Mercury poisoning?

Zoom Raider

Here I am about to buy the Lightsphere from B&H,`cos I just accidently saw it on their site. I've been weary on buying the P1 model from Gary's site,`cos it would not show the SB600 on the chart. And on the size chart, the closest fit was still a bit tight, so I e.mailed his people 3 times (7 weeks) to get the perfect fit and I still haven't heard anything from them.

So, on B&H, it says that the P1 will fit the SB600, but... I see that it has a warning on there that the Lightsphere is made of mecury. So, I was wondering what this mercury could do by handling the LS all the time. If it could get in the blood stream, then what... kidney failure?:uhoh

I know this may be a silly question for you all, but I don't wanna have to start going to the doctor. I don't have to take any meds and I don't ever wanna have to. I have no doctor or insurance anyway, so I'd be screwed if this mercury in the LS is a serious thing.

Yeah, it's a silly question, but I need to know.:rofl

Thanks!

saurora

Re: Mercury Poisoning - Lightsphere II
I went to put one of those in my basket last night at B&H and saw the warning also. I tried doing a search and came up with nothing. I have a feeling it must be printed as a warning on the product. Maybe someone has one and knows about this. I'm curious, too. Oh, and I don't think it's a silly question!

TristanP

This makes no sense at all - it's plastic.

Zoom Raider

Saurora,

Which one are or were you gonna get, the Clear or Cloud? I can't decide. I don't want my pictures to be too soft,`cos it may be too dreamy looking. I figure maybe I can add an OmniBounce beneath the LS Clear (if it'll even fit over that) and see how that works if I decide I want more softness, but it may be too tight anyway. But this mercury thing is not something I or many want to have on our hands. Maybe we need to wear gloves.

Zoom Raider

Yeah, I thought it was plain old vinyl. Why would they add mercury to vinyl?

pathfinder

ZR -

Can you post the link where you saw the mercury warning? I can see several varieties of Lightsphere IIs, but do not see a warning about mercury.

Mine looks like plain old vinyl to my eye.

Zoom Raider

pathfinder wrote:

ZR -

Can you post the link where you saw the mercury warning? I can see several varieties of Lightsphere IIs, but do not see a warning about mercury.

Mine looks like plain old vinyl to my eye.

It says it on all of the sizes and colors. https://secure05.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=cart&A=cart&Q=update. At least that's where we see it warning us. Those three dots after the bn is actually an h, but it won't show up as an h in here, and the word controller is missing, too. Dunno why.

pathfinder

I don't see anything about a Fong Lightsphere on that linkie??

Zoom Raider

pathfinder wrote:

I don't see anything about a Fong Lightsphere on that linkie??

Okay, now go back up to the link and click it. I didn't see the s that I had to add after http. If it doesn't work, then I dunno,`cos it still looks different than from what I see on my address bar.

Atrucker

I used to play with mercury when I was a youngster. It does neat things. I turned out perfectly normal. Here's a shot to prove it.

gus

Atrucker wrote:

I used to play with mercury when I was a youngster. It does neat things. I turned out perfectly normal. Here's a shot to prove it.

Me too...it is one of those things i actually look back on now as a 'not so good idea'

Remember guys....most of us have a mouthfull of old mercury fillings. If it does exist in the product ,i would expect it has had to pass certain tests to ensure it does not vapour.

PS..& totally unrelated. As a young fella ..i used to have to run & maintain one of these beauties (mercury arc rectifier) to supply power to our ships sonar...thing used to scare the cr*p out of me.

saurora

Zoom Raider wrote:

Saurora,

Which one are or were you gonna get, the Clear or Cloud? I can't decide. I don't want my pictures to be too soft,`cos it may be too dreamy looking. I figure maybe I can add an OmniBounce beneath the LS Clear (if it'll even fit over that) and see how that works if I decide I want more softness, but it may be too tight anyway. But this mercury thing is not something I or many want to have on our hands. Maybe we need to wear gloves.

I was going to get the Cloud. The Cloud is supposedly good for close-up portraits and the clear is better for a large room. So, it would be nice to have both, but who wants to spend that kind of money. Your idea with the omnibounce sounds pretty good. I guess it depends what you plan to use it for and how much light you need.

Hey Gus...I use to dig up little blobs of mercury out of the dirt in our backyard when I was a kid and play with it. Oh...Maybe that's what's wrong....

Pathfinder, the warning first showed up for me when I placed the item in my basket ... or after I viewed my basket...now I can't remember (must be the mercury poisoning... )

Shay Stephens

I wouldn't worry about this at all. Well, unless you have a habit of licking your photo accessories all day long

JamesJWeg

Don't chew on it, merc is a not that rare in vinyl.

