The DIY 99p Stofen Diffuser

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jpwone

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Just got in from shooting a wedding this afternoon and running through my checklist this morning I realised that my Stofen had gone walkabout. The Stofen is useful (even outdoors) for simple portraits as it can reduce the harshness of the fill light and soften any facial shadows. Knowing I would need one I turned to my usual emergency lighting diffuser supplier, my kitchen and bathroom.

The bathroom was disappointing but the kitchen had a gem of a surprise. A soap dispenser in a semi-transparent plastic white rectangular bottle. At the moment these are available in just the right size as they are being sold with 50% extra free so instead of the usual slim bottle this is 1.5 times deeper.

The product you are looking for is a Cussens Carex Sensitive soap dispenser with 50% Extra free. It come with a lilac top and the bottle looks lilac when full. Once emptied and washed out the bottle is a beautiful semi-transparent nearly white colour. They cost 99 pence and are available in Waitrose and I would imagine most major super markets. Even if you throw the soap away (I saved it in a bowl) this is a superb deal.

Measure 3 inches from the bottom and cut the top off with a sharp pair of scissors and wash thoroughly. The plastic name labels peel off easily and leave no residue. A rubber band around my Metz 54 and it was a perfect fit. Two rubber bands around my SB24 and another perfect fit. Tested with both and no colour cast at all just a great diffused light. The best part is that it looks as good as the real thing and works at least as well. DIY it may be but it looks the part and works.

I used it extensively today for the wedding and it worked very well. If anything (because it is slightly longer than a Stofen) it actually gave me a more pleasing image and did not get knocked off or fall off.

I have just been out and bought 4 more for the princely sum of £3.96 giving me a total of 5 'stofens'.

Seriously, it looks good and works very well. This is the bargain of the century for those who need a 'stofen'.

John
 
Yep, a quick shot of the 'stofen' fitted to a metz 54 and the unconverted original.

cheap_stofen_web.jpg


Sorry, no pictures taken with the combination as I am processing these over the next few days for the client and am too cream crackered at the moment to take a demo shot but I will put one on the thread over the next day or two.

John
 
Superb, I love this kind of stuff, photography is infested with people who will charge us silly money for the most mundane things.

I take my hat off to you Sir, I have made a beauty dish from a tescos salad bowl and bought a silver windscreen cover to use as a reflector. As good as the real thing, probably not but huge fun for very little outlay.
 
thanxs for taking the time to reply. off to the shops in the morning to get some (y)
 
It should work very well on the 430 EX (the head is about the same size as the Nikon SB 24 - I own both). With the 430 I use the Stofen so often that I have tape wrapped around the head (instead of bands) to bring it up to the same size as the metz 54 (which is very similar to the 580 EX in size). I should be getting my 430EX back tomorrow from another tog who has borrowed it for the weekend (suspect that is where my stofen went as well - I probably left it on). Come to think of it that is almost definitely where the stofen is as he even asked me if I needed the stofen. Age is creeping up on me :)

For 99p surely it must be worth a try?

John
 
A quick shot using it on the Nikon SB28 - a little lose fit but a couple of elastic bands soon fixed that.

Not the worlds greatest shot but it does illutrate that it works.

testonsb28.jpg


Flash was mounted on camera and pointed up to the ceiling. Did not try for anything fancy with this.

John
 
That's a great idea, love it. The Stofen for my SB-40 was, at 15 quid, the most expensive piece of cruddy cheap plastic I ever bought. Don't get me wrong, it does the job brilliantly, but sheesh - what a rip off.
 
billybob99 said:
I've used a rizla stuck on my in built flash before now
Click to expand...

that doesn't do the same thing as a stofen, and can also damage your flash. A stofen makes the flash appear as a single light source (like a bare bulb), so the light bounces off the walls and ceiling, giving you much softer light due to the light coming from 'all around' the subject. It does not directly 'diffuse' the light, the light is softened only by the fact that it is appearing as a huge light source the size of the walls and ceilings.

while afaik they don't do them for metz guns, 'real' stofens are about £2 from dealextreme/focalprice/ebay
 
I have Four of this with soap in in the house. Missus is out shopping, will tell her to get some replacements.
 
made one as I had just finished some up, It needs some "making pretty" but it seems to work great. Almost looks like the real deal.
 
The "Carex" diffuser, no good tog should be without one!!
 
haha, nice work, love it! Would going for the lemon one give a different amount of diffusion? :D
 
No, I'll smell really clean though!!!
 
Richard thank you for posting this comparison. I suppose I should have really done the same but I was already convinced it a.) worked and b.) was probably colour neural (or so close as to make no significant difference).

Love the 'Carex' diffuser title posted earlier by lawrie29. As the 'creator' of this money saving alternative I will now officially adopt the name in all future references :)

I now have 5 (I'm giving one away tomorrow to another photographer) and will be left with 4 but I don't care because I can go and buy 5 more if I want for the price of 2 cups of coffee. Five diffusers. I feel like a rich man. Only the rich have 5 diffusers :)

John
 
jpwone said:
Richard thank you for posting this comparison. I suppose I should have really done the same but I was already convinced it a.) worked and b.) was probably colour neural (or so close as to make no significant difference).

