John, wouldn't it be better to use something non permanent like... Blutack for example? That's what I use and it sticks just as well only it doesn't leave any mark on the flashhead.
M.junkie wrote:
i dont get it john.i thought the idea for the sto fen was to get the plastic about 1/4inch away from the flash head..but it looks like u have cut the end off? so really if i had the plastic and stuck both pieces of the heads it wouldn't be no different than the way u have done wit with the sto fen?i dont get why u used the sto fen if u can just stick them both to the heads?
I used a Dremel tool to router out the flat end, but I didn't reduce the depth of the Sto-Fen. If you look at the front of the MT-24EX's reflector and flash tubes you'll see that they are a lot smaller than the outer dimensions of the flash head itself -look at the inner reflector and not the outer diffuser plastic.The Sto-Fen actually makes the diffusion surface of the MT-24EX three times larger and it's a huge difference when shooting from 1x to 2x. Above 2x the flash heads are so close to the subject that I could probably use them bare...
But the only diffusion gain from the Sto-Fen is the increase in surface area, as a diffuser I don't think that they work very well. Great for changing the color of the light and blocking about a full stop, but not much else.
M.junkie wrote:
im very happy with the defuser im all ready use aka gary fong but like u said before its hard to get shadows from these diffusers
I like the temperature of the light that I got with the Puffers, but you'll lose well over a stop using them and they throw light everywhere -very difficult to get a "3D" look to an image...
n0b0 wrote:
John, wouldn't it be better to use something non permanent like... Blutack for example? That's what I use and it sticks just as well only it doesn't leave any mark on the flashhead.
I don't think that it would hold up to the abuse that I put my gear through -and I have no idea where to buy it here. The marks you see on my flash heads are from all the time I've cut off the hot glue to try something else.
What I'd really like to do is figure out a way to make a diffuser holder for the MT-24EX that would allow me to slide in or snap on different diffusers. One of those winter projects...
Hey, John, got my Bogen kits yesterday and they look vewwy, vewwy pwomising!! Got a question for ya: which of the diffusers are you using on your twinlite? Think I'm gonna go with the one labeled white diffusion, 215, I think. I was expecting them to be thicker, I guess, so I don't know if I'll be able to test a whole one on my Niswanger ringlight unless I can figure a way to stiffen it somewhat.
I'm using Hampton Frost (253) directly against the flash head (with a 1/8 CTO) and the Heavy Frost (129) at the end of the Sto-Fens.
There are two sheets of White Diffusion (216) in the kit. Why not try one sheet on your ring flash? I think it's heavy enough to use, and you've always got the other sheet of 216...
Kenj8246 wrote:
Would you put a whole sheet of CTO behind it?
If you are going to use a gel then you need to gel the entire diffusion surface -you don't want to shoot with a light source that produces two different temperatures of light because you'd never be able to even the light out in post...
An option for attaching custom diffusion materials to the Stofen frame or directly to the MT-24 flash heads, using self-stick Velcro:
Cut thin (a few mm x 20mm) strips of Velcro, attach one strip to each side of the front edges of the MT-24 flash heads. Attach similar strips of opposite "sex" Velcro to the diffusion material that you've cut out. I usually prefer to bend the diffusion material into about the same shape and size as the Fong Puffer diffusers Dalantech has taught us to use with good success. For fragile materials, inserting the material into a cut open Stofen diffusing frame may be necessary instead.
Using this Velcro method, one can easily change and compare alternative diffusion materials with fewer mechanical hassles. It also works great to attach the Fong Puffers, so far my personal favorite.
There may be some loss of robustness using this method instead of glue, etc. Velcro strips as tall as the Fong Puffers' edges have lots of holding power and they have never fallen off in my normal macro use around bushes, leaves, aggressive jumping spiders (grins), etc.
I hope these suggestions are helpful to others. YMMV.
12" x 12" is nice. I would want to use as much of that surface as possible or shape it. But I like super soft shadows when using a single light source. If you're going to cut it to the size of the flash head then why not just use a $5 diffuser cap? It fits on and don't require glueing. The piece I used here is about 7" x 11". It's not as soft as a beauty dish like this but it's much softer than something the size of only the flash-head window will produce.
a question John,
have you tried different grades of diffusion for different magnification shots, ie up to life size & 2-5x life?
just started trying single sheet 216 which is looking very good up to life but might need to add another light sheet ,maybe 252 or 481 for higher mag shots
phil
I'm always using two layers of diffusion -a light frost right on the MT-24EX's flash heads + the Sto-Fens and I'd say that they are acting similar to the 216.
If you need some CTO gels I can send you some -just PM me with your address. I've got some large sheets that I can part with.
Enjoyable discussion. I hope to try it out myself this winter on some available home test objects. Like Macro Junkie, I also use the Fong Puffers and am not too dissatisfied. Yet one always wants provably better options.
For attaching the Fong Puffers to my MT-24, I use thin (5mm wide) strips of velcro. I have never had them fall off in the heat "macro combat". Self-stick Velcro strips about 15-20 mm long x 5mm wide are quite strong and can be removed with some effort since the self-stick is (with some effort) removable. I simply attached a "male" strip on the inside of the puffer where it slides over the MT-24 head and attached "female" strips on the MT-24 head's outside so that the Puffer's Velcro will mate with it in a preferred position. This way I can easily slip alternative diffusers onto or off of the MT-24 heads.
This arrangement is also great for comparative diffuser testing, the only way to reliably show others how much better one option is vs another, assuming of course you take the care to match the exposures and use a tripod to hold the camera position fixed. I'm sure everyone appreciates both Dalantech's recent toy photo comparison tests as well as Lord V's various comparison matrix tests (e.g., showing diffraction effects vs aperture setting, etc). Without a side-by-side comparison with other variables fixed or matched, it's very hard and much less scientific IMO to be sure you're making progress and how much progress is being made. Just my two cents of course. To each his own, as always.
Good luck to everyone in your tests. If anyone has matched comparisons to post, please do so! And thanks to Dalantech for letting us know about the diffusion materials options he has found and prefers.
Due to the number of times something has worked at my kitchen table but failed miserably out in the field I really don't put much stock into comparison testing unless it's done in the actual environment, and using the same techniques, that I normally shoot in. Since it's almost impossible for me to find a real test subject that's gonna stand still, unless it's dead, I've had to base a lot of what I know about flash photography on experience and not actual side by side test shots. I think I'm a lot more comfortable with it than the pocket protector crowd here because I'm a network troubleshooter who isolates problems by eliminating the things that I know can not cause a problem -as backward as that sounds it's a very fast method for isolating what's wrong. I apply that some skill to solving problems with my photography.
So although rigid testing has it's place Phil it won't tell you everything you need to know, and just because something works in the lab that doesn't mean that it will also work in the real world -sometimes you have to trust what you know is right verses what you can prove...
