Are any of these light modifiers useful?

[sylpherware]

Looking at this combo on eBay:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Flash-Gun-Adapter-Kit-Canon-580EX-550EX-YN560-/120601700163?pt=Camera_Flash_Accessories&hash=item1c146be743#ht_3635wt_1396
and the o-flash
http://www.ebay.com/itm/O-Flash-F165-Ring-Flash-SB800-430EX-430EX-II-5D-40D-/110566447410?pt=Camera_Flash_Accessories&hash=item19be461932#ht_3339wt_1396

By "useful", I mean ease of use/setup, and actually does what they're advertised.

Anybody has any thoughts on them? I know they're cheap enough to just buy-&-try them, but I don't like the idea of having a bunch of useless plastics lying around the house...

[PrinceMS]

The first one is kinda useless. Only possible thing I can see that you do studio shot and you need to control the flash light ... but you should be using stronger light + you can modify with DIY cardboard and stuff as needed as well.


Second one - I personally didn't find it much useful. Its mainly for portrait and with no shadows (in reality its a halo around them), sometime really nice catch eye as well but limited uses. Again mostly for studio work

[sylpherware]

The first one is kinda useless. Only possible thing I can see that you do studio shot and you need to control the flash light ... but you should be using stronger light + you can modify with DIY cardboard and stuff as needed as well.


Second one - I personally didn't find it much useful. Its mainly for portrait and with no shadows (in reality its a halo around them), sometime really nice catch eye as well but limited uses. Again mostly for studio work

Does it matter if I tell you I have wireless triggers for my flash? I have a 430 EXII on hand and a Sigma 610 super on the way.

Are they all useless when used outdoors?

[kay188]

The first one is kinda useless. Only possible thing I can see that you do studio shot and you need to control the flash light ... but you should be using stronger light + you can modify with DIY cardboard and stuff as needed as well.


Second one - I personally didn't find it much useful. Its mainly for portrait and with no shadows (in reality its a halo around them), sometime really nice catch eye as well but limited uses. Again mostly for studio work

Actually, the first one is a bootleg beauty dish add-on for a speedlite. It CAN be useful, but in terms of efficiency, I don't think it's efficient at all due to the fact of how small the unit is.
For a beauty dish to have great effect, it needs to be big. It also needs to have a lot of power going into it. People DIY their own beauty dishes and mod more than 1 speedlite into the unit. I've seen a DIY for 4 speedlites into a DIY beauty dish.

For the second one, it's to resemble a ring flash. Some people want that halo ring flash like effect. It depends on what look they're going for.
I would say the 2nd one is a poor man's ring flash, and not any more efficient than the first.

[AzureD]

the 2nd one is quite interesting...I wonder how well that works as a replacement for real ring flash for macro work

[sylpherware]

the 2nd one is quite interesting...I wonder how well that works as a replacement for real ring flash for macro work

I wouldn't use it for macro work since it doesn't stay in front of your lens, which will likely cause shadows from your lens.

[thericyip]

Cheaper ring flash adapters won't give you a complete fill. You'll see a darker spot at the bottom of the adapter cause the flash won't reach all the way around.