LightsphereII?? Gary Fong??

KimballPhotography

I had a friend ask my about Gary Fong's Lightsphere II. I had never heard of it before. So I checked out the site and think it's kinda interesting. Wanted to get feedback from anyone who may know something about it. Mainly, to help her out if I can...and secondly, if it's any good...I may like to try it out:scratch.
If you haven't heard of it go to LightsphereII and click on the LightsphereII link.
Is it stupid? Is it good? Do you think it would work? Any comments, feedback wanted~
Thanks in advance~

digismile

KimballPhotography wrote:

I had a friend ask my about Gary Fong's Lightsphere II. I had never heard of it before. So I checked out the site and think it's kinda interesting. Wanted to get feedback from anyone who may know something about it. Mainly, to help her out if I can...and secondly, if it's any good...I may like to try it out.
If you haven't heard of it go to LightsphereII and click on the LightsphereII link.
Is it stupid? Is it good? Do you think it would work? Any comments, feedback wanted~
Thanks in advance~

I'm pretty sure it's been posted here on dgrin, because I ended up buying one! It seemed cheap enough to buy and try, so I did .

I just got it a couple of days ago and I am just starting to test it out. I like it a lot better than the Stofen diffuser I used before. The lighting seems to be more evenly diffused. I have yet to try it outside as a fill flash. One of the keys to this design is that when you bounce flash off the ceiling, you have exactly the same shape/size of diffuser facing the target whether you shoot vertically or horizontally. On the other diffusers, you generally get only a small edge of the diffuser if you are shooting vertically and bouncing your flash off the ceiling.

I generally bounce flash my 550EX, so I'm wanting to test it direct on, as GF shows on his website.

It will be a bit bigger to pack, but I think it's going to work out very well.

Regards,
Brad

david_h

Well, as you can see from my avatar I have a Lightsphere.
I find that it works prety much as advertised, especially in landscape orientation.
In portrait orientation I find it casts shadows that I don't really like. I have to shoot a party in a couple of weeks and I'll use it along with my Newton bracket to keep the flash in the proper position.
The only other issue is that you have to watch how you put it on your flash so it actually stays on. When I use mine for a long time, I usually use electricians tape to ensure it stays put.

dragon300zx

I was reading about this over in the wedding photographers forum on FM yesterday. Seems like a good price for the product and vice versa. The problem over there is his lack of customer service. One guy apparantley orders his weeks ago and not only hasn't gotten but has gotten rude emails from gary.

david_h

dragon300zx wrote:

I was reading about this over in the wedding photographers forum on FM yesterday. Seems like a good price for the product and vice versa. The problem over there is his lack of customer service. One guy apparantley orders his weeks ago and not only hasn't gotten but has gotten rude emails from gary.

I've read about some of these issues as well. There are some threads about poor service over at DPReview.
Seems some people had to wait for ages and others received one part then had to wait a long time for the other.
In my case, the shipment arrived right on time, so I have no complaints.

tmlphoto

david_h wrote:

I've read about some of these issues as well. There are some threads about poor service over at DPReview.
Seems some people had to wait for ages and others received one part then had to wait a long time for the other.
In my case, the shipment arrived right on time, so I have no complaints.

I just ordered one the other day. It arrived in just a few days (both parts). The fit is very snug on my 580ex. I ran some test shots inside (10 ft. ceilings) and they looked really good. Nice soft light. I am anxious to test it out inside with high ceilings. The ettl II seems to work fine with it, both bounced and shooting straight ahead. More feedback later after I've given it a real field test.

leebase

I bought it -- and like it. I'm still not sure how it's best used. I know it works great with low ceilings, nearby white walls etc.



Lee