It Figures...: gary font lightsphere

Most of you who know me know that I try to avoid on camera flash. I actually try to avoid small camera flashes even off-camera. I don't like dealing with batteries, limited modifiers, limited light output, etc.

But there are times that I find I do need to work with a camera flash. So I purchased a couple of diffuser options to test out. One is the often berated Gary Fong diffuser. The other is the newer Rogue FlashBender from ExpoImaging.

The tests were conducted using a Canon 5DmkII with a 50mm f/1.8 lens and a Canon 430EXII flash mounted in the camera's hot shoe. Camera settings were ISO 100, camera in Manual mode at 1/60 at f/1.8. White balance was set to Flash. Flash was in ettl mode at +1/3 stop. The camera is 28 inches from the mannequin and the background is white seamless paper 13 inches behind the mannequin head.

The room I was in is about 12x18 feet with an 8-foot ceiling. Walls and ceiling are painted white. All images are as they came out of the camera into Adobe Lightroom 4.1 with no additional processing.

The FlashBender I used is the Large Reflector along with the Large Diffusion Panel. The Gary Fong I used is the Lightsphere Collapsible with the dome attached (pointed out/convex).

I want to present the results without commentary so you can make your own conclusions. Feel free to note which ones you like in the comments.