On Camera Flash Diffuser????

[Paul Luis]

Anybody have any ideas or thoughts on softening the on-camera flash of a E-500.

So far just putting a little sheet of white paper in front of it before I release the shutter works pretty good.

 

[kevin daly]

I know Henry's (A popular photography store in Toronto and Ottawa area) sells flexible diffusers that fit on the camera flash. I'm not sure if it works of all cameras but you should check their website and or call. I was going to buy one but ended up buying the fl-50 flash.

http://www.henrys.com

I did a quick search on the site and found the following:

LUMIQUEST SOFT SCREEN 420-052

"This diffuser is designed for the built-in pop-up flash of many digital cameras"

Hope this helps

 

[n4got]

I have used a kleenex with or without a rubber band on my E-300. nice light and not as harsh looking. no red eye either

--
Later,
les

http://photosbyles.smugmug.com
I use a Mac, Oly e-1, e-3oo

 

[MercurySoft1]

was on here and it worked pretty good. Go to your local pharmacy, grocery store or where ever people bring their film in to get developed and ask for one of the white film roll containers. They will give them to you, no charge. Make a cut in it so you can fit it on the flash. It's easy once you get one. Heck pick up half a dozen so you can mess up and have spare ones around if you lose one. Remember the white ones, not the black ones LOL
--
S.Haden
http://www.pbase.com/shaden008

 

[Paul Luis]

Great tips, Thanks guys

 

[Rriley]

a Stofen Omni-bounce is pretty conventional
--
Riley

not all that counts, can be counted

 

[guswitte]

Buy a square bottle of rubbing alcohol in the cloudy white plastic, cut off the bottom and adhere one edge of the bottom to the front of the cam so it fits nicely over the flash. Works like a charm - but I like the film canister idea, too. Gotta try that.

 

[Pika]

I've used kleenex too, works very well. Film canister or a pingpong ball are other cheap options.
--
Don’t believe everything you think.

 

[DylanHoen]

This is what I use to take macros, although its inconvenient to put on and not durable enough to go into a bag of lenses. I have wrecked 4 of them until I learned to fold it up and put it between the pages of my university notes binder.





--

Canon PowerShot S1 IS, Raynox DCR250 Macro Lens, Underwater Case, Polarizer Filter
Canon PowerShot S30
Canon PowerShot a60 - deceased
http://www.d.hoen.ca/pics/

 

[ikkio_too]

saw this....... http://www.instructables.com/id/EFWF47HEFPEV2Z6BX8/

 

[Michael Meissner]

was on here and it worked pretty good. Go to your local pharmacy,
grocery store or where ever people bring their film in to get
developed and ask for one of the white film roll containers. They
will give them to you, no charge. Make a cut in it so you can fit
it on the flash. It's easy once you get one. Heck pick up half a
dozen so you can mess up and have spare ones around if you lose
one. Remember the white ones, not the black ones LOL

The problem of diffusers like this and the commericial Sto-fen diffusers is they scatter light all arround so that you get bounce from the walls, etc. Unfortunately, bouncing off the walls tends to introduce color casts from the walls (unless you have white walls).

Here is a study of the different diffusers I had on hand in January 2006. My favorite is the Flip-it, and since that time I got the Big Flip-it with an added diffuser.
http://www.the-meissners.org/2006-small-albums/2006-flashmod/index.html

Here is the web site for Flip-it:
http://www.dembflashdiffusers.com/

In terms of the home made diffusers, a Better Bounce Card has a lot of followers:
http://www.abetterbouncecard.com/

Here is another site that offers a diffusion system:
http://www.harbordigitaldesign.com/

Here is the Gary Fong store that offers LightSphere:
http://store.garyfonginc.com/

Here are the old names in terms of flash diffusion:
http://www.lumiquest.com/
http://www.stofen.com/

 

[Michael Meissner]

I must admit I didn't read the initial artitcle that closely and skipped the "on camera" part of the flash diffusion, and all of the stuff I posted were for external flash (having a camera with no on-board flash, I tend to forget about them). I realize that external flash is out of many budgets, but no matter what you do it, on-board flash will tend to be weak, and give you harsh shadows that are better for a police line-up.