 on that it would solve the problem of red eye. Flash bracket: www.wexphotovideo.com/kaiser-k1100-folding-flash-bracket-1006101/
and a flash pc cord with attached hotshoe.www.wexphotovideo.com/globalassets/product-images/1006000/1006114.jpg?width=400 .The OM1 has it's own pc socket to attach the flash pc cord to. Just make sure to set your shutter speed to 1/60th second or slower as that is it's maximum sync speed with electronic flash.
@@bigwill4423 perfect, thank you so much for the quick response!
I shall look into these now.
Hi @Big Will, thanks for your T20/T32 Flash tutorial! I recently acquired an OM-4 - I think I found a T32 I can get. Question: Can you put other flash units on OM-4, i.e. Nikon I have for my F3 and or a Godox TT350 for digital? I'll probably get the T32, my flash guns are getting numerous! Keep up the good RUclips'ing Big WIll! @Jon Hammond
Hi John. Yes, you can use any other "non-dedicated" gun on the om4 but that would probably rule out the Nikon gun which would have dedicated contacts for Nikon on it's foot. My own favourite independent gun is the vivitar 283 which is an excellent unit and would work well with your om4. Be aware that the t32 can cause issues with red eye if used in the hotshoe as it sits quite low and is best used off camera with a dedicated bracket like the Olympus power bounce grip or an L bracket and the om TTL cord which keeps the TTL dedication.
Thanks very much for reply & info@@bigwill4423! I think I'll pick up the T32, it's not too expensive. Red eye with Tri-X probably not too bad, or at least not red - cool that it tilts and synchs with OM-4. Great tutorial, merci beaucoup - @Jon Hammond
@@HammondCast ....yep, it's a great gun and you can always use it as a computer flash off camera if you don't want to get the dedicated bracket or cord. Enjoy!
Una verdadera exposición magistral de las unidades de Flash. Muchas gracias.
Saludos desde España.
Thank you so much 💙
Helpful, thanks!
I have a T32 flash for my Olympus OM1, I lost the back panel and shot a few pictures without it and the flash did shot but the pictures came out blank. What can I do to use the computer setting?
Hi Erik. Without the back panel if you move the power selector all the way to the left then the t32 will fire on full power at it's guide number of 32meters at 100iso. If you move the slider one click to the right it will fire at half power of 16meters at 100iso. If you had a separate flash meter you could probably work out which aperture setting to use for your given iso but without the flash panel it will be impossible I'm afraid.
i’ve followed these (and the manual’s) instructions on my own t20, but it still won’t fire on my OM-10. any ideas? it works perfectly fine on my trip 35, so i know the unit isn’t faulty.
asa is set to 200
auto setting at 5.6
fstop at 5.6
camera “on”
flash securely in place and “on”
flash indicator lights up in the camera viewfinder
… but nothing when i press the shutter button.
Give the contacts on the flashgun and the camera a clean because if corrosion builds up on them it can cause connection issues. The contacts on the flash are "spring loaded" also and need to be in contact with the hotshoe when the flash is screwed down into place. Give the contacts on the flash a push or two with your finger to make sure they are springing up and down freely. Also make sure the flash is pushed fully forward into the shoe to make sure it is mating with the camera hotshoe contacts. Failing all this it may just be you have a faulty hotshoe on the camera. Have you tried a different type of flash on the camera to see if it triggers successfully? I've used a vivitar 283 on my om10 successfully and it is a great and reliable and powerful unit. If you could take your camera into a camera shop where they would let you try a different unit in the camera it would let you know whether the camera hotshoe is at fault or not. Hope you get this issue sorted. William.
Does the t32 have to be charged or can it run off batteries?
It HAS to run off batteries though these can either be alkaline batteries or rechargable batteries of the AA variety. If you use the Olympus OM power bounce grip to power the t32 the power bounce grip uses C size batteries to power the flash and these again can either be alkaline or rechargable variety. Olympus did make a mains adapter for using the t series indoors from the mains supply via a cable but that was only for the purpose of using the gun via mains electricity and it was not meant for the purpose of recharging rechargable batteries already inside the unit as far as I am aware.
@@bigwill4423 thanks for the response. I finally received my t32 flash from eBay, and use rechargeable batteries with it. This guide is very useful on how to use it, so thanks for this.
Edit: I was also concerned of this because the one I ordered didn't come with a power cable, and I saw the "charge" icon and thought it may run off a proprietary battery. Again, thanks for letting me know.
Shouldn't use rechargeable batteries in T32 or T20 as they can fry the electronics in the flashgun! It happened to me in the eighties and cost me as much to have the T32 repaired as it cost me in the first place. £80 if memory serves. Would have bought a new one but they had shot up in price, since I bought it some 18 months earlier! Used it with my OM4, which has now also took the knock, well the meter has at least. Costly business, photography back in the day, but do be aware of the rechargies!
Like I said in the vid I can't actually get rechargables to physically fit in the T20 but honestly I have never had a problem with them in the t32 and I've used rechargables in the gun and the power bounce grip without a problem. I think flashguns tend to deteriorate if you don't use them for a long time as the capacitors can pack up. That's my experience anyway. Thanks for your comments. 👍😎
P.S. I'll provide a link to where you can download a PDF of the manual for the t32 which actually says it's ok to use either alkaline or rechargable batteries....check it out here:
www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=esif.world-traveller.org/om-sif/flashphotogroup/manuals/t32.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiGv9q6jLT4AhWOZMAKHZPzAfgQFnoECAUQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0Gb_8t9eTiwPylsP3dKcY9