DIY flash bouncer / diffuser for Minolta Dimage Z1, Z2 and Z3 camera

I got tired of the harsh light and ugly shadows when I take flash photos with my Minolta Dimage Z1 digital camera (see picture to the right).

So I decided to do something about it.

Have you ever noticed how professional photographers use a white semi transparent plastic thing in front of their flashes. This is called a flash diffuser or flash bouncer. It works in the way that it increases the light emitting surface, and this softens the shadows a great deal.

So I thought I could use the same trick on my Z1. The flash on the Z1(and Z2, Z3) however looks somewhat different than the professional external flashes, so a normal diffuser would not do. Since most of my flash photography is done indoor an since my ceilings are white I thought I could use the ceiling as the light emitting surface.

So the basic idea is to reflect the light from the flash so it does not light the subject directly, but so that it bounces from the ceiling. This gives much softer shadows.

Enough talk let us make a diffuser!

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Making the diffuser

You take a normal playing card and with a pair of scissors you cut away so that it looks roughly like the one on the right here.

It does not have to be terribly accurate. The middle part just has to fit under the popup flash of the Z1 and the thin part of the diffuser goes under the detachable hot shoe cover

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Once you have done this you actually have a working diffuser

However, I discovered that it works better if you cover it with tinfoil. So take some glue and some ordinary kitchen tinfoil, and attach it to the diffuser. (see picture to the right)

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Using the diffuser

When using the diffuser you should crank up the flash compensation, as the light energy is reduced with the bouncing and all.

Once you do that you will get pictures with a much more natural light and better shadows. All for the cost of a playing card and some tinfoil!

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I hope you found this information useful. If you did please leave a message in my guest book

Best regards

Rasmus Hansen