I have a Di622 MkII.
I have one of those cheapo $10 diffuser caps and found that the resulting light is still rather harsh.
I have a D.I.Y bounce card as well which works nicely but I only bring it along for events and portraits because I find it rather cumbersome(large).
I like to travel light.
Hence I wanted to find something simple and effective that I can bring around everyday for general shooting.
Any advice/alternatives would be helpful. =)
*@impulsive, How does that cap work for you? Mind linking me sample pics taken using the cap? :embrass:
@Catchlights, I went to StoFen's online store and tried ordering but the total cost would make it more expensive than getting it from shops here. =(
You need to understand why the light is harsh.
Diffusers diffuse light by increasing the surface area of the light source. In a smaller indoor setting, if you point the flash up and use a diffuser cap, the cap lights up like a bulb, the light hits the walls and ceiling and bounces, wrapping your subject, giving the nice diffused quality. So if you are in a bigger room with higher ceilings and/or very little walls that are quite quite far away, the bounce effect will be minimized, and all the light hitting your subject is just the size of that diffuser cap. Since the cap is about the size of the flash head, the light will be as harsh as the flash without the diffuser cap. A cap diffuser will be completely ineffective in outdoor situation.
A bounce card works a lot better, because you are bouncing light on a much larger card, thereby increasing the size of the light. Even if there are no ceiling to bounce the light off from, the bounce card is bigger than the flash head, and will hence give you more diffused light compared to a bare flash.
So understand the basics of light, and you will know that a china diffuser cap or a better quality stofen omnibounce,makes very little difference in real world usage.
BTW, I own an original stofen omnibounce, as well as a third party china one, as well as the original one that came from Nikon (for SB900). They all give about the same quality of light.
