I have seen other posts and designs regarding inexpensive, and not so inexpensive, Flash diffusers, but the other day I decided to try to make a simple, no frills one myself out of plastic milk cartons. I made one each of the white and translucent, and they each offer different diffusing capabilities. This is not the most elegant, well designed project, and is not suitable for windy outdoor shots, but for small product shooting, and kids/pet/wife/family/etc. snaps, where you want to cut the harshness and reflections of the onboard flash, it appears to work quite well. I would also be happy to email the template to anyone who desires it, but you can see from the picture here the dimensions I used, and the overall shape. You just have to roughly cut out the flat area of a milk/juice/whatever jug, and then using scissors, or straight edge and razor knife, cut out the template shape and carefully bend nice and straight on the dotted lines 90 degrees.You can use a Fine Sharpie to mark the plastic for cutting accurately. The tail, (which is 3/4" wide and very slightly tapered), is inserted into the hotshoe, and will slide forward and back to change the diffuser's distance from the flash for different amounts of effect. It took me less than 15 minutes to make two, and will probably fit quite a lot of different camera models.

Attachment #1, (jpg file)
Attachment #2, (jpg file)
Attachment #3, (jpg file)
Attachment #4, (jpg file)

Thanks for posting this. It seems like a simple enough project to yeild a very useful accessory.

Michigan Nikonian

I'd just like to report that I used this diffuser in a real world situation tonight, a Japanese Hibachi restaurant for my daughters 19th birthday celebration, and while it is quite effective at close range, it tends to mute the flash too much after about 12ft. The ideal range seems to be about 2-10 ft. and it does help knock back the harshness of the flash at this range,rendering skin tones warmer, etc. As I said....not scientific, not elegant or well designed...just free and easy to make.....the girl on the far right has just returned from a week in the sun, so she is a lot "oranger"...as evident by her tan lines...and this shot is from about 14ft....I also was able to slip the diffuser into my pocket or wallet without worrying about it, just bend it back...handy.

Attachment #1, (jpg file)

The diffuser I made out of a plastic PETE bottle for my SB400 produced an overly warm (orange) cast in my photos. Like you said, it also limits the flash range quite a bit.

Very interesting. I was just holding a notecard up with the pop-up flash. Anyway, I found it so lacking I said to heck with it and picked up an SB600 and sto-fen cup.

Anyway, your results are pretty cool. Thanks for sharing.

My Flickr Page

That's the ultimate solution, although I have to say there was a guy at the restaurant I was at with a D30 and an SB800 with the articulated head, which, while almost the size of the D40x by itself, is pretty trick...just for the poorer of us, it's not in the budget...took me a year to afford the D40x two lens kit! (actually the bulk of the job was convincing the wife I needed another camera..),Thanks for the comments and enjoy the SB600.....

cool idea thanks for posting!

D40X
Nikon 18-70mm and 50mm f/1.8
http://www.flickr.com/photos/manypixors

Hmmm.... I just wonder if it is possible to attach a small mirror or stick a aluminium foil/tin foil to allow sort of a "bounced flash" or something like that. Just thinking out loud.

That might work, I have notice in using this little tool, that there is quite a bit of reflection off the PETE already, that hits you in the face, so if you bent it just right and maybe didn't have the top lip on it, it might bounce quite a bit. It's not very stiff though, so getting it to stay exactly where you want it is an issue, and it's definitely not high tech,....but it IS free...lol. Here's a shot in a mirror, notice the backflash off my face and the wall behind me.......nuff said.

Attachment #1, (jpg file)

Hi there, that seems simple enough, would you mind emailing me a template? Thanks, isn't it wonderful to be poor? Darlene (smile)

Darlene

please send me an email with an email address and I'll send the template

Connecticut Nikonian
D5100
Nikkor 50mm 1.8
18-55DX
55-200VR
other asst. glass

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Nikon-d80-Alien-Alien-hot-Shoe-difuser_W0QQitemZ380010947378QQihZ025QQcategoryZ43456QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742.m153.l1262

i see a lot of home made flash diffusers some are ok most look home made

A buck plus $3.25 shipping, and you know they're just mailing it in an envelope for 41 cents...

Connecticut Nikonian
D5100
Nikkor 50mm 1.8
18-55DX
55-200VR
other asst. glass

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

Visit my Nikonians gallery.