Confused with flashes:(

[lordbodom]

Hi,

I have a Oly 520 and was starting to look into flashes and got very confused. I looked all around but couldnt find anywhere that gave the differences between the types of flashes i found.

slave
dedicated
speedlite
flash gun

can anyone please help me and differentiate between these flash types and what they are used for?

Thanks in advance

 

[Big Mike]

'slave' is a remote flash that is being triggered by a 'master'.

'dedicated' means that the flash is designed to work specifically with the brand of camera. This usually means that you get features like TTL auto flash metering etc.

'speedlite' is the name that Canon calls it's flash units. 'Speedlight' is the name that Nikon uses.

'flash gun' is just another way of saying flash unit.

 

[KmH]

Slave - it's triggered by a master flash unit, or by a triggering system built into the camera, like Nikon's Creative Lighting System. Slave units are off the camera to produce more dramatic lightiing.

Dedicated - A Nikon flash unit on a Nikon camera - an Olympus flash unit on an Olympus camera.

Speedlight- a hot shoe flash unit. Canon spells it like you did, Nikon spells it like I did.

Flash gun - That's often what a flash unit is called outside the USA.

Flash units are also know as strobe lights.

OCF - Off Camera Flash

Visit Strobist: Lighting 101

and

http://neilvn.com/tangents/flash-photography-techniques/

 

[lordbodom]

Thank you very much! That helps a lot.