In article <58ont2$irh@soda.CSUA.Berkeley.EDU>, kngharv@soda.CSUA.Berkeley.EDU says...

>I am planning on buying a diffuser for my flash.
>I have a Nikon FE with a 3rd party flash with guide number around
>100.
>Any suggestion? I am leaning toward those inflatable diffusion boxes,
>just because I know it can be compact, and won't collapse on accident
>like other diffusion box. or it doesn't matter?
>the bottom line is that I am trying to soften my light without make
>it bounce off the ceiling. I do prefer something I can carry it without
>too much hassel.
>I would like to know the brand and the maker of the product as well.

Hmmm, I feel like someone assigned to turn over each and every grain of
sand on the beach...;-) - often as I have posted about this, the message
is STILL not out, I guess... The little secret is that flash "diffusers"
do not work except under limited conditions, and then only a bit. We
would all like to add a $25 miniature gizmo to our flashes, and suddenly
have all the benefits of an umbrella or large soft-box flash system, but,
alas, we can't (contrary to popular opinion, bolstered by the blatherings
of the perveyors of those mini flash add-ons...;-). The facts: shadow
edge sharpness is determined by the relative light source size, period.
Shadow depth is determined by how much light you can fill it with, period.
"Diffusion" as a concept that somehow allows for a softening of the light
is a myth, period. Unless you can seriously enlarge the light source size
(the add-ons can enlarge it only slightly, which helps a little when
shooting close to the subject, but can do little else except broaden the
light to cover wide-angles or reduce the light output [both can be useful
at times]), either by bouncing off a large area, or using a true (big!)
soft-box, little is usefully changed by adding tidbits to an on-camera
flash (though I have been known to use a medium Styrofoam cup over an
up-turned flash head to reduce light for close-in TTL wide-aperture
fast-film shooting, to get the light source above the lens in verticals,
to cover super-wides and fisheyes, and to soften the light slightly
when shooting very close to a subject ;-). BTW, you can use available
light as a fill for the flash to lighten shadows (yuh, it's usually done
the other way around, but this does work...;-). You can use opposite
filtering of the flash and lens for color corrections, if desired.
A useful technique for me is to double the ASA (no change in processing),
and meter normally for both ambient and flash lighting. I get a "free"
extra stop in speed, color and exposure errors are likely cut in half,
and the shadows are softer. I pop on the Styrofoam cup, when needed...
Hope This Helps