Remember that with the flash what makes it “bad” or ugly light is mostly the direction and quality. Direction of blasted straight on and quality is very harsh and contrasty. Any flash with the ability to point it up into a card or to the ceiling helps a lot. Let me say it again A LOT! Diffusion helps but it is the size of the diffuser and the distance from flash to diffuser that determines how soft it is so the smaller homemade diffusers are just a little better.

Remember that flashes generally last forever – I have one I routinely use that is at least 15 years old. So it is a frugal investment for thevalue you get.

Stan at Scrappers Workshop

Second, any lens at f/1.8 will be OK for photographing single people in many cases, but more than that and someone will be out of focus–it’s just too wide an aperture. And even with one person, you may have one eye in focus, one eye out of focus. I’d stop it down if possible, and always stop it down if you’re trying to capture a scene wider than one person’s face. And, yes, pretty much any lens is sharper stopped down a bit. But life and photography are full of tradeoffs! If you need the light, you need the light.

Last: I’ve never read that a hood impedes light that you need for the photo; it shields the lens from stray light that can cause lens flare but I don’t think it slows down your lens. I could be wrong, but I’ve done a lot of reading on photography, and no one has ever said–to my knowledge–to remove the hood in low light.