Rogue Flashbenders- any experience with em

aratari wrote in post #16562452
cool man, thanks for the informative responed , so i guess the smaller one is a good option for my small flash,

It really depends on what you're doing. If you're shooting in a situation where you just can't bounce the flash you'll want the largest modifier you can reasonably use to give the best light. In these situations I use the large flashbender. Your 430 should be just fine with it. The small is great if you want to bounce some light and still push some forward, or bounce the light while also flagging it.

They look too much like direct flash to me.

puggle wrote in post #16562076
I have the flashbenders and they work ok but I found them to be unwieldy and tiresome to handle.

I much prefer the Spinlight 360 system. It's the best on-camera speedlight modifier I've used yet.

Check it out:
http://www.spinlight36​0.com/

I tried the spinlight360 and sold it about 3 weeks later. The way the panels circle around the holder on the flash, it is useless for any medium to large groups, makes everything look too harsh, too much like direct flash. I prefer abetterbouncecard when I can't bounce off a wall or a high ceiling.

Brea wrote in post #16562249
They will BUT THEY WILL outweigh and move your flash head towards gravity if you use the large one. They're a hassle to use on the go because of the way they bend etc. Best to use a Stofen or Fong

Or a much lighter betterbouncecard

Scatterbrained wrote in post #16562424
Use them with the flash head up or at 90* (portrait orientation) and it's not an issue. Even then that's only with the large and extra large, the small and bounce don't have that issue.

The Sto Fen is great, if you need something to hold your spare change. It doesn't increase the size of your light source, it just wastes power by throwing light everywhere. Same for the Fong Dong. If you're in a situation where you can't bounce and have to use direct flash, best to a large modifier like a flashbender or just not bother. If you're just going to use the Sto Fen you might as well just pull the bounce card out of the flash head and use it.

I use my Sto Fen as a seed cup for one of my parakeets..

Wavy C wrote in post #16562342
A piece of white card attached to the flash with an elastic band is cheaper, lighter and does pretty much the same thing.....

Yep, or make yourself abetterbouncecard

I use my small Flashbender a lot for outdoor portrait fill and with a little judicious reshaping of the panel it does a very nice job of providing a large soft light source above the subject. I typically set the flash head about 60 degrees and wrap the panel mostly over it at the far end; none of my flashes even wobble with the slight added weight. The nice thing about the Flashbender is that it allows you to "focus" or even widen the light pattern a bit by curving the sides a variable amount.

A bounce card is fine if you just want a little forward illumination for fill, but it will often give you an obvious falloff if you don't have a nearby wall or ceiling.

The Stofen and Fong modifiers are useless outside, and really no better than a bounce flash when inside. The Stofen at least helps in some cases when using a very close umbrella for portraits, because the added light loss doesn't hurt as badly and it does reduce the "glare" from some angles.