Diffuser vs No Diffuser

Hey, guys. I thought it would be cool to post photo comparisons of shots with and without diffusers. Here's my first comparison, taken today on the wreck of the Shakem here in Grenada:

No Diffuser:

Diffuser:

Taken with 1Ds Mk2, Tokina 17mm lens, dual Ikelite DS-125 strobes, positioned maybe 16" out on each side, slightly behind port and angled out a bit.

Wow, very noticable. Is the shot with diffusers the same strobe power as the one without, or did you increase strobe power to compensate for the diffusers.

Edges of the flash "circle" are much less obvious with the diffusers on. I'd be very interested to hear an answer to William's question too.

Same strobe power -- you can see that there is less light in the center of the flash circle, with diffusers on.

The advertised 1 stop loss with the diffusers looks accurate.....I'd be interested in the same shot with the strobe turned up 1 stop....so effective light output is the same and we could then see the effect on coverage, edges, etc.

Karl

Karl, your wish is my command. All straight low jpegs from camera, just resized.

Can't really see the difference in spread, just the exposure and hotspots.

Strobes are dual S&S YS 120s on full power, D70, shutter at 1/60, ISO 200

I am using 14 inch arms and they were all the way out with strobes angled slightly out as it was murky, hence the lovely water colour. Lens was 12-24 set at 14mm and i was probably 3 or 4 feet from the coral head. I didn't have a wall handy underwater, and the mantas wouldn't sit still so you get this coral head instead...

Mike

and the other two

Thanks Mike.....I agree that the only difference is brightness....can't tell about spread or quality of light....maybe another subject will show more?.....in the meantime, I'm going to continue using my diffusers

Karl