Evaluation:  
Conclusion: Olympus FP-1 Flash Grip review
Review: I really did not know what I was getting into when I bought this piece of equipment. All I knew was that I was cycling through an immense amount of AA sized rechargeable batteries when working as an event photographer using my Olympus FL-50 flash. This flash is awesome but when shooting subjects at a far distance this unit can eat up batteries like crazy. I bought this grip because it uses C sized batteries in the handle, which can be used to power the FL-50 flash unit. I own an Olympus E Volt 330 digital SLR and I bought the grip to have large amounts of battery power on hand. However this grip is designed to work with the Olympus E1 digital SLR and it works to the right (as viewed from the rear) of the camera body. For the E Volt 300 I needed it to work to the left of the camera body. This grip is still useable but one has to mount it to the tripod socket on the bottom of the camera 180 degrees out of it's intended position so that it is on the left side, and then swivel the head of the FL-50 180 to face the front of the scene to be photographed. Thank goodness Olympus uses the TTL exposure system for the flash otherwise this flash grip would have to be considered unusable for all cameras except the E-1. My work and education experience are what can be considered by many to be flat out unbelievable. With photography I have been able to render the unbelievable as credible just type my last name >uske< into Google from any country and in any language and click non the first link on the page of hits to see what I have done.
Evaluation:
Conclusion: Excellant product but 2 warnings!
Review: A well designed product with Olympus' usual quality. Be aware that the remote shutter release will not work with the Evolt E-500 body. Works fine with the E-510 which I also have. Oly says it is designed for the FL-50 only. You will need the Remote Cable RG-1 to use the shutter release button on the Power Flash Grip when all is connected to the E-510. Also, don't forget the hot shoe cable FL-CB02 which connects the hot shoe on the 510 to the grip.
Now for the second warning! My grip came with a mounting screw ( the knurled screw which attaches the base of the grip to the tripod socket on the camera) which left less than 2.5 threads protruding. Certainly not enough to securely attach the camera to the grip. Maybe I recieved a defective screw? My solution was to go to the hardware store and buy a $3 knob with a 1/4 x 20 x 1" threaded screw. I turned down the theads on my Unimat from the base of the knob leaving 1/4" of the threads on the end. Now the mounting is secure.
I am going to e-mail Olympus to inform them of the problem. I'd hate to see my 510 with its 14-54 hit the concrete because of a dinky mounting screw :(
Evaluation:
Conclusion: Not compatible with all Olympus cameras
Review: I have the Olympus Evolt E-500 and bought this to help speed up the flash cycle time. It does work, but my camera doesn't have a input jack for the remote cable. Therefore I can't use the shutter button thats on the fp-1 handle. Just want to let you know before you buy it to check for the remote input jack, should be on the side of your camera above the usb jack.
Evaluation:
Conclusion: Why does a side grip cost $257?
Review: Because it's more than just a grip.
First off, it needs 4x C cells to run. It doesn't just supplement your flash with the 6V it gets from the C cells, but it also uses them to boost the charging circuit so your flash can fire faster (for sporting events, spread exposure photography, etc). How it does this is by a clever system Olympus designed into their FL-50 and FC-05 flash controllers. They have a 4 pin interface in the front that takes in 2 voltages, a precision 6.0 V reference for running the modeling lights in the twin flash and ring flash, and running the logic in the flash itself. The other 2 pins take in 330 VDC to "help" charge the main capacitor that fires the flash.
So when you mount this grip on your E series (or other compatible camera) it supplements the flash's internal charging circuit with a big beefy C-cell driven circuit. When I say supplement, I mean the AA based charger built into the flash works in tandem with this unit. It is partway to a SHV-01 separate high voltage pack system and in fact can do a 3 way supplement where the FP-01, SHV-01, and internal charger all work together to give you full power flashes in under a second charge time from a simple but well designed flash system. (the FP-01 has an input set of pins to hook up your SHV-01 pack if you own that also).
Note that the grip strap on the side is an OPTION - it is shown in the photo but not part of the FP-01 - you must buy it separately as the GS-1 grip strap. The strap also works between almost any 5 or 6 " separated strap hooks, such as when an E300 has a BLM-3 mounted under it, and other cameras Olympus makes.
Now the negatives. Olympus designed the FL-50 and FP-01 and SHV-01 to work with many cameras, which is great, but you need different connecting cables depending on the model you you have. If you want to use the shutter button located on the FP-1 you'll need a short jumper cable to tie it to the camera because there is no direct tie.
And, for full TTL control, you will need a 5 pin tie cable - it will likely slide into the hotshoe if your camera lacks the 5 pin flash connector used for TTL control to hook to the FP-1 - if your camera doesn't have a hot shoe, but has the 5 pin jack, they use a different cable to connect it to the fp-1.
Basically - you need 2 cables to fully enable the FP-1 and your camera - consult the olympus guides to determine which two are used with your camera - they are $25-$45 each in addition to the FP-1.
It does add price to your flash , but it also makes the camera and flash balance better, gives you 700+ FULL flash exposures on a set of batteries and something Olympus does not tell you, it works great off the 6000 mAh NiMh C cells that are out there (it's meant for alkaline, but runs on NiMH better, in fact charging faster off the NiMH than the alkalines)
I do *NOT* recommend the AA NiMH to C adapters with this product - it needs the very low internal impedance of the C size cell to operate right. Substituting AA cells for C cells will degrade the FP-1's ability to help your flash charge faster. A set of 4 6000 mAh NiMH C cells costs about $20 from a battery supplier and can be recharged to full capacity before you leave for a photo shoot. You'll be set for a minimum of 700 flashes, probably 1000 - and if you forget your AA batteries or find they are dead, the flash will work entirely off the FP-1 supply.
Olympus cautions the FP-1 is not intended for large lenses such as the 50-200 mm zoom. I tried mine and found it was very unbalanced. Those lenses have their own tripod mount at the center of gravity because of their weight (7 lbs+) which is hard to counter the torque using the FP-1 handle. A better configuration for fast flash charging with the 50-200 zoom would be the SHV-01 power supply with a FL-50 flash on the hot shoe of the camera. A long coiled cable connects the SHV-01 on your belt to the flash without impeding your movement with the camera.
I have a cheap ($10) metal bracket to add 2 hot shoes to my video camera for diversity receivers on wireless microphones. The FP-1 grip is far better built than my microphone bracket, which only holds a couple ounces of weight. The FP-1 has a much better feel and you will enjoy the faster cycle time that comes with it on your camera. Just don't forget the GS-1 and 2 cables are specific to your model.
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