Good DIffuser for 430EX I ?

[djglenn1337]

Hey,

I am looking for a diffuser for my 430EX, which I believe I have got the hang of bouncing light off walls / celings. I do however find myself sometimes being unable to bounce the light and a direct flash is far to intense for a portrait. What is the best difuser available? Is the Sto-fen worth buying?

Any advise is welcome.

Thanks.

[5Dmaniac]

I just bought the Gary Fong Cloud Universal - a lot of people think it is too much money for a platic bowl. but I must say that I am really impressed with it. It gives you a soft light and you can use it bouncing from ceilings or walls or as direct flash outside. I'm happy with mine and considering what gadgets we spend money on, this is one of the better investments I have made:-)

[twiggles]

I got a Sto-Fen, and its pretty good. Its only like $9 on Amazon, you cant go wrong. An additional benefit is it doent take up much extra room in your bag like the fong sphere does.

[Gatorboy]

I do however find myself sometimes being unable to bounce the light and a direct flash is far to intense for a portrait. What is the best difuser available? Is the Sto-fen worth buying?

If you can't bounce, a sto-fen or fong won't give you any softer light, for that's how they produce softer light -- by shooting the light everywhere, bouncing off walls/ceilings.

[Big Mike]

If you can't bounce, a sto-fen or fong won't give you any softer light, for that's how they produce softer light -- by shooting the light everywhere, bouncing off walls/ceilings.
Exactly.

The only way to get softer light is to increase the size of the light source or move the light closer to the subject.

If you must shoot directly and want to keep the flash on the camera, get (or make) something like THIS (http://super.nova.org/DPR/DIY01/).

[borism]

May i suggest
http://www.dembflashproducts.com/diffuser/

Many people rather go to DIY bounce card
I like this product, durable, well made and gets the job done, Cheers

[SYS]

Although I made this several months ago, I've been playing around with it a bit more lately, and I'm quite pleased with the results. It's good for situations where there's no ceiling to bounce the light off of, as well as bouncing off the ceiling by lifting the top portion vertically. Cost about $5.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3204/2409777384_a65fea1015.jpg http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2350/2409777358_73b8bc1286.jpg

[SYS]

Here's the latest experiment using the above $5 DIY diffuser (I was just playing around with it while my boy was doing his nightly violin practice, so excuse the background clutter and all...)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3510/3216666072_143388a6af_o.jpg

[smorter]

We got into a bit of a debate regarding the Stofen and diffusers :D but yeah totally agree with gatorboy and big mike

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=631056