Originally posted by ScooterMaxi Jim
It has been years since I've used them, but my recollection is that the ribbing works as if you have direct flash - the dish on top removes too much light unless your ceiling is very low. At least the early versions had a very prominent purple tone to the plastic cylinder.
Jim, I don't know if that was ever true. I have both the older rigid and newer compressing models.
Old pictures and videos of the product certainly do not show any different colour.
You are wrong about the 'ribbing', also.
It does not act as direct flash. It is translucent, and only uses light spill from the sides. Everything else is bounced from the ceiling.
The dishes (there are several) are not used except in certain circumstances (such as acting as a coloured gel). I used an amber one here and pointed directly at the subject as fill flash. No problem with harsh shadows or weird colour:
So like a LumiQuest or Stofen, it's a *bounce flash modifier*, good for eliminating the shadow behind the subject on a close wall.
Outdoors or in a cavernous interior bounce isn't possible so I tend to use either a Rogue Light Bender or a velcro strapped mini softbox. The light path is then very direct like pop-up flash, but c'est la vie.