On 28 May 1998 18:43:11 GMT, sign@troi.cc.rochester.edu (Curtis Signorino) wrote:

>When would one use the Stofen Omnibounce vs the Lumiquest Pocket Bouncer
>vs the Lumiquest Softbox? The Stofen webpage doesn't say anything about
>their products (except price). As a newbie photo hobbiest, it wasn't
>clear to me from Lumiquest's page when I'd want to use the Pocket Bouncer
>vs the Softbox. They all appear to be three very different attachments
>for spreading and softening light. But are there situations where one is
>more appropriate than the other?

We-e-e-l-l-l....;-) (This comes up every once in a while, is an
excellent question, but often points up the power of advertising
over reality...) Under common conditions, most of the flash
accessories do little but cost flash power. IF there are VERY
nearby nearly white reflecting surfaces, then widening the flash
light angle to include them may soften shadows a bit (and it is
certainly useful when using extreme wide angle lenses). But
unless the apparent light source size is very noticeably increased
(most of these add-ons don't really do that, alas, and "diffusion"
doesn't really count for this), and unless this enlarged light
source is reasonably near the main subject, there is no advantage.
Two accessories that I have found useful: a white Styrofoam cup
placed over the up-turned flash head, and "The Scoop", which does
increase the apparent light source size, and also allows (as does
the cup) placing the flash light above the lens for vertical
photos.