Portrait shots - Demb Flip-It or Sto-fen Diffuser

TomWoozle

TomWoozle

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Hi everyone,

I recently got a Jessops 360AFD flashgun for my Sony Alpha and have experimented with bouncing light off wall and ceilings and can see the certain improvement over firing the flash direct on my target.

However, when there are no good options for bouncing the flash I am left with the built in 'diffuser'.

I've been looking at choices for this and have narrowed it down to two options:

1) Demb Flip-It - Jumbo is $35 + $5.50 shipping.

2) Sto-Fen Omnibounce - £19 + £4.

Does anyone have any advice on which would be more appropriate, mainly for portraits but possibly for occasional other use (martial arts competitions)? Experience of either or help me to understand main differences would be good.

Thanks. :)
 
I have a stofen, which I use for events and such to bounce light more effectively off of whats there - awellas throwing a bit forward to fill in the eyes.

never tried the flip it so cant compare

for proper portraits where your messing around and have time what about spending it on ebay triggers and getting the flash off camera
 
£19 for a stofen? Blimey..... it's a piece of plastic ferchrissakes... you can get them for about £3 on ebay. no brainer. You basically use it in rooms where there's white-ish walls, as it makes the flash act like a bare bulb flash, and bounce off the ceiling / walls, giving much softer light than just the one point. However, it doesn't work everywhere inside, and does NOTHING outside, other than eat your batteries and recycle times.

As for the flip things, it increases the softness of the light a wee bit because it increases the size of the light source, and also makes it more even (rather than hotspot centre of the flash, where the tube is, it's the whole white board size). I'm pretty sure I've seen another company (bounce-it rings a bell, can't find it though...) selling exactly the same thing cheaper. Failing that, a piece of margerine tub lid (with black gaffer tape on the printed side to make it look 'pro', velcrod to the top of your flash is a good way of doing it too, and basically all that that $35 bounce card is...
 
david1701 said:
for proper portraits where your messing around and have time what about spending it on ebay triggers and getting the flash off camera
Click to expand...

Yes, I've been reading a bit about this and it is definitely something I will be doing in the near future. I will still want something like this for when I'm just out and about.

photon said:
http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=117637
Click to expand...

Thanks - from having had a quick skim this looks like it has a lot of good information and I'll be reading it in a moment. :)

itsdavedotnet said:
£19 for a stofen? Blimey..... it's a piece of plastic ferchrissakes... you can get them for about £3 on ebay. no brainer. You basically use it in rooms where there's white-ish walls, as it makes the flash act like a bare bulb flash, and bounce off the ceiling / walls, giving much softer light than just the one point. However, it doesn't work everywhere inside, and does NOTHING outside, other than eat your batteries and recycle times.
Click to expand...

I didn't realise they did nothing outside, I must admit and I think that makes the decision for me.

itsdavedotnet said:
Failing that, a piece of margerine tub lid (with black gaffer tape on the printed side to make it look 'pro', velcrod to the top of your flash is a good way of doing it too, and basically all that that $35 bounce card is...
Click to expand...

You speak sense but I'm crap at putting things together myself and I love shiny new things!! :)

Thanks for the advice everyone! :)
 
stofens don't do nowt outside - can make a flash head into a bare bulb (ish) for lighting behind some thing, but on camera they eat a fair bit of power
 
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