On Thu, 03 Oct 2002 19:51:04 -0400, Viken Karaguesian
>I'm considering buying a Sto-fen Omni Bounce for my Minolta 3500xi
>flash. I'm just wondering how exactly I should be using this. I've read
>the directions (thru th bad) and it says use it with the flash angled at
>45 degrees unless used in TTL flash mode. My camera (Minolta 800si) has
>TTL mode, but I've never actually *seen* anyone use it with the flash at
>90 degrees. What tye of results should I expect with the flash angled at
>45 degrees versus 90?
>Does it work well with telephoto lenses (up to 200mm) or should I use
>it mostly with 28-105 zoom lenses? Is it good for portraits? Will I lose
>a lot of flash distance? Does it do a good job spreading out the flash?
>Thanks in advance for any replies.
>Viken Karaguesian
One came with a used flash I bought, and like many
flash add-on "diffusers", it is most of the time just
a power waster. Unless the flash source size is
***CONSIDERABLY*** increased (and the subject-flash
distance is relatively short), shadows are not softened.
The bounce effect is useless unless the reflective surface
is VERY close, since a nearly even proportion of light is
bounced compared with direct light, and the additional
distance effect and losses in the reflection place the
reflected light level too low to be useful. Possible
uses: widening the lighting coverage for wide-angle lenses,
and placing the light (with the flash turned up) in a
better location for vertical photos (but a simple, cheap
styrofoam cup will serve as well for these purposes - and
it can also increase the light source size more, but this
is effective only at short subject-flash distances ...).
(BTW, it is preferable to avoid using HTML in these
text NGs when posting...)