>> 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...;-).

> Well, I do use avaliable light to fill the shadow. Since I use
>manual mode most of time, I what I do is adjust the shutter speed to
>adjust avaliable light. It's not uncommon for me to set shutter speed to
>something like 1/8 of second when I am using a flash!
> I just want something adds on to my key-light source to make light
>a bit smoother in ADDITION to using avaliable light to fill the shadow.
>From what you stated earlier, it seems that the diffusion box doesn't work
>too well, isn't it?
> "Harvey H. King"

Alas, it doesn't (unless you are within 2-3' of the subject), for two reasons: the little "soft-box" add-on is not efficient, so most of
the light comes from a small hot-spot in the middle, and even if the
whole front were evenly illuminated, it is too small to do much
beyond a few feet (darn!). Try the Styrofoam cup trick - cheap, easy
(except for all those explanations...;-), and it works as well as
anything for shooting close, short of a real umbrella/soft-box.
David Ruether