TP: Diffusers for flash units

Admin hijack to put the thread in our Knowledge Base as the question gets asked frequently.


What is the best flash diffuser and your experience with it...?

thanks

Edited by brettania - 09 May 2007 at 03:11

Hi

Now, that is a good question I don't know a definite answer even after quite some trials...

- I have the standard Stofen, but I am only half-happy with it. Can still produce pronounced shadows.
- then I tried some inflatable diffusers, which, by having a greater surface, I hoped would make less harsh shadows. Well, with the Stofen together, it improves a bit.
- a self-made bouncecard I used, too. Not better than the Stofen, I found.
- still the best thing I did is using a small (80cm) white reflector, meant for reflection, but useable also for transmission... that makes for a perfect smooth light. Not very practical, however.

So if somebody knows the definite answer, I'll be glad to hear, too...

-Simon

Edited by simima - 13 January 2007 at 16:51

I use Fong's clear lightsphere as well. Once I got used to the silly look of it I learned to really like it. Works very well in most situation and seems to be the most versital diffuser I've tried.

wass

I do as Gary suggests and shoot with the flash head rotated 90° so that it can easily be changed from horizontal to vertical shooting. I cut a wedge shaped piece of photo paper and put it at the back of the clear lightsphere to not waist flash power to the rear. That alone seemed to give about 1/2 stop extra light. He also makes a new "kicker" dome that has a reflector on it to force light forward but that's more for the cloudy sphere not the clear that I like to use.

Though, I may pick up a cloud with the amberdome as it looks to work nicely to match the WB.

My favorite bounce/diffuser is the LumiQuest Pro Max system. It incoporates a LumiQuest 80/20 and has a white, gold, or silver insert you can quickly insert in it to manipulate the light results. You also get a fully opaque soft plastic diffuser that goes over the front reguardless of the inserts or not. The 80/20 without the inserts allows 80 persent of the light to go up and bounce whilr 20 percent goes forward. This works a lot like Gary Fong's Lightsphere but folds up flat and fits in a nice vinyl wallet that easily goes into your bag. The part number is LQ-931D. More info at LumiQuest.com..

This thing really works great on my Sigma 500EF DG Super amd Vivitar 730AFM with the A100. Highly reccomend this one. Aaron

i like the better bouce card a lot. use the curve forward for more distance or wide shots. flip it backwards when im shooting close to people. i usually just double up on pieces of paper and rubber band it on. this is one, bit bigger because i was shooting real estate and had to kick more light forward.

Look here, almost end of site: Lightsphere sizing/self sizing chart, here you can look up the sizes and measure your flash...
The problem is that he provides different sizes for the same flash, strange. So I would calculate it myself.

Edited by binbald - 18 April 2007 at 15:09

I've used the Stofen Omnibounces. For those who find that you don't get enough diffusion, try stacking two of them. I did that and good pretty good results. I've also heard second-hand accounts that stacking a gold omnibounce with a white one can produce some very nice results for portrait-type work.

One seemingly underrated diffuser/bouncecard I used was the Stofen Two Way which can work as both a bounce card and a shoot-thru diffuser. I lost mine a while back but I had more consistent exposures with it vs. the Omnibounce but never got to compare it to stacked Omnibounces.