Few months ago I saw someone using what appear to be a mini softbox mounted on his 580EX, I believe he use a flash bracket for the 580EX. Where can I get these mini-softbox? how effective are they and do you have any experience with them?

If 2ftx2ft is still "small" i've been using a Lastolite Ezybox for quite a while now. I love it's quality of light and setup. Plus, it folds down to a bag smaller than most reflector bags, which is KEY.

Lastolite Ezybox

definitely not it, the one I saw is MUCH smaller than that, like atleast half the size of that Lstolite Ezybox.

yauyi wrote:
definitely not it, the one I saw is MUCH smaller than that, like atleast half the size of that Lstolite Ezybox.

Hmmmm...I'm stumped

Is this it? Or, perhaps this one.

Lumiquest.

maybe he meant a stofen omni diffuser?

Westcott Mini Apollo, Photoflex extra small softbox, or the Lumiquest softboxes.

yauyi wrote: Few months ago I saw someone using what appear to be a mini softbox mounted on his 580EX, I believe he use a flash bracket for the 580EX.

Probably not the LumiQuest LQ-109, which is designed for use on barebulb flash guns. Since you said it was on a 580EX, I'd guess it's the LQ-107, or the larger LQ-119.

They have a denser center section on a more translucent outer section to even out hot spots from being so close to the flash tube.

Not a big difference, from what I've seen, over the plain flash; but there is some difference. The 107 increases the size of the light source by about double, and the 119 by about 3 or 4 times, which if you're up close can give a noticable softening of shadow lines.

Is one of these what you saw?

yes the LQ-107 looks just like the one I saw....thank you very much, I'll have to try one of these.

yauyi wrote: yes the LQ-107 looks just like the one I saw....thank you very much, I'll have to try one of these.

For the price, it won't hurt too much to try one; just don't expect miracles. It is what it is, as the kids say.

Oh, one more thing; you'll need an off-shoe TTL adapter cord to connect the flash to the camera's hot shoe for TTL metering. A simple PC cord won't work. I use the Canon-brand cord, but there are cheaper off-brand copies.

I use these on my off camera flash heads.. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/62832-REG/Westcott_2200_Micro_Apollo_Softbox_.html
George

Mini softboxes don't diffuse flash like their big brothers in the studio because the flash tube of a hot shoe is encased in plastic and shot forward through fresnel lenses vs a bare bulb radiating in all directions.

The key in diffusion is making the light less parallel relative to the object it hits. Its how many different directions and intensity the light has which makes light distinct or diffuse.

You'll get more diffusion for the same surface area with a diffuser where the flash is aimed up and the light direction is changed. Lumiquest Big Bounce works like that, or for a few bucks you can make something similar:

cgardner wrote:...You'll get more diffusion for the same surface area with a diffuser where the flash is aimed up and the light direction is changed. Lumiquest Big Bounce works like that...

I have a Big Bounce that I used with my Vivitar 285HV. Move the diffusion lens into place, zoom it all the way out, and it'll fill the Big Bouce pretty well.

The Big Bounce doesn't look as impressive as a Qflash or the old Sunpak 120J, but it'll do the job.

Chuck, I like your DIY bouncer, too. (I'm just too lazy to DIM.)

There are lots of articles that use that new Lumiquest SB-III over on strobist.com He's got good examples of what it's capable of, you have to use it extremely close to your subject for a 'soft' effect.

http://strobist.blogspot.com/search?q=sb-III

Don't try using that sort of thing on a flash bracket or on camera, you'll be too far away for it to do anything thing other than eat your power.