Garry Edwards
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Are pretty useless indoors and totally pointless outdoors, This video may help to explain why
Flashgun and flash head diffusers
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Garry Edwards
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It would have been interesting if he had also shown the bounce and bounce with diffuser options, firstly to show that bounced is much softer than direct, but also to see if there is actually any advantage to using a diffuser when bouncing (I'm not sure - if it means the light is now bouncing off more surfaces, does it go too far, and just lead to flat light?)
The only suggestion I've seen on using those dome diffusers where they might be good is using a camera flashgun(with Fresnel lens) inside a softbox - where spreading the light from the flash makes it closer to a bare bulb effect, evening out the light from the softbox - can someone with more experience confirm (or dismiss) this?
The only suggestion I've seen on using those dome diffusers where they might be good is using a camera flashgun(with Fresnel lens) inside a softbox - where spreading the light from the flash makes it closer to a bare bulb effect, evening out the light from the softbox - can someone with more experience confirm (or dismiss) this?
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Garry Edwards
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We used to have a very active and knowledgeable member here, HoppyUK, who wrote technical articles for photography magazines. He did a lot of testing and, from memory, found that using a diffuser on a hotshoe flashgun inside a softbox, umbrella or whatever not only levelled the playing field, creating much more consistent results regardless of the design/quality of the modifier, but also created much more even illumination on the front diffuser.
Back in the day, I did similar tests myself, and found that he was right. His tests were much more comprehensive than mine because they needed to be, my preferred option has always been to use studio flash instead of flashguns whenever possible, so I only half-did it
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Garry Edwards
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We used to have a very active and knowledgeable member here, HoppyUK, who wrote technical articles for photography magazines. He did a lot of testing and, from memory, found that using a diffuser on a hotshoe flashgun inside a softbox, umbrella or whatever not only levelled the playing field, creating much more consistent results regardless of the design/quality of the modifier, but also created much more even illumination on the front diffuser.
Back in the day, I did similar tests myself, and found that he was right. His tests were much more comprehensive than mine because they needed to be, my preferred option has always been to use studio flash instead of flashguns whenever possible, so I only half-did it
Totally agree with your comments, hot shoe & off camera (hammer head) flash guns typically use clear patterned diffuses to provide more even lighting with wider angle lenses.
LED lights are often quite directional, I can't understand why they use opaque diffusers which cut light output, rather than clear prismatic perspex, or similar.
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If you are talking about using a speedlight in a front firing softbox, then it is absolutely beneficial. In a rear firing softbox it is much less so.
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There are variables that can make big differences.
The starting point is that hotshoe flashguns are a bad choice for rear-fitting softboxes, simply because they have a tiny, harsh built-in reflector that stops the light from spreading out as it should.
Well-designed softboxes, made from good materials, do a sometimes adequate job of overcoming this limitation (as long as they aren't too big), partly because the rear diffuser is fairly distant from the light source, and partly because the rear diffuser (both diffusers in fact) are up to the job and diffuse the light well.
But the cheap ones tend to have a poor and small rear diffuser, far too close to the light source, the light only hits a small area and the poor diffusion doesn't spread the light enough, and none of the light bounces off of the walls of the softbox as it is designed to do.
And the world has changed, very few people now buy good softboxes, they go for the cheapest, and of course retailers stock what people buy, so few good ones are even available.
A diffuser on the light can't cure this problem, but it does spread the light much more effectively, and so some light bounces off of the softbox walls, as it should.
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To add to @Garry Edwards note re Hoppy, I think he ended up with a simple Stofen type diffuser with a piece of foil in the top and some of the long edges removed to mitigate the hot spot effect. I have considered trying it.