Pop up flash diffuser

     It has arrived.  The pop up flash diffuser  I ordered from Shashinki.com yesterday afternoon arrived today at around noon.  I immediately tore open the packaging and found that it came in two pieces which you have to put together.  One piece is the white shield is used to diffuse the flase, and the other piece is the black arms with a hot shoe adapter, that holds the white piece in front of the pop up flash.

This is what the diffuser looks like in action.  You can view more pics of the diffuser in my previous post.

     As soon as I got home, I started shooting some photos to get the hang of having the diffuser attached.  I've made the following observations:

• The flash still casts shadows but their not as harsh.  I found that if I put my business card between the diffuser and my flash, the card would sit at almost a 45 degree angle and deflect the light to the ceiling.  This creates pretty much an effect similar to bouncing flash off of the ceiling with the more expensive Canon external flashes.
• Its best to shoot in manual (M) mode, set the shutter speed to 1/200s and ISO to 100 to get good results.  I used this with my nifty 50 and I had extremely sharp pictures.
• If the lighting is really low, the nifty 50 has trouble focusing, even when the flash is popped up.  This is due to the fact that the diffuser is blocking out most of the strobes that the flash is emitting which the focusing mechanism normally relies on to get a focus lock.
• With the diffuser attached, the flashes reach is only enough for about 20 feet, maximum.  Beyond that, I had to start reducing shutter speed, increasing ISO and increasing aperture.  Of course, if you wanted to get creative, then non of this applies...

     Below are sample pics taken in doors with the diffuser attached.  This was just before and just after sunset.

     If you're looking for an inexpensive way to soften your flash, this is a really good solution for a really low price.  Only RM 29.50 or around US $8.  You can think of it as a poor man's solution for diffusing and bouncing flash effects!