Flash Diffuser for Macro

T

taxboy

Suspended / Banned
Messages
1,985
Edit My Images
Yes
I fancy having a go at insect macro photography this summer and my initial research suggests using a flash diffuser can be beneficial.

It would seem that the main designs are AK from the USA or Cygnustech from Australia. I fully appreciate this adds further to the cost but I'm currently stalling on spending that amount on trying a genre out.
The materials of these don't seem that great but probably the main cost was all the R&D, testing and small scale manufacturing.

From users out there is it a case of needing to bite the bullet and get one of these or trying something a little more homemade. I'll be using a Canon R7 with EF 90mm f2.8 macro and Canon EX430ii flash if this impacts the answers

Any advice great fully appreciated
 
Plenty of plastic flash diffusers to fit on your flash gun available very cheaply on e.bay .. flat ones ,domed ones etc no need to spend loads till you need to… even L.e.d light banks will do the same job
 
The Popeshield diffuser gets very good reviews and is considerably cheaper than AK and Cygnustech.
I have a Popeshield on order.
 
I have a Popeshield.

Be careful as mine has ripped next to one of the mounting screws.

They are a bit flimsy.

Duct tape sorted it though.
 
Check out home made ones on Youtube. Some seem to work very well.
 
PatrickO said:
How do you find the flash diffusion with the Popeshield?
Click to expand...
It's very good in all honesty.

However I have nothing else to compare it to.

If I were starting out I'd not buy the Popeshield.

The delivery time was months and there are better made diffusers out there.
 
I always use home brew. I once modded your flash with an oblong of self-adhesive white felt (the type you put on the bottom of chair legs. Diffusion was excellent, light transmission about 20%. If you have a 3d printer, you can find loads of free resources on the web.
 
I've used the white packaging sheet stuff and layered it to get the density in like. I dunno what it's called but the kinda stuff that say for example new TV's are wrapped in.
 
I'm in the same boat. I've just got a macro lens and looked at diffusers - Paying £70+ for what they are seems ridiculous to me.

I've just made my own with some cardboard, white paper and black tape. Works pretty well! I'll post some pics when I get home tonight.
 
jimmyjamjojo said:
I'm in the same boat. I've just got a macro lens and looked at diffusers - Paying £70+ for what they are seems ridiculous to me.

I've just made my own with some cardboard, white paper and black tape. Works pretty well! I'll post some pics when I get home tonight.
Click to expand...

I'd be interested to see what you've done
 
And this is what my current one looks like ... works really well. Also, here is a shot to show the Velcro strips used to attach the reflector made from a bit of an insulated pizza box!IMG_2666.jpegIMG_2667.jpeg
 
Thanks to everyone for their input. I'm certainly interested to see people's diy versions. I think the idea of using a pre made diffuser was to try and limit the inevitable issues of "why aren't my images looking good" by having a known factor. I would only need to reevaluate my technique rather than also considering is my equipment to blame. However my experience with photography is that 99% of the time it's technique !
 
I have a softbox which fits over the Nikon SB 600 Speedlight, and a diffuser which slips over the lens like this one diffuser (ebay link) I have a spare one so if you want it send me your address and I will pop it in the post.
 
JayceeC said:
I have a softbox which fits over the Nikon SB 600 Speedlight, and a diffuser which slips over the lens like this one diffuser (ebay link) I have a spare one so if you want it send me your address and I will pop it in the post.
Click to expand...
That's very kind of you - many thanks will PM
 
It's janky, but it works. Inside is lined with foil.

The main advantage of this style (and AK/Cygnus etc) is that there is no light spill. Others with open sides send a lot of light out into nowhere, so you either need to up the power, open your aperture, or up your ISO.

The main thing you want from a diffuser - at least in a macro sense - is surface area. It's not about scattering the light in every direction, but rather having the light come from every direction.
When the subject is under the dome part, it gets lit from above, as well as left and right and in front. Other designs like the caps that fit over the flash simply scatter the light in all directions, but the source remains much the same size. That's fine for general photography, but not so good for macro.

1000012393.jpg1000012395.jpg1000012394.jpg1000012397.jpg
 
no its a flash diffuser bought from Amazon , I think it was about £5
Screenshot-2025-05-28-at-22.11.52.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top