DIY: 400D Flash Deflector
To complement my new camera, I desperately wanted a new flash, such as the 440EX or 530EX Speedlites from Canon. Unfortunately, their price tags are very prohibitive, with the latter getting up to AUD$700! The inbuilt/popup flash on the EOS 400D is ‘okay’, I guess, in the same way the flash on any point and shoot (P&S) camera is ‘okay’. I should point out that there is now the trend that certain non-SLR’s cameras having a Hot Shoe mount, meaning a more expensive and swivelable flash, eliminating the direct flash problem found in the majority of P&S cameras. I’m talking about flashes built into the camera, be it popup or fixed.
The main problem with most P&S cameras that utilise a flash is that the subject becomes over exposed or there is excessive specular highlights because of the direct flash. A diffuser would help, but indirect light by bouncing it off the ceiling is often the best approach. Out of sheet styrene (or cardboard like my prototype was), I’ve created a Flash Deflector for my 400D. It simple slots into the hotshoe mount, and redirects the light from the flash to the ceiling, lighting the subject up (albeit a reduced amount) but not blasting it with direct light.
Step 1.
My prototype was created using white card (the inside of a box of prescription painkillers), so it is doable using household items (and thus free) – just make sure its a thickish card, otherwise it won’t reflect all the light.
Cut out the styrene or card into the various pieces needed. For 1mm styrene, you need four pieces in total – the main deflector, the holding bar, and two more to slot into the hotshoe mount. For card, you can get away with one piece folded over itself.
| Section | Shape |
| Hotshoe Mount Piece (bit that slides into the HotShoe Mount) |
 Square |
| Spacer (In between HotShoe Mount Piece and Bracket) |
 Rectangle |
| Bracket (the part Deflector slides into) |
 Rectangle with slot |
| Deflector |  Rectangle with sticky-outy-bit (scientific term there folks) |
The ‘bracket’ bit has a cut/slot in it the same size as the ‘sticky-outy-bit’ of the Deflector. This allows you to slide the main bracket piece into the camera’s hot shoe mount first, then slot in the deflector. Why? It means its overall thinner than what it’d have to be if you glued it in, and you can fold down the Flash Deflector into a bag so it doesn’t get broken.
Step 2.
Glue the Hotshoe Mount, Spacer, and Bracket together – the Spacer goes in the middle of the Hotshoe Mount Piece and at the end without the slot of the Bracket.
I’d recommend a strong adhesive that is heat resistant such as super glue. Just be careful to make sure everything is dry BEFORE slotting it into your camera – you don’t want it permanently mounted for when you can eventually afford the better flashes!
Step 3.
Take photos, ’cause you’re done.
Results
 |
 |
 |
| No Flash (ISO 400, 1/60 second shutter speed*) |
With Flash (ISO 100, 1/200) |
With Flash +Deflector (ISO 100, 1/200) |
*Using the same shutter speed or/and ISO settings as the other photos resulted in a black image (too dark). All shot with a 50mm f/1.8 II Prime Lens
Click each image if you want to see each photo in its original size (albeit cropped, file size for the three is about 2.9mb, I think).
As you can easily see, No Flash is too dark; with the Flash, the camera had trouble focusing properly, the edges of the phone are white while the rest of the phone is very dark; and finally the Flash + Deflector lights the scene almost perfectly! In Photoshop Lightroom, the ‘Flash’ white balance setting is pretty much spot on for what the items look like in real life/well lit situations for the Flash + Deflector shot, whereas the Flash shot requires a lot more work (not just changing the white balance) to get the realistic colours.
I might take this further later on, and experiment with semi-transparent materials, straws, etc, but overall, I’m pretty darn happy for about 10 minutes work. I think if anything, I’ll change the deflector to a box so that more light is deflected forward, rather than backwards towards the photographer.
This week I decided to get myself a new camera, and to step up into the world of dSLR’s.