[Ed Shapiro]

Here's the straight talk. There are a thousand things that were invented to place over, on top of, beside, and clip onto flash anoints since flash units themselves were invented. Some of theses units diffuse, spread, color and modify the light beam and enable one or another incarnation of bounce lighting.

There is going to be some change or slight improvement when theses gadgets are used but there is a major limitation. Basically we are talking about on-camera flash- basically flat lighting. Nothing really dramatic happens until you take your main light off the camera. A second flash unit off camera and a fill light on the camera is a good place to start getting images with more texture, mood and dimensionality. When the camera light is fitted with a bounce device it can serve as a better fill light. Theses bounce cards are nothing new- the have been around for decades and clipped on to external flash units both on and off the camera. I have home-made many of theses fashioned out of index cards, wall paper smoothers and pieces of cardboard and foil. The one in the ad is nice because it will fit on pop up flashes without damaging the flash or the camera. I would not want to improvise or use a home made device with something that is an integral part of the camera and retracts and pops up- those little flashes can be easily damaged and foul the entire camera system.

For the price, the unit is not a bad investment and is worth a try but don't expect any dramatic changes until you start doing off camera lighting.