sto-fen omni bounce for 430EX II

Hi everyone! I'm just new here in the forum & a newbie as well in the world of photography. I just want to ask some suggestions & opinions regarding the STO-FEN OMNI BOUNCE FLASH DIFFUSER. I recently bought a canon speedlite 430EX II and playing with it for a while now, I'm thinking of buying the said flash diffuser to see if it will help a bit to produce much more soft images when using the flash on a bounce technique or even using the flash directly. Any comments & suggestions are welcome. Thank you very much!

First check out Bryan's review here if you havent...


http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Sto-Fen-OmniBounce.aspx


His was done on a 580exII but results will be comparable with your flash. I will say that I HAD one of these, and now I hardly use it. I imagine you will hear from some people that love them. They take more flash power to use, since they are basically shooting through a surface less translucent than air. Not long after I purchased one, I started getting into off camera lighting, so I just don't use it.


I wish I had more for you, but in the end, they are only around 10 bucks, so if you don't end up liking it, you could just feed your cat from it? [H]

I did a post on light modifiers a while back that you may find useful. However, the post deals exclusively with off-camera flash and does not cover the Sto-Fen. I think it's still worth a read, though...

hi there


i bought the Sto-Fen Omni-Bounce flash diffuser for my 430EX II about a year ago, but don't really use it any more. it's an inexpensive accessory, that does what it's supposed to - increase the area of the light source. however, i use my 430EX II mainly for bounce flash (i hate the look of direct flash), and i don't like the way that the Omni-Bounce still lights my subjects even if i'm pointing my flash head upwards off the ceiling. it also "sucks up" more battery power and light from the flash too. however, if i was forced to take a photo with direct flash, i'd use the Omni-Bounce to achieve a slightly less stark image


hope that's useful!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cxr

I'm thinking of buying the said flash diffuser to see if it will help a bit to produce much more soft images when using the flash on a bounce technique or even using the flash directly. Any comments & suggestions are welcome. Thank you very much!

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cxr,


Welcome to the forum.


I wrote a few suggestions in this thread a couple of days ago concerning omni-bounce and bounce flash technique.


Hope it helps.

I use them quite often on all my flashes...either direct or through an umbrella. After going to a class by Joe McNally on off camera flash(kelbytraining.com), and seeing his results first hand....I tend to try to emulate his results, and his results turn out pretty friggin' good!! By doing that,he says, you create an even softer light by diffusing it that much more. watching him in action was pretty amazing. In SF, where the training took place, there were 750 people attending...so I think that can attribute to his knowledge base, and success. Check out his blog, where he describes a lot of his shots(and his books, too), and the lighting for each. Pretty informative.

Thanks everyone! Really appreaciate all your suggestions & opinion.