Diffuser for Pop Up Flash
Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2011 11:40 pmI may have mentioned that I took an adult education class at UW-Waukesha last fall ... Flash Photography. I told the instructor that I needed to learn how to use fill flash in bright sun because so many of my church gigs present that problem. I have tried using my speedlight with a marked lack of success. This was 'evening classes' so he couldn't demonstrate But he explained that my speedlight was probably overpowering the subject and I needed to dial down the flash intensity. If I am up close for most of the shots, he suggested using the pop up flash with a diffuser and suggested several makes.
I went to my local full-service camera store and looked at two. The salesman said the Gary Fong model cost about ten bucks more than the LumiQuest "Soft Screen" recommended by my instructor but he thought it was better. I told DW I wanted a Gary Fong Puffer for Christmas.
This is pretty slick. It slips into the accessory shoe and, after mounting, the flash easily moves up and down. With the LumiQuest model you have to remove the diffuser every time you want to turn off the flash.
I had this mounted on the camera 100% of the time for my 3-day church festival project and popped the flash up for maybe 40% of my shots. It is relatively unobtrusive and doesn't make the camera top-heavy like a speedlight. Because the light is diffused, I didn't get a single instance of red-eye as is so common with an on-camera, head on flash.
We had a lot of "booths" ... canvas top and back for shade and bright, bright sun all around. I wanted to get as many shots as possible of all the parishioners working as volunteers. This little jewel worked like a champ. Here is a Mother-Son team hard at work!
Now, here's the funny part. When DW went to the camera store with my note telling her exactly what I wanted for Christmas, the salesman said, "Yes, we have that. Here it is; it costs $24.99 plus tax." DW looked him in the eye and said, "There must be some mistake. There can't possibly be any piece of camera equipment my husband wants that only costs twenty-five dollars!"
Rusty
PS - I'm still not getting very good results on faces in bright sun with harsh shadows. I probably need more practice adjusting the flash compensation.
I went to my local full-service camera store and looked at two. The salesman said the Gary Fong model cost about ten bucks more than the LumiQuest "Soft Screen" recommended by my instructor but he thought it was better. I told DW I wanted a Gary Fong Puffer for Christmas.
- Puffer.jpg (126.38 KiB) Viewed 1473 times
This is pretty slick. It slips into the accessory shoe and, after mounting, the flash easily moves up and down. With the LumiQuest model you have to remove the diffuser every time you want to turn off the flash.
- Puff-1.jpg (110.46 KiB) Viewed 1473 times
- Puff-2.jpg (103.35 KiB) Viewed 1473 times
I had this mounted on the camera 100% of the time for my 3-day church festival project and popped the flash up for maybe 40% of my shots. It is relatively unobtrusive and doesn't make the camera top-heavy like a speedlight. Because the light is diffused, I didn't get a single instance of red-eye as is so common with an on-camera, head on flash.
We had a lot of "booths" ... canvas top and back for shade and bright, bright sun all around. I wanted to get as many shots as possible of all the parishioners working as volunteers. This little jewel worked like a champ. Here is a Mother-Son team hard at work!
- Puffed.jpg (125.34 KiB) Viewed 1473 times
Now, here's the funny part. When DW went to the camera store with my note telling her exactly what I wanted for Christmas, the salesman said, "Yes, we have that. Here it is; it costs $24.99 plus tax." DW looked him in the eye and said, "There must be some mistake. There can't possibly be any piece of camera equipment my husband wants that only costs twenty-five dollars!"
Rusty
PS - I'm still not getting very good results on faces in bright sun with harsh shadows. I probably need more practice adjusting the flash compensation.
