Lightsphere - 1st shot - Thumbs up!

Well, after lots of inner turmoil, mainly due to the price, I thought that the examples given made it worth a shot! Figured that I needed a decent diffuser for the wedding we're shooting, and the reviews were good so....

Promised I would let you know if we got one and it arrived today! The following examples are as they came out of the camera, just resized for web use.

Flashgun used: Metz 58 in PTTL mode

EXIF for both shots:- 125iso, 1/100s, F5.6, DA* 16-50 @ 50 mm, K10D

1st shot - Portrait, flash aimed forwards, no lightsphere

2nd shot - Portrait, flash aimed at ceiling, lightsphere on

This was the very 1st shot taken with it, no practising, just dived straight in, no fancy setup, no worrying about where available light was, no thought really given, just get it on and take the shot. Figured that way, it would show up if it was no good!








I think the results speak for themselves, and can only get better with practise. Would love to know what you think!

Difficult to judge as in the second one you were bouncing the light so your ceiling was acting as a diffuser anyway. Try one bounced without the lightsphere and one bounced with - that'll give a better comparison.

The real proof of the pudding with those sorts of things is when you use them outdoors and you have nothing to bounce onto - should get plenty of those opportunities at the wedding...

She's gonna shoot me when she sees these you know!

I saved my self a fair bit using bubble wrap instead...

https://www.pentaxuser.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7865

Probably not something you want to hear though.

I borrows both the soft and the standard lightspheres in December and liked how they worked but not the price. I came up with my own solution to the problem with some 'free' packaging from something I must have ordered.

Can I ask which model you bought was it the clear or cloudy one?

Thanks
Paul

Are you talking about the bubble wrap???

or did you order the lightsphere, and leave it in the box, so you could get some free bubblewrap to use as a diffuser?

ouch...I think I just popped another brain cell....
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Duh, it doesn't come with bubble wrap, just a cardboard box which you can use as a big bounce card!

We bought the universal kit with both in. Had to get the universal one as none of the others would fit the Metz 58, and as we have a wedding to shoot soon, and there are 2 of us, decided to get the complete pack with both clear & cloudy versions so we can both use one at the same time if needed.

Now that we have them and have played with them a bit, the thing that sticks out the most is that it gives consistently good results with no effort. From a relative newbie, who doesn't know enough about flash photography, this is very important, so while most people moan / laugh about the cost, it is soon forgotten when you look at your first results.

Yes it is possible to get similar results cheaper with more effort, and yes you do look like a bit of a lemon with a 'yoghurt pot' on your camera (so the missus says), but it works, works well and has a permanent home in my camera bag!

When used outdoors, the advice is just point it directly at your victim and use as a normal diffuser, as there is no ceiling to bounce off of.

To be honest I would love to use no flash at all outdoors, but knowing our weather, might not have any choice!

Don't forget that using flash outdoors can add several stops of exposure latitude for foreground and background and adds life to eyes - just orderd a defuser for the pop up flash off of ebay (£4.98 including delivery from Hong Kong!). Hoping to try out some macro with it.

Yeah I know, just too much to learn and not as much time as I would like!