diffuser for the M100 pop-up flash ?

Has anyone rigged a diffuser for the M100 or do you know of (a cheap) one I can buy?

There are a bunch on Amazon, but they don't look like they will fit (or do they?).

Many thanks,

What do you want the diffuser to do? The only real effect will be to increase the spread and cut the power. It won't make it any softer.

gonzogolf wrote in post #18794777
What do you want the diffuser to do? The only real effect will be to increase the spread and cut the power. It won't make it any softer.

Actually, that's exactly what a diffuser does. It spreads the light out such that it appears to be coming from a larger area, but the power per unit area is less. The result is that the contrast between highlights and shadows is "softer" (which I put in quotes because it's an imprecise term).

For an illustration, look at the lighting and shadows on a bright sunny day, versus one that is slightly overcast. Fewer harsh shadows and less contrast.

Mike

It's only going to appear softer it's appreciably larger, that's not going to happen on a popup flash. In the case of a sunny day the sun is a point light source, the overcast day becomes a much larger light source.

but the problem with any pop-up flash is that any add-on diffuser is such a small edition as to be immaterial in altering the softness of the light

My comparison of a bright sunny day versus an overcast one was meant to show an extreme example of the effect. Obviously, it depends on both the size of the diffuser, and the distance to the subject. Gonzo says the sun is in point source, but in reality it’s well over 800,000 miles across. It’s just that it’s so far away that it behaves as a point source for all practical purposes. Similarly, a tiny diffuser that’s barely bigger than the flash itself won’t make much of a difference for a subject that’s, say, 10 feet away, because they’re both effectively point sources from the subject’s point of view. But there are different sizes of diffusers available. It all depends on the size of the diffuser and the distance to the subject.

I don't have a M100. But in my experience, pop-ups are o.k. as a fill flash but not usable as a primary light source. Anything that really would increase the size of the flash is usually too cumbersome and takes away too much power. A piece of frosted tape (scotch...) works quite well and doesn't impair the usability of the flash too much, especially if you use it to fill during a sunny day.

A ping pong ball with a slit works reasonably well. Again though these M series flashes are so small that modifiers don't add a bunch though.