Gary Fong LightSphere Flash Diffuser

I was watching Youtube last night and came upon this. it really looks like something I could use. Does anyone have any good/bad experience with this?

They work OK and he's become a very rich man in part because of them. If you've not used a diffuser on your speedlite before you should try an $10 Stofen Omni-Bounce first.

If I was to buy into something more expensive it would probably be the MagMod system. Way more versatile.
https://magnetmod.com/​products/magsphere

You can't do anything with the Tupperware junk that you can't do with blank 3"x5" index card and a rubber band. The card and rubber band will cost you about $0.02, and don't waste battery power. Gary Fong's worthless junk exists for 2 reasons:

1.) To get unsuspecting folks to spend money on crap they don't need.
2.) To Gary Fong a truckload of money.

It seems to do both very well.

If you must attach light-wasting, battery-draining plastic to your flash, use an orange sherbet bowl. It will waste roughly the same amount of battery power as the GF stuff, but at least you get a tasty dessert.

I do NOT claim that GF stuff doesn't work. Only that is expensive, wastes light, and accomplishes nothing you can't do better, for a lot less money. An $800,000 Bentley will get you to work and back. Not many folks use them, either.

Oh no. Not the sphere. You are going to get a lot of negative reviews about that here. The purpose of the sphere is basically it just sprays light all over the place hoping to bounce some of that light off anything and back to your subject.

I works as advertised on a smaller room that has walls and ceilings that are close enough to utilize. Outdoors it sprays light all over that will never be used and just kills your batteries if that is important to you.

Flash is all about hard or soft light which is determined by the size of the light source. Well all photography is. You are outside on a mid summer sun day. The sun which far larger than the earth is so far away it looks like the size of a basketball. If you look at shadows under cars, etc they are darker and have a very distinct hard line between the sunlit and shadow areas. That is hard light.

On a overcast day that line is much softer because the sunlight has been diffused by the clouds and is coming from everywhere above you, not just a basketball sized source. That is soft light which is preferable.

Same applies to the sphere outdoors. 80% of the light gets thrown everywhere expect your subject. Some light from the front of the sphere reaches your subject but that area is not much bigger than the flash head itself. Sure it will help a bit but it is not like having an umbrella or soft-box.

So the difference between hard and soft light is the size of the light source and it's distance to your subject.

Some people really like sphere type products but the feedback you will get is the Fong sphere is expensive and many prefer controlling the flash by turning the flash head and bouncing it off a wall or ceiling.

I'm not trying to say domes aren't good but a reflector style is considered more practical. I'm not promoting Rogue either, just an example.

https://rogueflash.com …ctions/rogue-flashbenders

If you really want to get into getting natural looking flash try this site. He is a master using on camera flash. Scroll down and in the blue column find Flash Photography Techniques. Start there.

https://neilvn.com/tan​gents/

When you can't bounce

https://neilvn.com …hing-to-bounce-flash-off/

FarmerTed1971 wrote in post #18471018
They work OK and he's become a very rich man in part because of them. If you've not used a diffuser on your speedlite before you should try an $10 Stofen Omni-Bounce first.

If I was to buy into something more expensive it would probably be the MagMod system. Way more versatile.
https://magnetmod.com/​products/magsphere

I just saw this. The main MagMod advantage I see over the Gary Fong stuff is that you are wasting light and battery power for about $10 less. That same $10 will buy you about 500 3"x5" cards and a bag of rubber bands. If you consider the entire $50, you could get 2500 index cards and two bags of rubber bands.

Versatility? MagMod? Really? Give me a hint about how one piece of Tupperware is more versatile than the next. I can take my index card off and bend it hither and yon for directional light, fold it over for less forward reflection, tape (oooh, the expense!) two of them together for more/larger reflector. It is really hard to beat index cards and rubber bands for flash-mounted light modification.

I wonder if colored cards could help in fluorescent lighting? Does anyone make CTO index cards?

anitaw2 wrote in post #18471013
I was watching Youtube last night and came upon this. it really looks like something I could use. Does anyone have any good/bad experience with this?

You have unwittingly set in motion a likely series of events the likes of which have never been seen!!!

Well, at least not for a few months since the last Gary Fong thread! Sit back and enjoy the show. Fwiw, I would never own one and greatly prefer a large-ish bounce card.

Bassat I was saying what I (as in ME) would buy INSTEAD of a GF unit. The advantages are easy in that the MM is silicon and squishes down into my bag better and there are many add ons that work with the system and the ease of use is very high.

