Testing Cygnustech diffuser for my needs

[@johnhuntley5591]

Enjoyed your try out with this diffuser and I have a good idea of how useful this diffuser can be.

[@valevvaal]

Thank you for your kind words!

[@r1chm]

Good information, thanks for taking the time to produce this, for me I seen this video a little late. I had come down to 2 choices for a diffuser. This one and the AK. I went with the AK Diffuser because it is American built/sold. It was less expensive about $40usd less and took much less time to get to my house because it was located in the US instead of Australia. It also had a feature the Cygnustech did not have. It is completely enclosed so no light leak and more light to subject. Since it is enclosed, it is a solid unit, so you can connect it to a flash that is not on camera. This could help you overcome your problem with landscape/portrait mode because the Ak diffuser can be hand held in the other hand and positioned anywhere you want. At the time of purchase, the Cygnustech was not enclosed and the bottom was open. The other advantage was the AK comes with light inside the diffuser to help the diffuser to shine light on a dark subject to help with AF/ manual focus. Great for morning/evening shots.

[@valevvaal]

Thank you for sharing your experience with AK! I have not heard anything bad about AK and agree that it might have some advantages. Probably there are plenty of good diffusers around that are less famous than AK and Cygnustech. I find that if they do their work properly, they are good diffusers. I cannot say that Cygnustech is the best and you should not even think about some other brands. I just happened to have this one and am totally pleased with it. I keep still admiring what it does to flashlight. My photos are from another level with this diffuser compared to my old photos. But it is also kind of funny that we are cheering when getting normal macro shots :) When I have had it from the start then it would have been normality for me. Just the fact that I started with bad diffuser is making it glorious for me :)

[@BMadPhoto]

very nice test of the diffuser - I currently use similar to what you started the video with and get a lot of hot spots also. It looks drastically better what the new diffuser you used produced, much more than what I expected. Thank you for sharing this great info

[@valevvaal]

Thank you for kind words! I have now used that diffuser about a month and have still not changed my mind. I still find time-to-time some spots on bugs, but often it comes out I did not created shadow on the insect and it is caused by the Sun. Hot spots caused by flash are close to none (but of-course you can create them if you choose to use too strong flash power).

[@BMadPhoto]

yeah that makes sense - I find alot I forgot to try to shield the sun to avoid the additional harsh light when using the flash - good tip there@@valevvaal

[@bkc1965]

Nice and useful video. I had the exact same experience with Pope Shield. I really wanted one, paid for it and then had to contact the guy over and over about when I would get what I paid for. I was told more than once that he would ship it next week. Finally, I asked for a refund and surprisingly I got it quickly.

[@kolmnull]

Hi and thanks! Maybe I was not patient enough :) I didn't get even any promises, just no answers from Popeshield. And I just lost my money. I understand that single person cannot handle large amount of orders, but you could close your sales in that case, raise the price or what ever. Brendan James for example just does not answer before he can deal with your order and does not ask any money until he is shore he can send you the product.

[@MRBINGO333]

Excellent review……Thank you mate!

[@valevvaal]

Thank you!

[@johnkanzler6646]

22:50 that is a sawfly larva, very cute to photograph!

[@valevvaal]

Thank you very much for educating me! That is one of the most fascinating aspects of doing macro photos - you can stop a moment, see that tiny world much bigger and educate yourself. Before I started doing macro I didn't know that so many "worms" are actually future insects. I knew only about metamorphosis of butterflies.

[@johnkanzler6646]

@@valevvaal Macrophotography is so great for discovering things! I never know what I will find, but I am always certain that I will find it 🙂

[@c.l.2635]

very helpful and inspiring! 👍 for the first video!

[@valevvaal]

Thank you!

[@charliedrury6224]

VEry useful video. Now, where to buy this diffuser I cannot find where in Canada. thank you

[@valevvaal]

Thank you! You cannot find it from any store. You must write directly to the person who is creating those diffusers - Brendan James. More info here: linktr.ee/cygnustech Probably there will be weeks before he answers because the diffuser is very popular. But when he finally does, it goes relatively fast.

