Gary Fong Lightsphere

[Robert]

I was at a wedding recently and had a chat to the photographer, a very friendly fellow.

During some of the inside flash shots he was using an attachment on the flash gun.

The attachment was a Lightsphere II, I later saw it tested in Professional Photographer magazine with very positive results.

After checking it out in the the Gary Fong website I bought one. The results so far are very good.

Has anyone else been using this unit?

 

[Marc Jutras]

A friend of mine is using it for his professional work and he gets consistently amazing results. I will eventually get one for sure.

 

[kaiyen]

I prefer the Demb Diffuser, myself. http://www.dembflashdiffusers.com/ With the flip-it card all the way back, I get results comparable to the lightsphere. Not quite as soft, but way softer than you'd expect for flash. If I need more power, I just move the card up into place. You can't regain that last power with the lightsphere.
allan

 

[dcsang]

I've got a home made version of the lightsphere. It gets some odd looks at weddings but it does the trick for the most part; however I have begun, as of last wedding, to just rotate my flash 180 degrees from the "forward" position and tilt it back about 120degrees from the "standard" 90 degree position.

This seems to get me consistent results, is easier to handle during a wedding situation, and there's no reason to be carrying any extra equipment such as a diffuser.

Dave

 

[Kin Lau]

I have the LSII PJ, and it works great for what it's designed for.

If you're stuck outdoors with nothing to bounce with, then you can always just point the thing forward.

There is a new chrome-dome available for the LSII cloud (not PJ) which will force more of the light forwards.

 

[haagen_dazs]

i have been using it for a while now
excellent diffuser
sometimes a bit top heavy on my flash
but highly recommended

 

[Nick R.]

I had great results this weekend using this bounce card:

http://www.abetterbouncecard.com/

I bought the foam at ragshop for 63¢

 

[Robert]

I watched the video for the better bounce card, it seems amazing and for very little money.

Had I seen that I might not have bought the Lightsphere as with postage added it cost approx. £40. On saying that it appears to be doing a good job.

 

[Nick R.]

Sorry, Robert. I wasn't trying to rub it in regarding the price. I wanted to point out to those people that would try the betterbouncecard that it's worth making the effort to get to the rag shop rather than order the kit online.

 

[PhotoMat]

Hi Robert:

I've been using the Lightsphere for a couple of years now. It is a "must have" piece of equipment in my camera bag when shooting weddings and on-location portraits. The original Lightsphere was made out of a more rigid plastic -- the Lightsphere II is a much more flexible unit that does not take up as much space in your bag. I have a drawer full of discarded diffusers/bounce units -- I really never liked the results. I've been quite pleased with the quality and consistency of the results from the Lightsphere.

 

[Robert]

Nick, what is a rag shop?

 

[PhotoMat]

Robert:

You should be able to find the foam material at a craft store. Over here in the States, I've found the foam sheets, called "foamies" (of course) at a craft store (national chain) called Michael's. I've used this material in black color as a light seal replacement on some older rangefinder cameras. If you have trouble finding the white foam sheet locally, let me know and I'll see if I can round some up around here for you. Good luck!

Matt

 

[Nick R.]

Nick, what is a rag shop?

It's a chain of stores in the USA selling notions, ticking, rick-rack and other things with weird names used in crafts. My wife and daughter are frequent visitors. The male equivalent would be a hardware store.