Flashguns are great pieces of kit, but they need a little help to really make them shine. We test six modifiers to see how much they can add to your shoot.
Best flashgun modifiers: 01 Bouncelite
£100
One of the easiest ways to get softer illumination from your flashgun is to bounce light off a white ceiling or wall. You can’t always do that, though – so the BounceLite aims to recreate the same effect, wherever you’re shooting.
Simply slot the box onto your flashgun, and its white interior walls and roof bounce the light through the diffusion panel on the side.
The roof can hinge open, allowing you to reflect just the right amount of light onto your subject. There’s even a slot to insert a diffusion panel or coloured gels.
The result is improved light softness with great controllability and minimal light loss – although a ring light modifier will produce an even softer effect.
Score: 4/5
Best flashgun modifiers: 02 Enlight Orbis
£149/$199
The ring flash is a firm favourite among fashion photographers wanting the most flattering illumination with minimal shadows.
Dedicated ring flashes are pricey propositions, but the Orbis creates the same effect from your flashgun, funnelling its flash-burst into a ring of light surrounding your camera lens.
Your flashgun needs to be hung below your camera using an optional bracket, or you can simply hold the Orbis around your lens. Either way, you’ll still need an off-camera flash cord.
The end result is a pretty unwieldy set-up, but the quality of light is worth the workout. The Orbis’s near-shadowless illumination is stunning to behold, although it will sap around two stops of light power.
Score: 4/5
Best flashgun modifiers: 03 Hähnel Universal Flash Accessory Kit
Despite this being the cheapest option here, you certainly get a lot to play with. There’s a compact softbox to take the edge off shadows, plus a honeycomb grid and a roll-up snoot to concentrate light into a tighter beam.
Several gels are included to add colour, plus a small panel to use as a reflector or bounce card.
Each accessory fixes to your flashgun using a Velcro strap system, and Hähnel includes a useful adjustable bracket to attach your flashgun to a tripod or stand.
While the kit can indulge your creativity, the softbox isn’t all that effective: you only get seven gel colours and the honeycomb attachment is very basic.
Score: 3/5
SEE MORE: Best DSLRs under £1000
Best flash modifiers: 04 Light Blaster
£100/$99
Want to liven up your portraiture with beautiful backdrops? Just slot the Light Blaster onto your flashgun and it’ll project any pattern, image or scene from a 35mm slide onto a plain surface. You can also buy packs of transparencies with different themes.
The beauty of this system is you can mount a lens on the front to control the focus and spread of the projected image.
The Light Blaster’s built-in mount is for Canon lenses, but Nikon owners can buy a separate adaptor.
It’s also worth remembering that no transparencies are included with the projector, which makes the price seem a little on the high side, given this is just a simple plastic shell.
Score: 4/5
Best flashgun modifiers: 05 Rogue FlashBender 2 Portable Lighting Kit
£150/$200
This revised version of the versatile FlashBender modifier kit includes large and small collapsible FlashBender reflector panels which fix to your flashgun with a faster, more secure attachment strap.
They’re still just as easy to bend into shape and will even roll into a snoot, plus you get a pair of diffusion sheets that’ll convert each reflector into a soft box.
For even more creative effects, fit the three-in-one honeycomb grid modifier to get a more focussed light beam. You’ll also find 20 coloured gel inserts to go with it, plus an additional gel set that’ll fit neatly over a bare flash.
Score: 5/5
Best flash modifier: 06 Roundflash Ring
£66/$113
When it comes to light softening, bigger tends to be better. At 45cm wide, the Roundflash is twice the diameter of the Orbis but, thanks to fabric construction, it’s 30% lighter and folds smaller.
Set-up is easy with a pop-up design that just requires you to snap five magnetic rods into place and strap your flashgun into the back.
A web of elastic cords secures the Roundflash to your lens, but avoid wide-angle or short prime optics, as vignetting can be noticeable.
There isn’t much room to access zoom or focus rings, but the pay-off is light that’s so soft and shadowless that even the Orbis can’t compete. Just remember to crank up your flashgun to compensate for the three-stop light reduction.
Score: 5/5
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