Customer Reviews

Opteka Universal Soft Screen Flash Diffuser for Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Olympus, & Kodak On-Camera Pop-Up Flashes

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This is a great little time saver for those times when you want to use your built-in flash. When not in use if fits easily in a pocket. I am very happy with my purchase, it is a nice compliment to my speedlite setup.

Based on other reviews, I thought I'd give this a try on my Canon XSi. What's the problem with the pop-up flash? Aside from the lack of power, it's directional and harsh. In portrait orientation, the pop-up flash will produce dark shadowing to the side.

If you add this Opteka diffuser on, it does NOT reduce the shadowing noticeably (maybe 5% improvement at most). What's worse is that the color turns more yellowish/brownish, and very ugly color at that. I've played with the white balance settings, but those won't yield acceptable results for me either. Perhaps a custom white balance might, but I didn't try that.

The diffuser will marginally soften the light on your subject, but due to no improvement in shadowing and negative effect on color, my opinion is that you're better off without it.

It's also very cheaply made. It's simple thin plastic. The back has a tab that is folded and used to slide into the hot shoe to hold it in place. But this it feels like it'll rip at the crease, so I'm extra careful with it.

A better solution that using this diffuser is to get an external flash. That will improve your lighting options and quality by leaps and bounds. But if your budget doesn't allow for an external flash, then you shouldn't let waste on this either. It's really useless.

I have only tried using this diffuser indoors for casual family photos, so maybe it may work better for some other uses (macro, outdoor fill).

Of all my accessories (including several diffusers) this has the most effect per dollar spent of all of them. It can hide in you case or even pocket, then pull it out when you don't have or need a bigger flash. The most obvious improvement over standard pop up flash is the elemination of bright spots. It seems to even make the colors more natural.

I bought this to diffuse the flash as I do a lot of macro photography, while it is made of thick plastic it works well but I'm being careful that I don't bend the fold areas too much because it looks like it could snap if forced. Other than that It works great.

I was looking for something to soften the pop-up flash on my DSLR. Someone showed me a similar diffuser and I decided to give it a try. Opteka's product was pretty much a random choice as I hadn't found enough information about pop-up flash diffusers. I wish I did better research.
The quality of the diffuser is very low. The piece I got had cracks on creases and didn't look like it was going to survive even one month of usage unless being treated as a very noble but fragile princess.

I still think that some diffuser is better than no diffuser at all, but I'm going to order it from some other manufacturer.

I bought this simply because I like to try out new products and it was pretty cheap.
I have used it a couple of times and I am pleased with the effectiveness of the flash diffusion.
It is certainly a great alternative if you don't have your external flash unit and must use the on-camera flash.
It is light and folds flat to fit in the bag with no problems.
It will need to be replaced regularly if there is a lot of use, but that is offset by the low cost.

This is a nifty nice little under $10 purchase. I have gotten more than $10 use out of it. It has been helpful when I just don't want to deal with my strobe or carry a large flash at a low-key event. I like to use it to spread the light. I NEVER use my pop-up flash without it. I would recommend this especially for anyone who does not plan on buying a flash, someone who just got a DSLR to play around with/take family photos and doesn't really intend on starting a business, but wants to enhance their indoor and night pictures. That said- I run my own photography business and this is a nice little tool to have in my back pocket, I am surprisingly pleased with my purchase and I was pretty skeptical when looking. You do need to be a little careful as I don't think you'll get years and years of use because it is a hard 1/8" plastic but if you continually bend it it could tear.

I was looking for a cheap product to take away the harsh flash while taking my children's pictures. This little thing did the trick! It is compact and a snap to put on! It even prevents the flash from going off when not truly needed on the auto setting.

Oh, and I have a Canon Rebel xt eos:)

This works great for my Nikon D60. It travels small, and is installed in seconds. My only fear is that the small tab that inserts into the flash slide will break at the seam! (Hasn't yet, though!!)

This accessory works by wrapping around the front manufacturer label just above the lens and inserting a tab in to the hot shoe on the top.

It fits great and seems snug, but on my T1i the pop-up flash does not fire when the tab is in the shoe. There is some kind of pressure sensor that is being triggered that must be making the camera think that an external flash has been inserted.

I assume there are some settings buried somewhere to let this work, but I hate to have to mess with settings every time I put on a diffuser.