Being an Olympus shooter, I can say that perhaps the biggest advantage to more common systems like Canon and Nikon is the availability of third-party accessories. So, when someone does make a good third party product available for my system, I’m inclined to pay attention.

This is the Metz 58 AF-1. You can get these in various flavors, including Canon flashes, Nikon flashes, and (as the opening of this article would suggest) Olympus/Panasonic. This flash is designed to replace the top-end models (when it was released these were the SB-800, 580EX II, and the FL-50 [Now the FL-50r]). It packs a true GN of 58, zoom head up to 105mm, a secondary reflector for fill flash, bounce, swivel, and wireless control. And, my favorite easily overlooked feature, lowlight AF assist using a projected red light (which is totally preferable to my camera’s “strobing” pop-up flash, a poor excuse at best for dedicated AF-assist beams).

I think I’ll pick one up for my bag. Why? Because I believe in buying good equipment, and that doesn’t always mean making sure the brand on my accessories matches that on my camera. But, maybe that’s just me.