Flash photography tip: Don't buy an Omnibounce

Saturday 18 March 2023, 20:02 by Elja Trum | 4,873 views | 12 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

Many photographers think they can soften their flash light by buying an Omnibounce. This is a small plastic cap that you can attach to your flash. In practice, the effect of such a plastic cap is negligible.

The softness of your light comes from the size of your light source, the larger, the softer, and the distance to your subject.

Neither changes much with an Omnibounce. The only thing that happens is that the light is spread out a little more, it is bounced in more directions.

The effect of an Omnibounce is minimal, however. You mainly lose flash power. This means your flash has to work harder for the same amount of light, so the battery will run down faster.

So save those few tens of euros instead of spending them on that piece of plastic.

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About the author

Elja Trum is the founder of Photofacts and online photography course website Photofacts Academy. He has been writing about photography since 2006. Elja is also the author of (Dutch) books on composition, black-and-white photography, flash photography and portrait photography.

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12 comments

Jo wrote on Sunday 19 March 2023 at 23:17 | reply
So everyone who uses an Omnibounce is stupid. What pretentiousness!
Translated from Dutch.

Elja Trum wrote on Sunday 19 March 2023 at 23:39 | reply
That's not what I say anywhere at all, Jo.

I once bought an Omnibounce myself too because I thought it was an easy way to soften my light. At the time, I also hadn't yet properly understood what actually makes light softer.

Do you have an Omnibounce? Then I suggest you just try it out with some test photos. What is the actual difference? And can't you also achieve that with the white bounce card that usually comes standard with flashes.

Then try bouncing the flash (via the ceiling, wall or reflector). What produces better results?

My message is a warning to anyone thinking about buying an Omnibounce like that. Understand what it does and save yourself the money.
Translated from Dutch.

Stefan ALEN wrote on Tuesday 21 March 2023 at 10:40 | reply
My Nikon flashes came with a diffuser cap as standard. So no extra purchases.
Translated from Dutch.

Marcel wrote on Tuesday 21 March 2023 at 10:58 | reply
In a small space with white walls and a white ceiling, an omnibounce will scatter the light more and can provide softer indirect light. But in larger spaces or outdoors, this doesn't apply and you only lose energy. It seems to me.
Translated from Dutch.

Gonda wrote on Tuesday 21 March 2023 at 11:23 | reply
Tried it out with my little dog
With and without a bounce cap…found it nicer with the cap, better light distribution without shadows around the eyes…without the cap dark shadows around the eyes…so for me in this situation with an Omni-Bounce cap
So glad I use it.
Translated from Dutch.

wilmers wrote on Tuesday 21 March 2023 at 11:44 | reply
the part about bouncing is true, that you spread the light more and it becomes softer, but dear Ilja you also know yourself that you then run into much more trouble with your shutter speed. if I flash directly at someone with a good bounce cap or a magmod boob on it then I can easily take a sharp shot at 1/15 of a second, you can't do that when you bounce via a ceiling .
Translated from Dutch.

KJ wrote on Tuesday 21 March 2023 at 12:08 | reply
I would say, delve into the subject matter sometime instead of stating that the writer has pretensions..Nowhere in the article does it say that someone is stupid for using an omnibounce...just ignorant
Translated from Dutch.

KJ wrote on Tuesday 21 March 2023 at 12:13 | reply
Bouncing as much light as possible off walls isn't something you do with a cap like that.
The soft light is created by bouncing anyway. With the cap on, the flash has to work even harder, so has is the recycle time greater and the battery runs out faster.
Translated from Dutch.

Robert wrote on Tuesday 21 March 2023 at 12:52 | reply
With Nikon, the cap is indeed included.
I always use it at weddings, receptions edg. No more dark eyes and much friendlier light with a natural look.
Photo-shooting regards Robert
Translated from Dutch.

Ronny wrote on Tuesday 21 March 2023 at 16:29 | reply
I've already worked a lot with softly COLORED omnibounces : this way you can match the color of your flash to the available light for more consistent exposure.... orange for incandescent bulbs and green for fluorescent lighting: works great !
Translated from Dutch.

Eric Dankbaar wrote on Tuesday 21 March 2023 at 16:31 | reply
With a speedlight flash in a softbox, my experiences with an omnibounce are more positive than without the cap, the light is distributed better inside the softbox by the cap. I have noticed, however, that the color accuracy of these caps influences the white balance, especially if you use these caps from multiple suppliers and apply that to 2 or 3 flashes.
Translated from Dutch.

Donald Willemsen wrote on Wednesday 22 March 2023 at 09:39 | reply
Put to the test:
I think Elja is right, but if users are happy with their omnibounce cap, then let them use it. It would be a shame to throw a few tens of euros down the drain by no longer using it.
Translated from Dutch.

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