Demb Flip-It!

Back to another post on photographic toys again.:)

One of the huge improvements that I looked forward to switching from the Konica-Minolta Maxxum 5D to the D300 was in flash photography. Simply put, my flash photography skills using the KM5D sucked, really, awfully, bad. So, this time with the D300 and SB-600, I was determined to get it right by properly understanding flash exposure, flash sync speeds and their relation to aperture depth, and working with flash compensation.

Thing about compact flash photography, i.e. not shooting with multiple flash units, flash umbrellas, wireless remotes up the gazook is that the amount of light and its angle you throw on a subject can be quite hard to control, as it’s a factor of the physical environment you’re in i.e. ceiling Height, walls that aren’t white, ambient lighting, light absorbent objects in the room etc.

In any case, one important item in any photographer’s equipment is some sort of light diffusion device. I used a Stofen diffuser with my old HS3600 flash unit on the KM5D but that didn’t work very well. So, for the SB-600, I scouted around quite a bit again for a flash diffuser that will work better, more idiot-proof, and won’t hurt the wallet too much. Many enthusiasts swear by the Gary Fong’s Lightsphere series, but critics say it’s way overpriced. Personally, the whole thing looks like some sort of bloated condom, so er no thanks.

Searching around a bit, I stumbled on Demb’s Flip-It series. Now this I like. A flash card that can flip out of the way, will work regardless of the flash head size, and doesn’t look like some unwashed sock jammed on a flash head. There’s quite a lot of comparison online between Demb’s flash diffuser series versus Gary Fong’s equipment e.g. here, and wow, a lot of enthusiasts prefer the former. So, the next step was to find if it can be bought in Singapore without having to buy it direct from manufacturer and pay through your nose for shipping. Fortunately, there was one such distributor. And I figured since I was getting a flash diffuser which is really a one-time device that doesn’t expire, I might as well buy the Up Size (haha) version.

So, here’s what it looks like, with a larger picture here. Yeah it looks kinda big, but the ability to bounce light in an outdoor setting while in portrait mode is everything. OK, so you could go to Popular Bookstore, buy a sturdy plain white cardboard, cut it to size and with a rubber band get back approximately the same thing. But this one’s way cooler.:)