Pocket hole size: RM1,300

Now this is the elusive one. The one that I have been wanting to have for a long, long time. I even purchased a couple of studio strobes before I managed to get this, and I'm not quite sure why either. Anyway, the important thing is I got it, and I will see to it that the flash earns its keep for all the night shooting that hobbyist like me do a lot. Only journalist, pros, and retirees have the time to do mostly daytime shoots. Hardworking people like me and you have only the weekends and holidays for that... sigh-

If you're serious about photography there's no escaping this. Yes I know there are photographers who don't like flashes as it can be quite cumbersome to carry one around. It means that you can't just take your camera with a lens attached in a small pack and go. With an external flash you certainly will need a bigger pack to bring your gear around. I got a really good, compact bagpack that carries a camera body, 17-70mm + 70-300mm + 50mm lenses and of course this flash but that's another story.

(post continue below...)

One thing about flashes (or speedlights) is that you don't just use them as is. In fact flash photography is a almost another field of photography altogether. The first thing that anyone interested in using flashes would notice is the harsh light that results in burned out photos, and that's when you start discovering this thing called diffusers. And there are not just one kind (as usual) but many to choose from. I've personally used the DIY type made famous by this good man at A Better Bounce Card - it works beautifully. Simple and easy to make, takes up very little storage space and it remains my favourite to this day.

At the recent KL Photography Festival at Berjaya Times Square, I saw one of those diffusers known as whale-tail by Foto Grade for RM40 - complete with mounting kit, gel kit, and several flaps - for that price it's a no brainer! I bought it straight away, even though I haven't got my AF-540FGZ yet. I already had the AF-360FGZ but this type of diffusers need a flash head that can be swiveled - the 360 can only be tilted up and down. And by the way, as of this writing, the Gary Fong website sells it for US100 - US129!

Is the 540 worth its price tag? Well, see some of the pics below for yourself. I'd say it's definitely worth every sen I spent on it. Below are two pics of my unit and some sample shots taken with the AF-540FGZ with either the whale-tail diffuser of the Better Bounce Card. The black rubber band you see on the flash unit is the motorbike tyre tube I mentioned earlier, which I purposely left on as it serves both the whale-tail diffuser (non-slip surface for the diffuser to grip on) and as the wrapper for my bounce card.

A Better Bounce Card

If you're interested in flash photography and you want to start slow, I do recommend A Better Bounce Card I mentioned earlier. It's cheap to make, easy to bring with you and effective. I've made a few and just leave it in the bag. You might need to hunt around a bit for the material, and the one component that got me stumped for a few days is the wide rubber band that you use to wrap the bounce card around the flash. I just couldn't find any!

My solution? Wait for it... hehe... discarded motorbike tyre tube

By instinct, I just decided to stop at one of the motorbike workshops near my place, picked up one of them from the ground and ask the mechanic if I can have it. He had this perplexed look on his face but said okay anyway. Took the thing home, cut off a section about 2 inches wide and washed it really thoroughly with soap as you don't want any of that greasy thing on your flash. You have to be careful when fitting it to your flash as it can be really tight depending on the tube size. I was lucky there were two different sizes, took both home and threw away the smaller one as it was too small.