Winsor wrote in regard to Richard's quest for diffuse flash:
>> I read an informative article with lots of pictures some time ago
that dealt with diffusers. They don't really work unless they are
really large and really close like umbrellas and light boxes. The
harshness is inversely dependant on the size of the light source and
directly dependant on the distance. Notwithstanding all the gadgets
for sale out there, unless you can bounce a lot of light off other
sources like ceilings and walls you are pretty much stuck.
<<
Winsor, Modern Photography from about 10years ago had a similar article
comparing both flashes and various diffuser combinations. They showed that
small diffusers did not work nearly as well as advertised.
Large handlemount flashes with interchangeable reflectors usually will
offer both a diffuse matt white reflector as well as a bright silver reflector
as options. Wedding photographers seem to really prefer the diffuse
reflectors. There used to be an excellent website with example photogrphas
comparing these different reflectors and their coverage,light drop
off,efficiency paint used etc. It was a small CA business which made
reflectors to fit Quantum etc flashes. Unfortunately the url for the site no
longer works.
It seems the somewhat collimated light from a bright reflector is
usually a bit worse than even a small diffuser, so I often use a T20 with
plastic diffuser (cut from plastic milk jug carton) tapped over the front. For
more light I combine this with a T32 or potato masher (Sunpack) set to bounce
off the ceiling/wall etc. The flash extender for the T20 also helps a little to
take the flash off axis.
Also the old trick of covering the flash ready LED contact on the shoe of a T
series allows the later OM's to operate in a limited way as fill+auto exposure
like the original OM2.
An intermediate solution is to use a Sunpak handle mount flash with it's custom
(inexpensive) diffuser that is like a mini-umbrella. When expanded it looks
like a flat kite (about 1 foot by 1 foot ) and mounts on a stalk on the front
of the flash which gets angled backwards slightly with the reflectro facing
towards the ceiling. Although somewhat fragile in the wind it is quite useable
on camera. This worked better in Modern's tests than the lumiquest type strap
on diffusers. I have a robust homemade version where I take one of those
polyethelene foam bags used to ship cameras etc (about 16inx16in x1/8"). I
point the flash head towards the ceiling and put the open end of the bag over
the flash head with a little tape.This keeps the bag fairly rigid so it looks
like a giant flash bulb when it goes off! It works well with wide lenses too,
since it is slightly bowed out at the edge.
Regards,
Tim Hughes
TimHughes@xxxxxxxx
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