Pany DMW-FL360L Diffuser?

Guy Parsons wrote:

Paulmorgan wrote:

JSB wrote:

Just received the Panasonic DMW-FL360L as a birthday gift to use with my Lumix G7. I was surprised to see that there wasn't a plastic diffuser (similar to a StoFen Diffuser) included. Is this normal or should there have been one included in the packaging? All my Nikon flashes came with plastic diffusers.

From memory I only got separate diffuser`s with my FL50r along with a clipon elasticated bounce card.

And most flashes I know off don`t come with them built in, though most do have a pull out wide angle panel and pull out bounce card.

I've found that those head sized clipon diffusers are not that effective, better to do ceiling bounce and add the forward reflecting card or pull out the little highlight reflector.

The problem I find with those diffusers is that they also bung the light out all directions, generally fine most of the time but if your running out of power or you need to be fine tuning were the light is going its best to use something else.

With my FL50`s and FL50r`s I leave them on but take them off when I`m going to use them just for the extra protection (a bit like putting a cap on your studio strobes)

I once experimented with a 4 pint translucent juice jug as a diffuser to spread the light a bit more. It works out to a few feet (or for macro) and further than the jug doesn't add much. If needing a portrait at the usual distance then the diffuser needs to be 3 or 4 feet wide. Those twangy collapsible 3 foot reflector/diffuser circles are good for that if no ceiling or wall behind. Need an assistant though to hold it.

The usual little pull-out diffuser/"spreader" for wide angle helps a bit as it splashes the light all 'round so does help in some cases to soften the shadows.

For good flash lighting there's no substitute for big sized reflectors/umbrellas/softboxes but we don't all want or need to go the studio sized equipment path.

And a nice bit of foam/white card and an elastic band cost practically nothing.

Regards........ Guy