That being said... I use a Stoffen and bounce and do not find any reason, at this time, to purchase anything more fancy than that.

Left Handed Brisket wrote in post #18471082
You have unwittingly set in motion a likely series of events the likes of which have never been seen!!!

Well, at least for a few months since the last Gary Fong thread!

Sit back and enjoy the show.

Yes! A staunch supporter (stock owner?) will be along shortly to re-inform us all how wonderful and useful this type of stuff is. He is right. I am righter.

POTN has several of these recurring themes. This is but one. Search for:
FF vs apsc (neither is better for everything, not everyone knows that)
Any brand lens vs any other brand lens (ad infinitum)
Ken Rockwell (what?)
CanonRumors.com (CFWoT)
Filter use (type-dependent)
L-versus non (I've got dogs in this fight, on both sides.)
EF lenses on apsc bodies (good vs bad)
DOF (the physics)
DXO (CFWoT)
AFMA (I just know its useless. My Tokina 11-20 needs it, so I use it.)
... and likely more I can't think of right now.

Sit back and enjoy the show!

After taking lighting courses and reading Neil's stuff I gave away my two Fong diffusers and pretty much everything else. I don't know even why I had two but it seemed a cloudy and clear would be important to have

You may find this interesting as well.

http://russellspixelpi​x.blogspot.ca …no-need-to-spend-big.html

I made this one for about $5

http://super.nova.org/​DPR/DIY01/

FarmerTed1971 wrote in post #18471088
Bassat I was saying what I (as in ME) would buy INSTEAD of a GF unit. The advantages are easy in that the MM is silicon and squishes down into my bag better and there are many add ons that work with the system and the ease of use is very high.

That being said... I use a Stoffen and bounce and do not find any reason, at this time, to purchase anything more fancy than that.

I beg your pardon, sir. May the fleas of a thousand camels infest my armpits (hey, TF!). My apologies.

You have indeed pointed out a difference between MagMod and GF. Thank you. I did not know MM was collapsible. I still think index cards will take up less room, but they don't have many add-ons.

Stofen omni-bounce is the only Tupperware I have actually tested against 3"x5" index cards. To the best of my recollection the outcome was:

Stofen wastes about 2 stops of light. For every flash pop. Every time.
I can do nothing with the Stofen I can't do with the index cards.
I can do myriad things with the index card that the Stofen can't do.
For the price of a Stofen, I can buy a lifetime supply of index cards and rubber bands.

As I mentioned above, I do NOT claim the Tupperware doesn't work. Only that it wastes your light, wastes your batteries, and wastes your money.

OP, I have a Lumiquest Pocket Bouncer that came with a 550EX I recently bought. PM me with a mailing address and I'll send it to you free, at my expense (CONUS, please). Play with if for a bit. Compare it to index cards. In less than an hour, you'll throw it in the trash (where it belongs) and head out to Dollar General for some 3"x5" cards and a bag of rubber bands. Guaranteed.

EDIT:
Just saw you were in Canada. Give me an address anyway. I'll check postage. If reasonable, the deal holds.

Left Handed Brisket wrote in post #18471082
You have unwittingly set in motion a likely series of events the likes of which have never been seen!!!

Well, at least not for a few months since the last Gary Fong thread! Sit back and enjoy the show.

It's OK ... I've checked ... plenty of popcorn in the house.

So I was checking out the web. First off the example of direct flash I don't agree with. That shot is just badly overexposed. When I can't bounce or use a soft box, etc I just shoot direct. I may or may not have use a bracket to get the flash a little higher. If you bring in enough ambient so the flash does not nuke your subject then you can get pleasing results. The only real hit with direct flash even when handled carefully is the results are flat. Not colour wise but there is just no depth to it.

https://improvephotogr​aphy.com …phere-collapsible-review/

Also the bounce strait up example is not the best. Shall I show it again? Our favourite drawing provided by valued member smorter that we cha not seen for a while. The second example is the reverse bounce which eliminates shadows indicated in the in the first example with red dots.

Even using wall, ceiling combos is better.

Note to the OP. When you bounce off a wall, etc look that the light that hits it. It is much larger than your flash head and that is now the light source for your exposure.

Oh my, I think I hit a big nerve! ha, ha

anitaw2 wrote in post #18471190
Oh my, I think I hit a big nerve! ha, ha

Don't worry. You're not the first. Just run with it.

You want the Lumiquest thingee?