I had to do some emergency portrait work and needed a flash mounted soft box quickly. I found this on Amazon and was intrigued by its price and size, as well as all the colored gels included but was nervous since there were no other customer reviews. I was in a jam and bought it anyway and had it shipped over night.
It arrived the next day around 3pm, just in time for my photo shoot. It comes with four strips of velcro tape that you need to permanently affix to your flash, and then the soft box itself has velcro tabs that attach to the affixed velcro tape. It took about five minutes to install and once on it was quite sturdy, I'm sure wind and branches won't knock it off. Also, thanks to the velcro, it's really easy to put on and off the flash.
Functionally, the box does exactly what it's supposed to do. It doesn't block the IR sensor on my flash (Canon 430EX), which is something I was concerned about, and provides a nice diffuse light over a very large area. I didn't do any light metering but it doesn't seem to dim the flash very much either, just spreads it out.
The Gels are about what you'd expect. Put the blue one in, get a blue cast. Put the red one in, get a red cast. I found the Yellow, Amber & Pink Gels actually helped quite a bit with the overall tone of my photos. And if you install the box correctly on your flash you can swap or remove gels by simply unvelcroing the top flap of the box instead of having to remove the whole thing.
Overall I'm really happy with it for the price! Opteka SB-110 Universal Gel Softbox Diffuser for External Camera Flash Units (Includes Blue, Green, Red, Yellow, Amber & Pink Gels)
This diffuser may work well as it is intended, but I was unimpressed with overall quality. It was made out of very cheap plastic, almost like the plastic that pool toys are made out of. This might be good for portability if that's what you're looking for. I also didn't like the fact that you are expected to put adhesive velcro strips on your very expensive flash unit in order to use this diffuser. It said on the box that there was another option, maybe an elastic strip or something, but the seller that I purchased it from must not have included it. Ultimately I returned it. Definitely go for the set of Opteka Tri-Color Hard Flash Diffuser for the Nikon SB-600 Flash (Includes Neutral, Green (Cooling), & Gold (Warming))tri-color hard flash diffusers if you have the room in your camera bag, or Nikon SJ-1 Color Filter Set, Eight Filter Light Balancing Set for the SB-800, SB-600 & SB-80DX Flashes
Pros: Portable, folds up nicely, It does come with a set of many different colors that are easy to change out in the box, and they seemed like pretty good shades.
Cons: Cheap plastic, very flimsy, requires adhesive velcro in order to be attached to your flash unit. In my opinion, you ruin your flash unit by attaching this diffuser.
This is a very cheap and flimsy product but it definitely gets the job done without breaking the wallet! Even better, it has gels that are normally the same price separate (the originally reason I got it) which can be used with other lighting gear (I've used them with medium softboxes and umbrellas). I have two of these now (one for each SB600 I have) and find that they do everything I need them to do.
This inexpensive softbox diffuser is fun to use because of the different colored gels included with it. It works fine on my Vivitar 383 flash unit set in slave mode for filling in portraits. The velcro works effectively on the flash unit to hold the diffuser in place, and I'm very happy with it, especially for what I paid for it.
I got this for my flash and it works great! I wasn't too sure about having to put the velco on my flash but it was cut perfectly to the size of my flash. It doesn't look tacky at all. It folds flat so I can store it in my bag really easily. The gels fit in easily, all you have to do is unhook the top and pop them in and out. I was a little worried when I looked at the gels as some of them were not completely smooth. I tried each of them out and it didn't affect the flash at all. I'm really happy with this product and excited to use it. Here is a link to the flash I have, they work great together:
http://www.amazon.com/Precision-Design-DSLR300-Universal-Cameras/dp/tech-data/B001Q9A69O/ref=de_a_smtd
I am also using a Pentax K-x if that helps you at all :)
Did not fit together very well. Good concept, but needs some refinement. Could probably work well with some time spent using/tweaking it. If you want something that's quick to set up, easy to use, and durable look elsewhere. - External Flash - Camera Accessories - Diffuser - Soft Screen Diffuser'
Detail Products
Detail Reviews
Click here for more information
