Links: Gary Fong Origami Product Page / Show Official Info /

If you know someone who is serious about their photography, then you know that even if they're satisfied with their equipment, they're probably looking to improve their gear, even if it's only one or two pieces. For some people that means buying a more powerful flash that mounts in the hot shoe on top of the camera, but that often produces a harsh overlit image that is not flattering for your human subjects.One way to soften the light is to attach a diffuser. Coming in a variety of sizes, shapes, and materials, each model has its advantages and disadvantages.

As I wrote above, diffusers come in a variety of sizes, shapes, materials and even methods of attaching them, making choosing the right one for you somewhat challenging. Generally bigger is better, but if the diffuser is too big, it can be unwieldy to use in a crowd and therefore is probably better suited to studio use. The Gary Fong Origami Fold Flat Diffuser is many things, but big and unwieldy are not included in that list.

All the commercially available diffusers that I have ever seen are made of one type of plastic or another, some of them stiff and not capable of being folded for easy transport or storage in your camera bag. The more flexible ones fold up nice and flat but look like they may tear easily, especially as the plastic gets older and "dries" up.

Many models come with adhesive Velcro attachments, but their drawback is that once attached firmly, the Velcro stays on permanently. If you buy a new flash, you'll need to buy more adhesive Velcro of the same size and color in order to continue using the diffuser.

Others are shaped to fit specific models and snap on or have to be stretched slightly by hand in order to fit.

This is definitely not the case with the Gary Fong Origami Fold Flat Diffuser which made its debut at PhotoPlus 2007. Looking like a junior version of the Gary Fong WhaleTail Reporter diffuser, it comes with the new "Kung-Fu" grip system that Gary Fong says "is so strong that it will suspend the entire weight of the camera and flash unit without falling off!" I've watched the video of Gary at the WPPI Convention in Las Vegas where he personally demonstrated this using the WhaleTail Reporter diffuser mounted on a big DSLR. This is a camera he has been shooting with, not a non-working saved for such an occasion. The "Kung-Fu" grip system utilizes one Black Archival Grip Band that you put on top of the flash and one black Velcro Cinch Strap.

I used a Konica Minolta Maxxum 5D with a Minolta Program Flash 5600HS (D) to photograph the Fujifilm Finepix S200EXR digital camera. PICT4366 was taken using the flash on the TTL setting with no diffuser. PICT4367 was taken using the flash on the TTL setting with the Gary Fong Origami Flash Diffuser attached.

My one quibble is that the accompanying paper documentation is weak on exactly where to position the Origami when attaching it to the flash. Watching the video makes it easier, but that doesn't help the first time user who wants to buy it for immediate use and doesn’t have a laptop, desktop computer, or DVD player handy, or is completely unaware that mounting the Origami is a challenge.

That said, once I had figured out how to mount the Origami, experimenting with the positioning of the opaque white and amber diffusion panels was a fun learning experience.

I'm thoroughly convinced of the usefulness of the Gary Fong Origami Fold Flat Diffuser and any time I carry my Minolta Program Flash 5600HS (D) in my camera bag, the Origami will be going with it.