While wandering around the booths at WPPI this year, I met Paul McKelvey. Paul is the founder of the Kobra Flash Modifier — he designed the Kobra.

The Kobra is a flash modifier that is lightweight, flexible and pretty sleek looking. “I felt disappointed as to what the market was offering, so I created this,” Paul said. 

Design

While seeing the Kobra first hand at WPPI three things that really made the product stand out too me. First, it is designed from high-grade, flexible silicone that is not affected by high or low temperatures.

The diffusers its self is also completely foldable. You can roll the whole thing up and stuff it in your bag. It will pop right back up and maintain its form. The design has vent holes to allow air to circulate over the flash head and prevent them from potential overheating.

Second, and one of the coolest features about the Kobra, I think, is the patent-pending built-in reflector. You heard me right — there is a built-in reflector forcing your light to bounce forward through the clear silicone.

Paul mentioned that he felt like other modifiers were “wasting light, by throwing it behind you.” That reflector acts as a second layer of diffusion, giving you the ability to direct your light. 

Gel kit

My final reason for loving the Kobra is their amazing gel kit. The Kobra Flash Modifier Gel Kit comes with six precut colored gels. Those gels easily slide into the Kobra band that attachs to a flash.

The kit even comes with three color temperature orange gels to help with perfecting your white balance.

To get more creative with your lighting, the kit has a red, blue and green gels.

Paul prides himself on the fact that “the Kobra only uses LEE filters, which provide high-quality lighting filters that are accurately consistent from batch to batch, long-lasting and dependable. Every filter is checked against a scientifically generated set of parameters.”

Final thoughts

The Kobra is an amazing portable, easy to use modifier for any photographer. It is lightweight and extremely durable, and comes in at $65 — a fraction of some of its other competitors. Package the Kobra system with the gel kit for only $95.99 for the pair.