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A couple of weeks ago, I showed a quick preview of what the Lightscoop could do to photos requiring a flash. At the time, I said it was a pretty amazing tool for photographers looking for a cheap and effective way to soften the harsh flash exposures that often come off of on-camera flashes. After some more use, I still feel like this is an amazing alternative to a very expensive flash but with some limitations that should be considered.

For most amateur shooters, the Lightscoop is going to be a godsend. It does an incredible job at softening the flash and bouncing it off of the walls to better light the subject as well as the background. But because the Lightscoop works by bouncing the light behind and above the photographer, getting the best looking shots out of your camera’s flash does require you to be in a room with relatively low ceilings. So if you’re in a ballroom or something, the Lightscoop won’t really do much good (in fact, it’ll probably make your pictures darker than you want). Also, if you’re bouncing light in a room with colored walls, be prepared to color balance in post-production or deal with oddly tinted subjects (based on the color of the walls).

With the exception of those two problems (which really aren’t the fault of the Lightscoop’s), I found the Lightscoop to be very fun to use. It’s very lightweight and it attaches easily to my Canon 7D’s hot-shoe. I can actually keep the Lightscoop attached to my camera and close and open the flash without any problem (there are some camera models which require you to remove the Lightscoop before popping up the flash but I did not have to do this extra step).

For only $25 (which is $10 less than the advertised price), you might as well buy one to use around the house. It’s worth way more than $35 (MSRP) in great photos and I feel like it’s a great alternative to lugging around a huge flash when you really don’t need to. There’s also a warm-tone version for the same price if you know you want your subjects to come out a bit warmer (good for skin tones).

Overall, this small device gets my seal of approval for being so darn simple to use. It’ll certainly make a great stocking stuffer come this Christmas for the casual or amateur-pro shooter.

Here are some comparison shots:

Photo above shot with NO FLASH.

Photo above shot with ON-CAMERA FLASH (NO LIGHTSCOOP)

Photo above shot with LIGHTSCOOP ATTACHED