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Flash Diffuser for Canon S2IS
Fri, 2006-04-28 10:30 — udijw
John Wilkins writes:
I've been reading your site diligently since I found it late last year.
Love the site btw.
I don't have a full article, but I've made my own flash diffuser with a piece of tape and a snip of paper for my Canon S2 IS. I have to say that even though it's very lo-fi, it has very dramatic effects on my photos. It's very easy to do, and takes no dexterity at all. Just cut a 1 inch by .25 inch piece of paper, take a 2 inch piece of tape, fold one end for quick removal, place the paper on the tape, align it over the flash, affix, and wham-o. Instant diffuser. The corners on top can be trimmed to fit the flash, and like mine there will be a piece of tape covering the name Canon on the flash.
Whew! How's that for a geeky run-on sentence?
I had no idea how dramatic the difference was until I gathered the images to send to you.I took the example pics of the SD400; the images of the diffuser on my camera were taken by someone else; I hope this helps some other budding noobie like me!
Enjoy!
Canon S2IS with diffuser #1
Canon S2IS with diffuser #2
A picture taken with the diffuser
A picture taken without the diffuser
Click here to see DIYPhotography.net answer
This is what DIYPhotography.net has to answer:
Hi John,
Thanks for the letter and photos. I think your idea is great, and very easy to build.
I have one suggestion for improvement. Tape the paper in a way that it will not be totally glued to the flash, that way the light will have some more space to get out of, and you will get even more diffused light. Now it looks like this: ||, and if it looked like this: |) it would be even better. You can also try using a special peper used for engineers which is half transparent to loose less light.
Also you might take a look at the flash mounted softbox and flash diffuser articles to get inspired.
Warm regards,
Udi.
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Comments
perfect
I have an S2 IS that just became the backup to my Rebel XTi, and was looking for exactly this solution for its flash. I just acquired some diffuser paper from a friend at a video shop so I'll try it with that as well as the regular paper. Thanks!
Max
Hello, Udi. I'm not too sure
Hello, Udi. I'm not too sure what you meant when you suggest changing the mounting of the piece of paper. I was wondering if you could post a picture-diagram of how you suggested to set it up on the flash. Thanks a lot.
- Dany
Flash and paper
Hi Dany,
The Idea is to have some space between the flash and the paper. right now, all the paper does is block some of the light.
If you took a picture of the camera while it's on board flash is "on" you'd see that the square of light on the paper is equal in its size to the size of the flash head.
If, however, there was some space between them, the square of light on the paper was bigger, and acting light a bigger light source, and giving more diffused light. The "price" you pay for this nice trick, is the you weaken the light that is coming out of the flash.
See this product for the general idea.
Best regards, Udi
Oh what a good tip. I'll
Oh what a good tip. I'll definitely have to give it a try on my EOS 350D :)
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