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On-Board Flash Diffuser
Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2011 9:17 am
by Dr. Harout
A do it yourself flash diffuser.
If you have a transparent (translucent
) film can, marker and a cutter, than this will cost you nothing.
1- Take the film can
2- Take the dimensions of your on board flash (width and height), mention it with a marker on the film can and cut it sliding carefully.
Important notices: do not cut the edge of the can, begin from the inner side. And be careful not to harm yourself.
3- Gently slide it on the onboard flash (you surely don't want to break it)
Enjoy.
P.S.: You may want to shoot in RAW to fix a bit the temperature and tint.
BTW, all shots with a700 + 30/2.8 Macro + HVL-MT24AM
I would love to hear of your successes.
Re: On-Board Flash Diffuser
Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2011 2:26 pm
by mvanrheenen
Great DIY solution, Doctor!
I tried using some thin paper and some shamefull origami skills to get some diffusion for the on-board flash of my a580. Suffice to say, it didn't really do the job
Re: On-Board Flash Diffuser
Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2011 10:30 pm
by Birma
Great idea Doc and a very nicely illustrated set of instructions. Just not sure what these film canisters are that you're using
.
Re: On-Board Flash Diffuser
Posted: Fri Feb 18, 2011 1:18 am
by Dr. Harout
Usually Fuji films were in such "translucent" cans.
Re: On-Board Flash Diffuser
Posted: Fri Feb 18, 2011 2:24 am
by David Kilpatrick
Excellent idea. Now maybe if the black cans turn out to be transparent to infra-red we also have a flash trigger!
Seriously - just wrap some unexposed, processed slide film inside the can and that will convert it to an IR trigger, but you still need a programmable or digital-savvy slave flash cell (or studio flash like the Elinchrom D-Lite 2/4 IT)
David
Re: On-Board Flash Diffuser
Posted: Fri Feb 18, 2011 3:45 am
by pakodominguez
Wow!
Where did you find the film can?
Enjoy!
Re: On-Board Flash Diffuser
Posted: Fri Feb 18, 2011 7:52 am
by UrsaMajor
pakodominguez wrote:Wow!
Where did you find the film can?
I think it is safe to assume that you are joking - especially since you work at Adorama.
However . . . if you actually want one of the Fuji film canisters for a project like this, I have some empties that I can spare, plus some that contain unexposed film and cannot spare - yet. I've found these to be handy storage containers for small items, and have been using them for that purpose for years.
With best wishes,
- Tom -
Re: On-Board Flash Diffuser
Posted: Fri Feb 18, 2011 9:12 am
by Dr. Harout
UrsaMajor wrote:pakodominguez wrote:Wow!
Where did you find the film can?
I think it is safe to assume that you are joking - especially since you work at Adorama.
However . . . if you actually want one of the Fuji film canisters for a project like this, I have some empties that I can spare, plus some that contain unexposed film and cannot spare - yet. I've found these to be handy storage containers for small items, and have been using them for that purpose for years.
With best wishes,
- Tom -
And that's the way I found my film can.
Re: On-Board Flash Diffuser
Posted: Fri Feb 18, 2011 4:06 pm
by Mr_Alpha_2011
coffee filter works well too
Re: On-Board Flash Diffuser
Posted: Fri Feb 18, 2011 6:33 pm
by pakodominguez
UrsaMajor wrote:pakodominguez wrote:Wow!
Where did you find the film can?
I think it is safe to assume that you are joking - especially since you work at Adorama.
However . . . if you actually want one of the Fuji film canisters for a project like this, I have some empties that I can spare, plus some that contain unexposed film and cannot spare - yet. I've found these to be handy storage containers for small items, and have been using them for that purpose for years.
With best wishes,
- Tom -
I start working in photolabs back in 1988, at that time we didn't know what to do with thousands of plastic film's cans... Now: try to find one! (AdoramaPix became 100% digital 5 years ago) I have my own collection of canisters, transparent and black, just in case one day I'll need them.
Back on subject, I always found that a diffuser on a flash is a "lazy" solution (but better than nothing) and I have a lot of respect for a guy like Gary Fong, specially his business model, but I'll never recommend one of his diffusers.
Regards.
Re: On-Board Flash Diffuser
Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2011 5:44 pm
by Dusty
My 2 year old handed me one the other day. Of course, I'd been storing computer screws and small parts in all of them for years, so it was a bit to scratched and dirty to use. Maybe I can find one laying around unused. Mosly, it's the black ones that are unused, since I can't see contents from the outside, I didn't use them for storage.
Dusty
Re: On-Board Flash Diffuser
Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2011 7:38 pm
by bakubo
I used to have so many Kodachrome metal film cans, grey plastic Kodak film cans, and translucent (correct usage of the term, I think
) plastic Fuji film cans, but a few years ago I finally threw most of them out. Can't keep carrying stuff around forever. I think I might still have a couple of the metal cans somewhere and a few of the plastic ones. Also, I still have some old unused Fuji and Kodak film in the freezer.