[@valevvaal]

Also, If you are in Canada then probably it is worth checking out very similar diffuser that looks very similar, produces very similar results, but is located in US. akdiffuser.com/

[@N_ants]

Great test, the lighting is really nice on your pics! I have a question - did you notice much difference between your 90mm and 85mm lenses? Perhaps they are quite similar in focal length so they may be quite similar? I see a lot of people using 60mm lenses with this diffuser, and since they are physically a lot closer to the subject, the light will be stronger. So they can lower their flash power/iso/aperture ect. I worry that if I use this diffuser with my 100mm lens, I would have to up my flash power/iso by too much. Or maybe the diffusion will not work as well, since the minimum focus distance will be larger. Sorry for the long comment!

[@valevvaal]

Thank you for kind words! I choose to buy another (Laowa) lens because it was so small and had 2x magnification. It just happened to have similar focal length as my Sony lens. But because Laowa has 2x magnification it must be also ~2x closer than 1x lens (sensor from subject about 15cm vs 28cm for Sony 90mm in maximum magnification). I think in your case it also matters if you have 1:1 or 2:1 lens. It is a bit difficult to compare flash power my 2 lenses need because with Sony I tend to use also wider aperture. With Laowa I mostly shoot with 1/16 (to compensate narrower depth of field that comes from being closer to subject) and with Sony mostly with 1/14 or 1/11 which lets in more light and has therefore smaller need for extra flash power. From one side I guess you are right that the further you go the more you have to add flash power, but at the same time you block also less natural light with your gear. I have managed to be mostly in range of 1/16 and 1/8 of the flash power (daytime outside). In some rare cases I use 1/4 (further away from subject or in forest for example but the diffusion still worked) or 1/32 (bright sunny day). I never touch my ISO (400) and play only with flash power and aperture. I guess you should not worry too much. If your lens's minimum shooting distance is not over 50cm (I doubt) then you should be able to use reasonable flash power (1/16-1/4). Sure, I have had also some cases where I had too dark images with and poor quality, but it was rather because I forgot to add flash power after shooting in brighter spot. And you should not worry too much about diffusion too, because the further you are the more natural diffusion you should also have and flash light is less concentrating to small area on insects. My results with shooting from 20-50 cm have given even nicer results when considering diffusion than 10 cm from subject pictures. No 100% guarantees from me of course but based on my experience with my 90mm that should be close enough to yours, I assume you will rather enjoy your results after having good diffuser than regret. Sorry for so long answer :D

[@N_ants]

@@valevvaal Thanks for the in depth reply.

[@PrimalRenegade17]

What was the lens in the intro?

[@PrimalRenegade17]

Also just a side not you should just set your camera at whatever magnification you want and move your camera to focus. WAY easier

[@valevvaal]

Thanks for the good tip! The lens was Sony 200-600mm.

[@Teeb2023]

@@PrimalRenegade17 That's how I've always focussed when doing macro. Much easier than fiddling with the focus ring.

[@markstevens6682]

The focusing light is inadequate… Needs improvement big time!

[@dm2323]

Terribly expensive, this diffuser would normally cost $5, you're overpaying

[@Teeb2023]

$5? Get real.

[@Wellin220365]

Apologies but a terrible review. Did not actually show diffuser in use and all you did was complain about everything.

[@valevvaal]

No need to apologize! Polite and constructive criticism is needed to learn and get better! I just want to note that I say in the video that this is not a classic "review" (for good review I also have link in description) but rather I was sharing some concerns I had before buying that product and tested whether they actually limit the usage of that diffuser.

[@kennuff2]

I thought it was a good review from a different approach so very informative, for me anyway, we are all learning

[@usernamemykel]

Give the creator a break - NO ONE else in Estonia is producing photography videos without a mustache.