Canon MT-24EX Flash diffuser options

Canon MT-24EX Diffuser options


So, you finally pulled the trigger and bought the Canon Macro Twin Lite MT-24EX, now you must be thinking "it's so expensive that the light must be 2x better then my current flash on the bracket combo", right?... wrong!
I read someone saying that Canon never field tested this flash, and after trying it for the first time, even though its meant to be funny, I actually tend to agree.
Don't get me wrong, the flash is great and worth the money, but the light straight out the box is VERY harsh, a step down if you already had a flash on a bracket even with the most basic diffuser.

You probably already knew that a good diffuser is the best way to get a soft nice looking light, there are a lot of options for standard flash guns on the market (LumiQuest have really good softboxes, you can find many cheap clones on Ebay, or DIY one).

So what are the options for the MT-24EX dual flash heads?

Before spending any more money, I decided to look online for all the solutions I could find, either commercial or DIY. I will present all the results I found in a week research.


The commercial options


The most known is the Sto-Fen Omni-Bounce OM-24XSET. Many people use (or used) this solution, I think It was the first one to appear after the flash was launched. They are a very simple white plastic housing that attachs directly to the flash heads. You can find cheaper clones on Amazon or Ebay (JJC FC-26U).

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/dalantech/37433​70132/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …s/9578475@N02/3​647672121/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …/orionmystery/4​496947896/

Alex Wild uses yet another diffuser method that reassembles the cup diffuser, the difference being the way it keeps the diffusion material in place. He uses the flash heads mount to place a plastic collar made from a milk jug where he then attatches a double-layer of Rosculux white diffusion material using binder clips.
Its all explained on a blog post on scientificamerican.

Going multi-stage

You should have noticed by now that a lot of people use multiple layer of diffusion material, this is done to further soften the light, resulting in few hot spots on the pictures. But this doesn't come up free of costs, using multiple diffusers will cut a lot of light so be prepared to loose several stops of light and bump up your flash power.

One example from mandokid1:

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/mandokid1/85565​18928/

Nice work, it's good to see these solutions in one place.
Thanks Paulo.

I hope it can save some time/work for those like me who recently bought the flash and are looking for diffusers.
Old MT-24EX users probably already know/tried most of this options...

Thanks Snowy

Something worth discussing is how the diffusion options impact operational use in the field, and how people mitigate them.

For example:

a) the cup diffuser I find gets in the way quite a bit pushing against vegetation etc
b) impact of the diffuser on the focus lights, for me these are really important.

Good questions

I will give my feedback based on the only two options I already tried, the "cup method" and the "uk diffusers".

a)I had trouble to come up with the right size of the sheet over the cup, too big and it definitely gets in the way, too short and I got light spill on the sides while at 1:1 on the MPE-65
Right now my sheet is cut in 6cm x 10cm, but I haven't field tested it properly to say it doesn't need further adjustments.

Using the "uk diffusers" I think its impossible to get low angle portrait shots if the bug is resting on a flat surface, the diffusers will bump into the surface and I couldn't find a working angle to get him in the DOF zone. That was something I could do with the "flash on the bracket" setup (just had to turn the camera the other way around so the bracket/flash would be on the free side).

b) I think we can measure how many stops we loose with each diffuser (both the focus light and the flash power), although the DIY will vary according to the material used...

I don't find my lights very powerful, and I wonder if anyone tried to open the flash heads and replace the lights with some white LEDs with more light output and lower power consumption.

Another question I have is what kind of diffuser material are you guys using, I'm using the material that is use to cover TVs/Monitor during shipment, its white/semi-transparent and 1mm thick, don't know how its called, but here's a picture.

I've tried cup type diffusers with my 430Ex setup and found I scared off far too many potential subjects with it compared to my normal setup. Love to know if people have found a way round that.
Brian v.

A useful post!

I have tried several variations of the methods on this page, and I have experienced the issues mentioned by the posters here. I hate to give such useless advice, but the truth really is that you have to try multiple methods to see which one you like best, because they all come with pros and cons. For me, the cons of the cup/sheet/whatever getting in the way or scaring the subject kept me from using that design for more than a couple months. That said, some people (e.g., Kurt) get super results with that setup, so no one should dismiss it without trying it for at least a few weeks. Do not dismiss a method after only one frustrating day. Sometimes you have to work with it for a while before you can be sure it's too much trouble to work out the kinks.

I ended up keeping Rob Ault's method, although this method does make it impossible to shoot straight down at high magnifications on flat surfaces, as Paulo pointed out. The catch lights are also not very appealing in my personal opinion. The cup style diffuser is much better in this regard. Still, I have decided which pros and cons matter most to me, and for me, the Rob Ault method is the one I will keep using, at least until I take the time to invent something original. Nothing is more satisfying than inventing your own method

Fantastic work. Extraordinarily helpful.

The sto-fens with UK diffusers and what is essentially a cup type diffuser below that do make access difficult, plants and webs tend to get hit, so some subjects are scared off.

The focus lights work surprisingly well (I hadn't really used them, but in a test they worked fine). The sto-fens do not cover the assist light, so the light only hits the plastic on the UK diffusers and the single layer of foam on the cup diffusion.

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/basandrews/8732​566690/

Nice Bas!

I was already thinking in trying something like you showed, the cup diffuser I have places the diffusion sheet very close to the lens, making it more likely to get in the way/scare bugs, and I though if I could place the sheet directly around the UK diffusers that would give me some more room.
I still have to figure the best way to hold it in place without too much work to mount/dismount.

I used Blu-Tac. Simple and works great.

http://www.blutack.com​/

I've only just seen this thread as I haven't been using the forum for some time. It's a good overview. However, it doesn't mention my concave diffusers which are extremely effective.

Should be noted SteB that you have also mounted your flash heads on Kaiser* tilting heads for extras height.
*or similar