Pop-Up Flash Diffuser (Puffer Knockoff) Review

[kwengca]

Hello everyone!

First off let me say that this is my first post on the forum so please let me know if I'm doing anything wrong or if this is int he wrong section or something I've been roaming the forums for a little while and I've picked up photography in April so I'm still fairly new to this. Please feel free to check out my flickr.com/klweng




~~~~~~~




Anyway, I'd like to review a product I got on amazon for 5 dollars. It's a knockoff brand of Gary Fong's pop up flash diffuser:

Loading…

www.amazon.com

The build of the device is well, what you would expect from a 5 dollar contraption. It's fairly solid actually, but the plastic has little bits than can be pulled off, kind of like what happens when you're building models and have to pull the pieces out of a tray. Overall nothing to complain about for 5 big ones.

As for the photographic value, below are some comparison shots for you to decide for yourself, some real dorky pictures of myself.








These were taken on my d3100 and 18-55 with a hood attached. ISO 200 and no exposure or flash exposure comp. I took this near a wall to emphasize the typical shadows that are cast behind subjects. By the yellow gel, I mean I used the yellow attachment rather than the white one. The lighting in the room was dim and yellow, which is why I tried the yellow gel so as not to introduce a white light in a yellow ambient light environment.

My impression is that the device does not seem to be softening the light much or at all. What is clear however, is that it is working pretty effectively as a stoffen and scattering light is many directions resulting in the softening of shadows. The shadow behind me is most definitely less emphasized and the shadow from the lens barrel is basically gone. I think this alone is worth the five dollars.

Used in conjunction with some flash power adjustments, I was able to get the following.



This was show at ISO 800 instead with my exposure comp set at +1.3 and my flash comp set at -1. Also this was taken with the yellow gel. I feel the result is quite decent. Obviously, bounce flash would be preferable, but until I can scrape up the funds for that this will have to do for now and I'm quite satisfied for the price.

I know some of you will say that a piece of paper or a notecard will yield the same if not better results. I realize this, and at the price of the genuine puffer, I'd never pay that much for a bracket and plastic (with no gels might I add), but this was 5 dollars and more elegant than a paper solution so please don't flame me

I hope this is useful to some of you Thanks for reading!




Kevin

 

[Sailor Blue]

kwengca wrote:

My impression is that the device does not seem to be softening the light much or at all. What is clear however, is that it is working pretty effectively as a stoffen and scattering light is many directions resulting in the softening of shadows. The shadow behind me is most definitely less emphasized and the shadow from the lens barrel is basically gone. I think this alone is worth the five dollars.

Kevin

Nice assessment Kevin. The built-in flash, even with the puffer knockoff, is simply too small to give you soft light. It relies on sending light to the sides and upward to bounce off the walls and ceiling for any softening. You nailed how it does this and what the effect is perfectly.

I will caution you not to use it if the walls or ceiling are brightly colored. Any light bouncing off them will color contaminate the subject, giving you a post processing nightmare.


If you want soft light then buy yourself a hot-shoe flash and bounce it off the wall, ceiling or other reflector like a sheet of white foam core board. You can do this with the flash mounted on the camera or off-camera, which will give you even better lighting. If you don't have a hot-shoe flash then pick up a budget E-TTL flash like the Yongnuo YN-468II to get you started.


Before you buy any flash, however, I suggest you make you purchase a copy of Syl Arena's excellent book on hot-shoe flash photography.


Syl Arena - Speedliter's Handbook: Learning to Craft Light with Canon Speedlites (9780321711052)

Here are a couple of his free video tutorials to get you started.

Syl Arena - B&H - Getting The Most Out Of Canon Speedlites

Syl Arena - B&H - Canon Speedliting with Multiple Flashes

 

[Locrian]

Hi

First of all thx for sharing this about the Puffer, knockoff or not, it's a pretty useless addon to the camera. But you already figured this out by now

I have a better solution for you, also in the same range of money 5-10$

Lightstipper - a very cheap flash bouncer for the DSLR. Actually the Lightstipper is the knockoff version of Lightscoop

http://www.amazon.com/Professor-Kob...TF8&qid=1355517464&sr=8-1&keywords=Lightscoop


Honestly I don't think that Lightscoop is worth 30 bucks, so you should go for the much cheaper Lightstipper as it does the same thing. Anyway, I have one and it's absolutely fantastic. Used in a normal room it blows away any diffuser out there and it actually makes the camera flash usable.

Google them both and you'll see the impact it has. It's the cheapest improvement you can do to your camera by far

kwengca wrote:

Hello everyone!

First off let me say that this is my first post on the forum so please let me know if I'm doing anything wrong or if this is int he wrong section or something I've been roaming the forums for a little while and I've picked up photography in April so I'm still fairly new to this. Please feel free to check out my flickr.com/klweng

~~~~~~~

Anyway, I'd like to review a product I got on amazon for 5 dollars. It's a knockoff brand of Gary Fong's pop up flash diffuser:

Loading…

www.amazon.com

The build of the device is well, what you would expect from a 5 dollar contraption. It's fairly solid actually, but the plastic has little bits than can be pulled off, kind of like what happens when you're building models and have to pull the pieces out of a tray. Overall nothing to complain about for 5 big ones.

As for the photographic value, below are some comparison shots for you to decide for yourself, some real dorky pictures of myself.






These were taken on my d3100 and 18-55 with a hood attached. ISO 200 and no exposure or flash exposure comp. I took this near a wall to emphasize the typical shadows that are cast behind subjects. By the yellow gel, I mean I used the yellow attachment rather than the white one. The lighting in the room was dim and yellow, which is why I tried the yellow gel so as not to introduce a white light in a yellow ambient light environment.

My impression is that the device does not seem to be softening the light much or at all. What is clear however, is that it is working pretty effectively as a stoffen and scattering light is many directions resulting in the softening of shadows. The shadow behind me is most definitely less emphasized and the shadow from the lens barrel is basically gone. I think this alone is worth the five dollars.

Used in conjunction with some flash power adjustments, I was able to get the following.



This was show at ISO 800 instead with my exposure comp set at +1.3 and my flash comp set at -1. Also this was taken with the yellow gel. I feel the result is quite decent. Obviously, bounce flash would be preferable, but until I can scrape up the funds for that this will have to do for now and I'm quite satisfied for the price.

I know some of you will say that a piece of paper or a notecard will yield the same if not better results. I realize this, and at the price of the genuine puffer, I'd never pay that much for a bracket and plastic (with no gels might I add), but this was 5 dollars and more elegant than a paper solution so please don't flame me

I hope this is useful to some of you Thanks for reading!

Kevin

--
Pushing the Nikon D90
http://floppyrom.deviantart.com/gallery/