Quick popup flash diffuser

[Viper]

Hi everyone, just a quick tip i stumbled across a while back, remember those old Fuji film canisters we used to throw out by the bucket load. Well they come in very handy these days as little pop up flash diffusers.

See the images below, you should remember that you will loose about a stop of light which easily compensated in your flash settings.

The great thing about this is its simple and free.

[Bill70]

Great Tip Viper. Thanks :th3:

[Hoffy42]

So simple yet so effective!

[NikonNellie]

Great tip viper .....now where did I put those old cannisters?

[kiwi]

I've heard table tennis balls work a treat too

[Viper]

I've heard table tennis balls work a treat too

Now thats interesting, I might give it a go..

[kiwi]

yeah, AND, paint them or get the coloured ones for gel effects

[Viper]

yeah, AND, paint them or get the coloured ones for gel effects

Ah awesome :D

[NikonNellie]

I just grabbed some white paper bags from the canteen at the school I work at to use with my speedlight - they work very well! A smaller version would be great for the on camera flash.

[Analog6]

I have used white and cream socks, liiks a bit funny but works a treat.

[bigbikes]

What a fantastic idea. Thanks for that. :th3:

[DzRbenson]

I need one of these, but not sure where to get the film canisters from

[arthurking83]

Can you post some comparative shots Viper?

I once tried a table tennis ball on my D70s.. but that was before the you beaut wirelessness of the SB800.
Of course the issue of SB's and all that jazz is that they're not always the handiest thing to lug about for a quick party gathering where you want to be lightweight and compact.
Table tennis balls squash too easily to have one in your pocket too, so even though they can work OK, they're not perfect.

[MrJorge]

Can you post some comparative shots Viper?

I'd be interested also if you don't mind.

[yummymummy]

me too.. hubbys uncle also said that this is what he uses on his Nikon, that or some greaseproof paper.. dunno how well that would work though.

[kiwi]

I need one of these, but not sure where to get the film canisters from


You can still buy film you know.

[kiwi]

Can you post some comparative shots Viper?

I once tried a table tennis ball on my D70s.. but that was before the you beaut wirelessness of the SB800.
Of course the issue of SB's and all that jazz is that they're not always the handiest thing to lug about for a quick party gathering where you want to be lightweight and compact.
Table tennis balls squash too easily to have one in your pocket too, so even though they can work OK, they're not perfect.


Perfect reason to have a sb-400 tucked in your pocket so you can at least bounce flash

[JM Tran]

You can still buy film you know.

go into any photo lab that develops film and they will give u loads of canisters

we used to keep a bucket full of canisters for photographers and enthusiasts to come and collect for this purpose or for archiving developed and uncut rolls, the cap of a canister also fits as a cap for the Pentax DA40 pancake lens, there are a lot of things u can do with canisters:)

even keeping lab samples and soil samples and bugs!

[ving]

pretty good... and for those that dont know, you can go to your local developer and get these for free! :)

i use a piece of plastic milk bottle.

[Viper]

Can you post some comparative shots Viper?

I once tried a table tennis ball on my D70s.. but that was before the you beaut wirelessness of the SB800.
Of course the issue of SB's and all that jazz is that they're not always the handiest thing to lug about for a quick party gathering where you want to be lightweight and compact.
Table tennis balls squash too easily to have one in your pocket too, so even though they can work OK, they're not perfect.

Heres a couple of quick (crappy:) ) comparative shots, the first is no diffuser and no compensation, the second is with the diffuser and + 1 flash comp.

Another way i use this little guy is when the on board flash is setup in commander mode and i am using an SB800 or 600 in various positions and at various intensities. This diffuser just helps to diffuse the on-board flash somewhat.

Hope this helps cheers Harry.

[DzRbenson]

Im going to check this out, My mrs went to the local photo shop and got a few for free.

Any pics on how it actually looks on the camera

[matilda]

oh wow that is very clever.

now to get my hands on a film canister.

[Viper]

Im going to check this out, My mrs went to the local photo shop and got a few for free.

Any pics on how it actually looks on the camera

Checkout the first post with pics attached.

[DzRbenson]

my bad, Long day at work

Cheers, Was it just a straight cut you used?

[Viper]

my bad, Long day at work

Cheers, Was it just a straight cut you used?

Yep its Friday mate i understand:)

Just a pair scissors and cut till the bottom then bend the flap and cut that off.

Cheers Harry.....

[Seesee]

:th3: ...Nikon people, they are the smartest :rolleyes: ....good simple idea that looks eay to do and to place on, good stuff !

[smorter]

Hey guys it's a good idea but I think unfortunately you are wasting your time, batteries and risking damage to your flashes.

Light Diffusion is a function of light source size, and distance to subject. That's why HUGE soft boxes, Umbrellas and bouncing light off ceilings and walls are used to diffuse light

There is a very minor source of diffusion in that this half film canister enlarges the surface area of the flash by about 100-150%. Sounds large, but in absolute terms, it's still smaller than a Speedlight's head.

The other possible source of diffusion is that some of the light is bouncing back from the translucent film canister material, and that may lead to a Gary Fong/Stofen [bare bulb] like effect where it scatters light to the walls behind you and the ceilings on top of you, and the walls to the side of you, but given the low degree of translucency of the material, and the low GN/power of the on board flash, this effect would be marginal.

Other than that, you are just wasting your batteries as the flash will have to work harder to compensate for the light loss for having to fire through the film canister, and also your flash range will be dramatically cut, as is evident from the sample shots on the previous page

I guess you have to ask yourself, if putting these materials in front of the flash help, why couldn't Nikon and Canon just have included something like this with their cameras? Why do Canon and Nikon use a clear material in front of their flash tubes instead? I

t's because the translucency of the material does nothing for light diffusion, it just cuts power and range. On the bottom of Page 2, there is a "before and after" shot. There actually is no diffusion - in the after shot, the material is just blocking a lot of the light, and consequently less of the flash is hitting the subject, hence it is darker looking, and more saturated in colour (because more of the ambient light is visible as the flash is having a lesser impact)

Is this better than nothing? It's a good idea, I guess it's helpful for macro where range is not important, but scattering some of the light downwards is important, so I guess so, but for other applications probably not.