Olympus E-500 flash smelling like burnt plastic

usual suspects for a dead flash are burnt capacitor, or burnt bulb. Any dark spots or burnt hair-ish smell on the flash? Unfortunately most things are made to be replaceable not fixable. Might try a local camera store...

Install flash on hot shoe and use shutter speed on camera set to no faster than 1/125. Read the owners manul for flash AND camera. Be careful, some trigger voltages may be higher than what your cdamera can handle and may ruin internal flash usage, if not camera itself. better to use a Wein Safesynch hot shoe. This mounts ion hotshoe of camera and flash is attached to this.

For the Olympus, copy and paste the following address into your browser. http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/cpg_support_product.asp?id=1262 The Fuji website is not user friendly and I couldn't find the 2600Z. Sorry.

It's either the charging circuit, the capacitor or the flash tube, but unless your camera is still under the Olympus two year worldwide warranty (if purchased from an authorised Olympus Dealer within Europe, proof of purchase required) then you'll have to either send the camera to Olympus for a repair estimate (this costs £15 if you choose to have the camera returned unrepaired) or take it to an independent camera repairer for diagnosis.

The above links/prices are for the UK but should help you navigate to your own country if different.

Alternatively, don't bother with the repair of the pathetically weedy onboard flash and invest the money on a proper external flash instead. You don't have to buy the overpriced Olympus/Panasonic offerings; there are cheaper non-dedicated flash units (you'll need to learn a little bit about how to use them, but they are VERY cheap) or you can buy the excellent Metz 48 AF-1 which is available as an Oly/Panasonic unit and in the UK/Europe is cheaper than a genuine Oly/Panasonic flash. Metz are the undisputed market leaders in flash units and always retain an excellent resale value.

Hope this has helped you, please return the favour by taking a moment to rate my answer.

Brand new?...take it back.

This suggests the flash capacitor has malfunctioned
Check Olympus for a warranty replacement or repair cost- according to age of camera. If it is an older model a new camera may be best bet

In addition to the one year World Wide Warranty,
issued by Olympus Corporation in Japan, the European warranty, issued by Olympus Imaging Europa GmbH, is
valid for two years from the date of purchase, if purchased after 1st April 2004

Only thing I can suggest is to try different batteries again. maybe something more generic, regular aa's. also note that the d-500 can use only mem cards that go up to 16 mb, 32 if you do an upgrade. If you're trying to use a newer card that might be the reason. Good luck

I wish you have explained more about what you mean by close-ups. If you are talking about portraits: ...avoid flash - use some type of dim portable lamps ...use the optical zoom set to about 2X .....move back and reframe the subject ...set the camera to "aperture priority" and .....select f2.8 (to blur the background) If you are talking about table top photography: ...avoid flash - use some type of bright .....portable lamps ...use a tripod ...set the camera to shutter priority and select a .....slow shutter speed (to increase depth of field) ...focus on the exact spot you want to be sharpest

The Olympus LI-12B (supplied) or LI-10B lithium ion battery can be used with this camera. Do not use any other type of battery. The battery is not fully charged when the camera is purchased. Charge the battery using the supplied cradle before using the camera.