Meking 12 Inch (31cm) Gray Card Portable Softbox Multi-Function Diffuser for Speedlight Flashlight

My primary purpose of buying this product was to get diffused light when I cannot bounce from ceilings or walls around (either the color is not neutral or dark or if they are simply too high or far).. I recently shot an event with it and to my luck it was all dark ceilings and walls in the party hall.. so it was a perfect opportunity for me use this flash disc. I recommend this product, in fact bought two of these (to keep one as backup and sometimes for portraits).My reasons for buying this product are1. Rescue myself when nothing practical is there to bounce from.2. Its half the price of FS product or Rogue Flash Bender3. Very convenient to fold and carry it in your camera bag or even in your pocket4. Exposure gray card at the back5. Build quality is nice, looks good and is fairly professional6. Can be used in studio for portraits.Issues with this type of product (hence not specifically Meking)..1. It doesn't retain its shape when opened, front and rear discs don't hold themselves parallel to each other. I worked around this problem by putting three pieces of cardboard around the circumference to keep it in shape and solution works good. Now I need to keep these cardboard pieces in the pouch. I am fine living with this small issue since it solves a tricky problem and doesn't cost too much.2. Subjects tend to stare at the disc, I was mostly instructing them to look at the lens and not at the disc :)3. Full size speedlights need some muscle to get into the elastic band.4. Some light leaks at the bottom.My secondary purpose of buying this product is portrait photography and I had more than reasonable success with it. I use these with Yongnuo YN-560 III/IV with Cowboy light stands.. its a lightweight and docile lighting setup. I am not saying that it beats large softboxes or umbrellas (I have plenty of those too) but you can get fairly good results. These are 12 Inch discs and I use them for hair/accent.. Neewer sells 16 inch ones and they are slightly bigger and better if you want to do key/fill portrait lighting.

This is the real deal. I liked it so much, I bought one for my second speedlight. I can't tell you how it compares to the Fstopper version, but at more than twice the price, I can't see how that version could possibly be worth the money. I do prefer this to the Neewer version—it feels sturdier and I prefer the way it attaches to the camera.The only drawback I've encountered is how hard it is to put this on a flash. I've gotten better at it, but it's tricky. (I suggest that you sit in a chair, hold the speedlight between your knees, and use both hands to stretch the elastic band and pull it over the flash head.) But once it's on, it's on—I'm not concerned with it falling off.The Neewer version attaches differently: there's a two-sided velcro strap you first wrap tightly around the flash head, then tabs on the disc that you velcro to the strap. The Neewer version requires less "effort" to attach, but it takes just as long, and while the hole at the bottom is smaller for less light spill, it doesn't feel as secure as the Meking version. And the light spill should be noted. The big hole at the bottom is needed so you can use both hands to put the disc on the flash, but it leaks a lot of light. If you're hoping to use the flash in-frame, you're going to want to tape it up. The Fstoppers version appears to have a similarly sized hole, but (much) less leakage is the only advantage I can see in the Neewer version.As for the light diffusion, it works really well. These things soften shadows more than I thought they would and work well at distance from the subject (not much increase in dropoff). I used to travel with two lightstands and two umbrellas when visiting family. Now I just bring along my two speedlights and two of these discs. And the discs are so light that I can use the small plastic stands that came with the flashes. (I can usually find good places to put them when indoors.) The disc feels well made, though you have to wonder how long it will take for the stitching holding the elastic strap to the disc to come loose from all that tension.Pros:PerformanceSturdinessValueCons:Tough to put on a flashLight leakage

Instead of having the velcro/elastic attachment that some others have, this uses a thick elastic sleeve that is sewn to the back of the unit (see photo 1). This would be OK, except that 1) the bottom is wide open for light to bleed out, and 2) the elastic is so long that you really have to shove the flash far up into it to prevent it from blocking the light (also making it difficult to tilt your flash should you desire, say, for close-up/macro shots right in front of your lens).There's nothing to keep the front and back panels apart, other than your flash at the bottom, so the top tends to fold in on itself (see photo 2), also likely losing some light that could be saved.So, although the back and sides are a nice reflective silver, this product still causes a very substantial amount of light loss. I did a test with all manual settings (flash output, shutter speed, aperture, ISO - everything!) to see how much. You can see in the pictures I shot into my (very dirty!) hall mirror that this diffuser causes approximately 2 full stops of light loss compared to shooting with a bare flash. For comparison I also tested my 6x9 strap-on softbox, which caused only about 0.75 stops of light loss.I do think that the light quality from this one is the nicest of the 3, since it creates the largest area of light source, but you'll need to bump up the power quite a bit, which means drained batteries and limited range.I don't have the F-Stoppers version, so I can't say how this compares. Might be just a result of the design, or maybe they did it better somehow.

I've had this for about a year now so I feel confident in saying that it works very well for softening a flash's light as long as the flash is under 6ft from the subject. I've used this with my flash on the camera's hotshoe and also remotely (in my hand or on a flash stand). Its compact size makes it much more useful when traveling and it's easy to attach to the flash without needing to stick any velcro to the flash. Since getting this I've stopped using my Lumiquest and Rogue Flashbender reflectors.

This is an inexpensive version of the Fstoppers flash disk. Fits perfectly on my Nikon SB700 speedlight, dramatically improves diffusion. No idea if it would hold up to professional use, but for a rank amateur like me I'm sure it will last for years.

Amazing product! I really like the effect as it does a very soft light, with soft shadow. It will be great for portrait and macro! I was using a small plastic light box that clip on the flash but I was still getting a harsh shadow. This is really good.

This was prefect for my photos but I need to Not use the gray facing the subject lol... only happened in two pics lol

Good product