Can I use a speedlight with an Olympus Evolt system?

[vikireedphotography]

Please forgive me if I'm not technically clear in my question. I've spent a

few hours on the site looking at postings, tutorials, essays, Q&A because I

need to get a small in home portrait light set-up.

 

I agree with the pros who stated that a stopless slider intensity on the flash

is impt and that it be a strobe not a continuous light set up with a generator

ideally but a monolight system is okay for now.

 

Okay hope that made sense as I understand it.

 

BUT I did read a posting by someone who created a good workable home studio set

up using a few Nikon Speedlights set up on light stands, with Lightboxes on a

wireless trigger set up-using reflectors, etc., too.

 

I can afford to cobble a home studio lighting set-up for now with some used

speedlights and pocket wizard and then invest in a wonderful more complete

system later.

 

My big dumb question is this:

 

Can I even use a non olympus flash , a pocket wizard, and an olympus flash on a

bracket on my Evolt E300 system? Or am I really confused and is a Speedlight

nothing more than a generic term for any external flash unit? In which case

then would I just buy used Olympus 'speedlights' in the manner described above?

 

Thanks for your patience and any clarity would be REALLY APPRECIATED.

[GerrySiegel]

I will go out on a limb and give you some food for thought. Speedlite usually refers to any portable shoe mounted flash. Typically one can use any shoe mounted flash on or off camera with the Olympus Evolt system,with some caveats. The center contact on the flash makes the circuit that triggers the flash. The other pins are specific to a brand of camera and do other things in connection with the camera. Buying an Olympus flash ensures that you get those other features and also that there is no voltage incompatibility which you get by mixing and matching. Yours is not a dumb question, however the answer has to fall into at least two categories 1)shoestring system or 2) budget system. If you know you are going to get into a home studio seriously I would recommend the budget system (warning: the budget system can easily run to a thousand dollars for something that will last a while). My experience is that lights are for long lifetime,more than the camera model year...I won't cover the shoestring system which converts shoe mount flash to studio use. And to learn more about a budget (you could spend three times this amount) I refer you to a basic Alien Bees based system,with umbrellas and sturdy stands. Good reading,viki. Me Ke Aloha, GS

 

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