> > Hi > > I'm about to buy a 550 EX flash. After reading Neil K. excelent new page > on flash photgraphy (Flash photography with Canon EOS Cameras) I'm still > left with a doubt: for portrait photography which is more advisable: > lumiquest or omnibounce? I've already visited both manufacturers > homepages, but the choise is so large I just can't figure out what's > best. Feedback from users of both systems would be great appreciated. > Thanks > > Hugo
Hi Hugo, What works and what works well varies with the shooting situation. For example, indoors with good natural light, indoors with no natural light, big light colored room, big dark room, small light colored room, small dark room, outdoors daylight, outdoors night time etc. all of the lighting is different. IMO, if you want to buy the most effective product and are going to buy only one type of solution to soften the light of a shoe mounted flash you will need to buy a diffuser with the largest possible area the sends diffuse light directly to the subject. In looking at the designs you mention you need to understand the way they work. The Omnibounce works just like it sounds, it relies on the room to provide a surface to bounce the flashhead's light off of and hopefully toward the subject. This actually works in small white rooms quite well and can look pretty natural IF the room is very small with white ceiling and walls and there is little on the walls to absorbed the limited light of the flash. This assumes that you are using the Omnibounce the way the maker recommends tilted up at about 45 degrees, I find that the best angel is one that allows the light to hit the ceiling and bounce down to the subject and this can vary with distance and ceiling height. If you chose to ignore what the instructions say and point the flash head directly at your subject what happens is a VERY slight softening of the light hitting your subject and the flash will chew through batteries faster. This is because you are wasting a lot of the flash head's light by leaking it out around the sides of the Omnibounce panel. Obviously the Omnibounce won't work very well outdoors with no walls or ceiling and if used in the direct mode offers minimal diffusion and increased battery consumption. Remember, the Omnibounce can be a good tool under the right conditions and used as such a perfectly good product BUT IMO one of limited applications. The Lumiquest works by bouncing the light off of a large white reflector and then through a large diffuser panel directly towards your subject. This is very effective as this method does not rely on the room for the bounce allowing you to get reliable, repeatable exposures and COLOR with excellent softening of the light directed towards your subject. All of this is independent of the room or environment. If you can use the EOS TTL flash metering system you'll get excellent exposures with very good softening of the light and much better battery life and faster cycle times. The softening effect of any diffuser panel is dependent on the area of the apparent light source. Look at the amount of area facing the subject, a Lumiquest Ultrasoft has about 3 times the area of an Omnibounce or bare 550/540 flash head This is why the Lumiquest is a more effective softener of light than the Omnibounce! BUT it the Omnibounce is used in a small white room with white, normal or low ceilings the area of the Omnibounce is much larger than the Lumiquest. Like I said, it depends. So for a single diffuser panel the Lumiquest is more versatile and works more of the time and works better more of the time and uses less battery power most of the time. BUT under certain, rather narrow conditions an Omnibounce may offer as good or possibly better solution for softening the light hitting your subjects. Hope this helps! Regards, Chip Louie BTW, I own and use both types of diffusers with my 540EZ. * **** ******* *********************************************************** * For list instructions, including unsubscribe, see: * http://www.a1.nl/phomepag/markerink/eos_list.htm ***********************************************************
