Making Your Own Diffuser For Your Digital Camera

Having recently become a member of the Flickr group, Canon PowerShot SX100IS Addicts, I saw an interesting question posted on a flash diffuser. Interesting - I had been having issues with my flash and macros and was considering something similar. The snout of the camera casts a heavy shadow on some macro shots which can't be solved by a diffuser, but the thought of diffusing the flash crossed my mind and I had already thought of how to make one.

But to see all sorts of flash diffusers for sale boggled me. I'm kind of new to a lot of this photography stuff and what I have learned has usually been by reckless experimentation and taking lots of bad shots¹. And since I'm in Trinidad and Tobago, where they'd probably charge me even more money for importing such an item - I decided to do some hacking. Literally.

I called a friend who replaces fluorescent diffusers with skyscapes on the off chance that he might have some laying around. No dice, so I went to a local place that sells diffusers and asked them if they had some broken pieces. For about $1 US, I got enough diffuser material to experiment with - and a lot left over. The material is very brittle which meant whipping out the Dremel. First, I did a rough circle using water soluble marker around where I wanted the diffuser to fit.

Then, using the cutting attachment for the dremel, I cut from the center to the sides in a right angle. From there, cutting the triangles left over was easy enough - and then the sanding attachment worked out well. I didn't try to be exact; this was an experiment. However, the idea is to use silicon on the inner ring to form a gasket which is snug enough to hold in place but loose enough to not rip out when you use the diffuser.

After 5 minutes of fun with the Dremel, I was ready to experiment. The diffuser does work, though I only used it on a white wall:

The baseline - no flash.

With the stock flash.

Rough side facing shooter, away from subject.

Rough side of diffuser facing subject, away from shooter. Clearly diffused.

The results are pretty inconclusive (except for white walls 3 feet away), but the diffuser does work. How well it works is an interesting question, and one I will have to experiment further with... and you can make your own, too, and maybe you'll come up with something better.

¹I am very thankful that I don't have to deal with film... that would be a true moneypit, though I am getting better...