James.

ScottMcLeod

JamesJWeg wrote:

Don't chew on it, merc is a not that rare in vinyl.

James.

"Warning: Do not buy if you have an oral fixation, or are near babies that may be teething."

ziggy53

I suspect that this "Lightsphere" is the one that contains mercury, in the flash unit. The warning is probably inadvertantly, and incorrectly, applied to all products with the "Lightsphere" name. (Apparently some electronic flash units use a "Mercury-pool Control Tube Circuit".)

http://www.garyfong.com/files/barebulb.html

PVC is more dangerous for its dioxin and lead hazards than anything else.

ziggy53

Zoom Raider

Funny comments in here about this mercury epidemic.
I think the lead singer of Queen ate some when he was a child.

I'm might go ahead and order the LS tomorrow. Wish I already had the LS for all these seminars that I've been going to, but at least there's gonna be 4 more weeks of it.

I think I'll order the Clear,`cos these seminars are in dimly lit and the world-pastor moves his hands really fast when he speaks. And it should produce quite a bit softer light than the flash alone anyway, even though the Cloud is even softer yet.

I understand that the Clear can still do very good portraits and macros almost as good as the Cloud.

Thanks all!:):

photodoug

Zoom Raider wrote:

I think the lead singer of Queen ate some when he was a child.

Don't you be talkin smack about Freddie man...

Zoom Raider

I said that`cos of his last name, is all.:):
My favorite song by them when I was a child was Bohemian Rhapsody.
For some reason, from only hearing it on the radio, I thought it was a
Columbian band,`cos of the "Oh mama mia, mama mia"!
I once had a Columbian friend and he always said that. I guess that's why.:

Zoom Raider

Another thing... at Gary's site, you can get the both the LS and its top for under $50.
But do we have to order them both seperately from B&H?
B&H says the lid can be odered as an upgrade or replacement.
Upgrade sometimes means to add on to.
I was gonna call them, but I suppose they close at 5pm EST.
I'd like to order it from B&H,`cos it would get here faster than it would from Cali.

Zoom Raider

ziggy53 wrote:

I suspect that this "Lightsphere" is the one that contains mercury, in the flash unit. The warning is probably inadvertantly, and incorrectly, applied to all products with the "Lightsphere" name. (Apparently some electronic flash units use a "Mercury-pool Control Tube Circuit".)

http://www.garyfong.com/files/barebulb.html

PVC is more dangerous for its dioxin and lead hazards than anything else.

ziggy53

Yeah, that would make more sense. I couldn't understand why on Earth
they need to put mercury into vinyl, knowing it's gonna get handled a lot,
even by children. I was about to think that the LS glows in the dark, too.:):

Thanks, Ziggy!

Zoom Raider

I've looked very closely now. Can't tell if it glows, but it looks edible.
Well, I mean non-toxic.

Dani

I sent a message to Gary and gave him this link... so perhaps he'll be able to clear things up for us.

Dani

Got a reply!!

Gary Fong wrote:

Hey -

Good thing you brought this up! We spoke to B&H and it was a mistake on their part. Our products have no Mercury.

They are fixing it now. If you try to order it again, you will see that this advisory has been removed.

Gary

there you guys go.. nothing to worry about!

Zoom Raider

Thanks, Dani!

But how did ya get an answer from him or his reps so fast,
after I after 7 weeks having not received an answer from him (or his reps)
as to which size will fit perfectly fit my SB600?

Doesn't matter anymore though,`cos B&H says the P1
will fit mine. Glad to read this news that you got from him.

Thanks!:):

Dani

I posted a comment to his blog! He has a backlog of some 1000+ emails.

Zoom Raider wrote:

Thanks, Dani!

But how did ya get an answer from him or his reps so fast,
after I after 7 weeks having not received an answer from him (or his reps)
as to which size will fit perfectly fit my SB600?

Doesn't matter anymore though,`cos B&H says the P1
will fit mine. Glad to read this news that you got from him.

Thanks!:):

saurora

Way to go Dani! After I read this morning that you had e-mailed him, it occurred to me that it might be a good idea to check with B&H since they were the ones who posted it. But your response from Gary was so quick there's no need!

Zoom Raider

I just went to B&H again. The warning is still there.
Not that I still think it has mercury in it anymore,
just that if it doesn't come off there soon or later,
some others won't order it either. I know I wasn't when I saw it.
I'd've been afraid to touch it and turn into an X-Man or something.