Good Flash Bounce and/or Diffuser

[Moose Dawg]

Hello all,

I am looking for a good bounce or diffuser that will fit on the 550 EX. I will use it mostly for portraits. Any suggestions or advice?

Thanks in advance,
Dave

[brunz]

You might think this is crazy but try it. Pull the built in diffuser about 2/3 of the way out and put the flash at about a 45 degree angle. I've bee doing this at weddings and you get the most beautiful bounce light. I usually shoot at 60th of a second and f5.6 or f8 on (manual) and can get out to about 20 feet or so. It sounds like it wouldn't work but it works well. Be careful with the diffuser so you don't break it. The flash doesn't look so "flashy" and it covers the background evenly.The quality of the light is completely different than direct flash. I've been shooting all wedding candids this way. You don't need to buy anything...It's all there!!!!

[Yance]

As long as you have good white ceilings within reach, the Sto-Fen Omnibounce works very well.

[brunz]

Yance.....see my comments. The ceiling height doesn't seem to matter with my method...It works well with high or low ceilings.

[justme_dc]

I use the Lumiquest Promax system. It's super flexable, easy to use and gives great results. Check out their site at: http://www.lumiquest.com/

They have many options to choose from along with photos showing the effects of their products.

I like the sto-fen omni bounce products too but I have found that they can confuse your flash's TTL auto exposure in some instances. For that reason I stopped using them.
http://www.stofen.com/

Then of course there is the oldest trick in the book of using an index card and a rubber band for a bounce. I shot like that for ages.

Good luck to you.

[Griffin]

I have tried Omnibounce on my Sigma EF550S (now broken) and Lumiquest on Metz 54M3 (sold under Metz brand). Personally, I prefer Lumiquest as it gives better results. Further a collegue tests (quite unscientifically) the Omnibounce on his 550EX and Lumiquest on my Metz, the results is Lumiquest produces slightly softer shadows, but ymmv.


Griffin.

[rdenney]

Griffin wrote:
I have tried Omnibounce on my Sigma EF550S (now broken) and Lumiquest on Metz 54M3 (sold under Metz brand). Personally, I prefer Lumiquest as it gives better results. Further a collegue tests (quite unscientifically) the Omnibounce on his 550EX and Lumiquest on my Metz, the results is Lumiquest produces slightly softer shadows, but ymmv.


Griffin.

It seems to me the Omnibounce is preferred by the newsies, and that might have to do with its toughness. The Lumiquest bounce stuff is soft and will be deformed or torn off in a jostling crowd of photojournalists.

Rick "who uses the Lumiquest stuff with no complaints" Denney

[traveler]

I'd have to agree with Rdenny. I have tried both, and for weddings and PJ stuff the StoFen is simply the best "no brainer" product. If anything it protects the flash and allows for a softer more diffused light so none of those "in your face" effects show though. I really haven't noticed any glaring issues with the E-TTL being thrown off, but I usually do compensate for the light loss anyway. I prefer the Tv mode for weddings. Keeps things frozen nicely with NO camera shake and decent exposures for post processing.....