HELP! Olympus FL 600R swivel head jammed?

[Loup Garou]

I have never been that much impressed with Olympus FL 600R flashgun although I have owned one for over 4 years. One of the problems is that the supposedly swivelling head does not work - at least I do not think that it does. Pressing and holding the bounce-lock button operates only the up-down bounce function but not the swivel function. Of course, I am not using too much pressure in case it breaks and becomes unusable.

It is not a catastrophe since I also own the smoothly swivelling Nissin i40 but that usually lives with my Pen-F whereas the FL 600R is for the OMD EM5 II. But has anyone encountered a similar problem with their FL 600R? Should I use more pressure or take to a dealer?

[IainMacD]

I was under the impression that the bounce lock button worked for swivel left and right as well as up down, but I don't have the FL 600R to test this on!

[benpanesar]

Hi Guys

I have three FL 600's and one LUMIX equivalent all work flawlessly and yes depressing the side button will allow both left to right swivel and up and down tilt with no issues.
I'm currently evaluating a portable flash system and will be looking to sell my Oly and LUMIX guns soon so watch this space !

Regards Ben

[Walti]

Mine is a bit temperamental and will lock on the swivel on occasion, but a wiggle normally frees it, the button needs to be fully depressed, if not then the swivel doesn't.

I was aware that it was damaged when I bought it as a second hand repaired unit so had put it down to this....

[Loup Garou]

I bought my flash brand new but I very rarely use the swivel function. If I recall correctly, it used to work fine on my FL-600R. Then about 18 months ago, the autozoom function jammed (reportedly this is a common problem with that device) which in turn rendered the entire flashgun unworkable. I am sure that I have posted about that problem on these forums.

I got it repaired from Olympus at £60 but am sure that since then I never tried the swivel head function till this afternoon. This is partly because the Nissin i40 is so much easier to use. But after my initial post on this thread, I went back and tried again, this time applying quite a bit of force. It won't budge.

Own branded flashguns from Olympus have always been a bit dodgy compared with other makes. The compatible Metzes and Nissins almost always work better.