Love the 'Carex' diffuser title posted earlier by lawrie29. As the 'creator' of this money saving alternative I will now officially adopt the name in all future references :)

I now have 5 (I'm giving one away tomorrow to another photographer) and will be left with 4 but I don't care because I can go and buy 5 more if I want for the price of 2 cups of coffee. Five diffusers. I feel like a rich man. Only the rich have 5 diffusers :)

John
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Now all you need is another 3 flashes..... ;)

I'm going to buy one tomorrow.
 
I have made one from the extra free bottle, and it is too large for my Jessops el cheapo flash. I am going to see how a standard size bottle fits in a day or so.......
 
Sofens are going to be pretty miffed with Carex :) Mind you it shows what they should cost if carex can do them for 99p with soap.
Thanks for sharing this, in these troubled times any cost saving is a bonus.
 
The sharing bit is a real pleasure. Over the years I have received a lot of help and support through various projects on a number of forums and it is the sharing of knowledge by others that has forced research, experimentation and the development of my own photography.

I don't think the 'Carex' diffuser is going to be a life changing event for anyone but it might save a few bob for those of us who diffusers regularly and could also allow some to try a diffuser that they otherwise would not have considered because of the price.

Plus I wanted to show off a bit with my new found toy :)

John
 
I have purchased some sticky velcro to put on the inside of the Carex and a bit on the flashgun. Should keep it in place nicely and allow for easy removal.
 
Great minds think alike!

I made one 2 weeks ago from the bottom of a Tesco Coconut Shampoo bottle.

Works a treat!

I've also just made a 'black straw' snoot which works incredibly well.
Made from the cover off an A4 folder (black vinyl) and 60mm lengths of black drinking straws.

Couldn't find black straws anywhere, but googled them and got a box of 500 for about £3 on 'tinternet!
 
I've already got my eye on the 750ml refill bottle in the bathroom, it's still two thirds full but it looks just the right size for my vivitar 285 clone.
 
NeilG40 said:
I've already got my eye on the 750ml refill bottle in the bathroom, it's still two thirds full but it looks just the right size for my vivitar 285 clone.
Click to expand...

It could always "fall" into the bath with the top off?
 
I just made this from the exact same set up as the OP and it works! The girlfriend thought I had OCD after washing my hands 16 times in one day, but it saved me a few quid anyway. Cheers! :D
 
jpwone said:
Pleased it worked for you Laudrup.

I've got another good one coming that I'll post over the next few days. Not as cheap but will improve off camera flash using umbrellas no end.

John
Click to expand...

oolala, few days? Wanna tell us now? lol
 
I've got two that are probably worthy of a post :)

I've got two weddings to process at the moment and I've got to get them done. I also want to photograph these 'ideas' to present them properly and hopefully keep the questions to a reasonable level. I'll get the first done in the next day or two. The second may take a bit longer.

The first is a really simple and cheapish way of using off camera flash (no umbrella) without a traditional light stand and getting the flash up to heights of 3.5 metres. This can be very useful when you are in the crowd and want to use your flash but there are a load of heads in the way. It can also be a simple way of getting some nice fill light into a large hall. I'll do another thread in the next day or so on this one.

The second is a way of getting an off camera flash head and umbrella shaft centre to be on the same line. The usual solutions put the flash head at least 8 inches above the umbrella shaft and with smaller umbrellas this means you are actually just getting the flash to hit the top two thirds of the umbrella (at best) and are losing a lot of the effect of the umbrella and wasting a lot of light. This is a bit more complex and it has taken me a while to source readily available parts to modify a standard flash umbrella bracket to achieve this.

Here's two quick ones for you though. If you buy one of the cheaper umbrellas you will find that the shaft is usually open at the end and is easily crushed when tightened. Get some 6mm or 7mm dowel (depends on umbrella) and shove it down the shaft. Cut it off when it will go not further and then put some general purpose adhesive in the hole (just a bit) and refit the dowel. You can now tighten it up (within reason) without crushing it.

The end of the umbrella shaft is a nasty pointy bit of metal which can take an eye out. Get some wine corks, champagne corks also work very well :) Drill a 6mm hole about 1 inch deep into it. Fit it to the end of the umbrella after fitting the umbrella to the stand. Instant eye protection. The nice bit about this one is that every time you open a bottle of wine you could at a stretch consider it work as you are creating the tools for the job :)

John
 
top tip...ive got my eye on 2 potentioal diffusers in the bathroom...
 
For a full on "softbox" try a 4 pint or 6 pint milk jug. I had a 4 pint version for a while, backed on one side with some foil and wrapped in clingfilm to hold it all together. It worked well but did not look professional enough for use at weddings :D

I don't have it any longer but here's a shot taken with it, used off camera and close to my subject. I had to modify the catchlight in the eye, but see how soft the light is, and how subtle the shadows....

20080514_151205_2_LR.jpg


This was actually shot outdoors in daylight, so you can see here that the flash was doing all the work as the lawn behind the robin has all but vanished.
 
This is brilliant... just called into Somerfield and picked up 2 Carex diffusers for £2 and they fit my 580EXII pretty well! :)
 
If it hasn't already been done, I can also confirm for the 430EXII owners that it works well. I'm going to take some shots with my Carex & Stofen, compare the results, and then maybe look disappointingly at my £12 Stofen.
 
Having thought about it, seeing as these bottles are a very good size, could you say, cut the end of one, spray paint the inside black, then fill with black straws for a pro looking snoot? Or doctor one to use as a reflector?
 
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