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Olympus cameras (E-M1 in my case) are able to optically control Olympus flashes and adjust power accordingly, but are there third-party flashes that the Olympus can control? Many flashes can be triggered optically, but I'd also like to be able to adjust power of the slave flashes from the camera/flash combo.

Note 1 - this is a modification to the question found here, except I don't mind using the included flash to control the slaves.

Note 2 - Per the manual, Olympus lists 2 of their flashes as compatible (FL-300R and FL-600R), but the E-M5 could control the FL-36R and FL-50R, so there are flashes already missing from this list.

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There are several from Metz that will work with the Olympus RC flash system,including the Metz mecablitz 52 AF-1 and 58 AF-2. (I don't think that the lower-cost 44 AF-1 is compatible — it can only be used as a "dumb" slave, even though the same model works in TTL mode with other brands.) These are both very nice made-in-Germany models with a lot of power and features.

I don't think any of the other third-party-TTL suspects include Olympus. Sigma definitely doesn't.

That's for TTL control from the body. If you are willing to open up to units which require manual setting of power but allow that from the controller attached to the camera, your options open up a bit. Look into the Cheetah Light V850 or the (upcoming) Cactus RF60 with integrated radio control. The latter is a bit more flexible, and in fact works with a trigger set which will work with a wide range of flashes. The former is bit cheaper, and in fact can be even cheaper still if U.S. based service and customer support is not important to you, because you can also buy it as the Neewer TT850 for about $25 less. Depending on where you're located, the Godox V850 branding may be worth pricing out too.

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    I know this is my third answer recently posting about these flashes. I'm not affiliated, just excited that the option now exists when it didn't before. I've been looking for the same thing for a long time (for Pentax, but similar situation as third-party support is much smaller for both of these than for Canon/Nikon).
    – mattdm
    Mar 5, 2014 at 21:05
  • Again, if local support in N. America or Europe isn't important, the V850 (and its larger bare-bulb brother), along with the controllers/receivers, are available under the "Godox" brand name (same model numbers), often at a lower price, from HK-based resellers. Whether the final price is lower or not depends on import duties and shipping, of course.
    – user2719
    Mar 5, 2014 at 23:51
  • @StanRogers I mentioned Neewer rather than Godox because it is generally even cheaper, at least here. But I'll add that.
    – mattdm
    Mar 6, 2014 at 0:39

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