The Translucent Mushroom vs The Poop Scoop - A Studio Battle

I was conscious of the anomaly of what I was doing but it was all for a good cause; I was trying to determine which of the new Mag Mod light shapers would be the best for event coverage. I had inveigled Chelsea Bunz - the Steampunk Absinthe Fairy - to come in and pose for head and shoulders shots with the IceLight 2 and Promaster LED 120 portable lights and I thought to take advantage of the chance for some Mag Mod experienmts. They were duly conducted but I am still in a quandary.

For those who came in late, the Mag Mod light shapers are designed to attach firms to portable speed lights and to give either colour, diffusion, or concentration for the flash. I want something that will let me front up to Steampunk patrons of Rigby's Bar in St. Geo. Tce when they have one of their Steampunk Balls and take well-lit portraits in a flash. I need to do full-length, half torso, and head and shoulders.

I most definitely don't want to do it with a tripod light stand or strange umbrella rig. I know this because I have tried it before and found out that in a crowded venue of people having fun, that kind of gear makes me a social menace. I need to be light, bright, and no tripod legs to trip up the dancers.

The Mag Mod Dome is the translucent mushroom. It attaches magnetically to any speed light and provides what can best be described as a bare-bulb effect. Gorgeous in a small room - the light goes everywhere and nothing gets too much of a hot spot. I would choose it unquestioningly for areal estate coverage. The pros in that game know their own lighting better than I do l but I still think the bare-bulb is the way to go.

The other choice - the Poop Scoop - has a more dignified name; Mag Bounce. I know my readers, and I am willing to bet a number of you will ask for this product by the name Poop Scoop. The manufacturers can gnash their teeth...Australians are Australians and this sort of thing happens... It does not detract from the useful nature of the device.

I find it delightful. Bigger than the translucent mushroom, and slightly more daunting in appearance, it casts a harder front of light out to the subject - witness the slightly harder shadow behind Chelsea - but there is still a some illumination that escapes upwards and backwards through the white silicone shroud, and this bounces off walls and ceilings. If the Stay-Puft man was a photographer, it would bounce off him. The fact that it projects more may be the deciding factor for open events.

The joyous thing about the Poop Scoop is the fact that Mag Mod have put two sets of samarium magnets in it at 90º to each other. You can run the speed light sideways and still project out the front of the camera. This means you can alternate between portrait and landscape orientation with a twist of your left wrist. If you're shooting a prime lens with auto focus you never need shift hands to fumble for anything. Just run and gun.

The other joyful thing is that if the event you are covering - Steampunk Ball, family dinner, or wedding - turns violent, and you have to make a run for it...The Mag Mod accessories are mostly made of soft flexible silicone rubber. You can squash them up and stuff them into your pocket as you scuttle for the door.

The Long-Awaited Fujifilm Flash Gun

As an honest weblog columnist I can do no better than to send you off googling for a YouTube clip made by the Fujifilm Guys. It features our own Warrewyk and Will - Australian photographers and Fujifilm demonstrators - putting the new Fujifilm EF-X500 speed light through some of its paces.

I'll wait here until you go see it and then come back. You'll probably want to search up the official Fujifilm Australia site as well to check out the technical specifications of the new gun.

Okay, if you're back you'll have seen how easy it is to use the EF-X500 to do fill flash with the new Fujifilm X-T2 camera in broad daylight - making use of the supplied diffusion box to soft the result. No longer should anyone have to struggle with fill-flash ratios and get either black or blasted results.

The simplest drive - that of TTL - should work flawlessly with all hot shoe-equipped Fujifilm X series cameras. The other modes require some learning but the estimation of power should be pretty straightforward if you are going to use Manual. Unless you know you are going to need all the power of the full dump, you are probably best trying a first exposure at 1/4 power and then going up or down from there.

People who are familiar with the previous Fujifilm EF-42 flash will be pleased with a number of improvements:

1. More flash power. GN is now 50. Illumination even with direct flash is remarkably even. 5 Metres away from the backdrop muslin.

2. Metal foot to the hot-shoe mount. There is also a locking lever rather than a plastic wheel to keep it fastened to the camera.

3. Manual power levels down to 1/512 of full power in 1/3 EV steps. Macro work particularly catered for. The Chevy and the Airstream trailer are 1/64 scale and that's done with one on-camera flash + diffuser

4. Master and remote modes available with optical command. Regular TTL and Commander are indicated by green panel and Slave mode is indicated by the amber panel.

5. LED video boost light available on front of unit.

6. Locking flash head tilting and stiff detent swivelling of flash head.

7. Up to + or - 5 EV in 1/3 EV steps. And Glory Be, it is done with a simple rotating thumb wheel rather than a series of button presses!

8. Socket for EF-BP external battery pack. ( YES! )

9. Up to 3 separate lighting groups in the master/slave relationship.

It is the unit all we Fujifilm users have been waiting for. For myself, the stiff detent and the locking tilt mechanism are wonderful, as they allow better control of the flash head when a heavy diffuser like a Gary Fong or Mag Mod unit is fitted. An event shooter can mount the flash, turn the head 90º to the right, and then just raise and lower it from portrait to landscape orientation to perfectly match the light angle to the camera. The EF-42 can do this too, but is weaker and allows the head to flop out of place as you move around.

The battery pack, when available, should also take some burden of waiting for recharge in the middle of a fast-developing event.