Gary Fong Lightsphere...

[Steve5D]

Plus other photographers will make fun of you .

Why?

I saw a guy using one at an event and, honestly, the lightsphere was working well...

 

[Steve5D]

Friends don't let friends buy a Fong Dong.

Dont buy it Steve!


When a Fong dong gives u a good result, that's usually when bouncing the light will give you a good result anyway.

Care to explain why you have such an aversion to it? I've seen results which pretty much negate your last sentence...

 

[tecboy]

Lightsphere is big and doesn't fit in my camera bag. I prefer small ones instead.

 

[Clee33]

It did Not knock my socks off as I'd hoped. It just knocked $40 from my wallet. You can get very similar result with a $0.05 index card, which is one of my go-to's during the decade + that I've been shooting.

 

[tecboy]

It is $60 in BHphoto.

 

[tecboy]

What is so good about Gary Fong's products anyway?

 

[Derrel]

Some years back, I made a flash diffuser out of craft foam and velcro, and it actually worked really well. I may actually make a couple more...

I have watched a couple of creativelive.com episodes where highly-skilled profesionalls with decades' worth of experience demo'd, and showed images, they had made using the Rogue brand of "Flashbenders"...and the results are very good. It's basically a product that was I think spun off out of the craft-foam diffuser craze that swept across the Internet six,seven years ago.

 

[Smokeyr67]

Lightsphere is big and doesn't fit in my camera bag. I prefer small ones instead.

Said the actress to the Bishop

I have a lightsphere, picked it up second hand and haven't had much luck with it, it's good to see I'm not the only one, it makes me feel less incompetent.

 

[PeK77]

Some years back, I made a flash diffuser out of craft foam and velcro, and it actually worked really well. I may actually make a couple more...

I have watched a couple of creativelive.com episodes where highly-skilled profesionalls with decades' worth of experience demo'd, and showed images, they had made using the Rogue brand of "Flashbenders"...and the results are very good. It's basically a product that was I think spun off out of the craft-foam diffuser craze that swept across the Internet six,seven years ago.

I've tried the Rogue flashbender and got ok results where there was absolutely no room to bounce. A bounce off of a ceiling or even white garage produces a much smoother light (from what I've seen). I'm guessing the light from the ceiling, walls, and garage is nicer and softer because of the size of the bounce vs. the flashbender.

 

[pixmedic]

Friends don't let friends buy a Fong Dong.

Dont buy it Steve!


When a Fong dong gives u a good result, that's usually when bouncing the light will give you a good result anyway.

i will second that.
borrowed one for a bit once. wasnt overly impressed.
for instances where i wanted more direct light, our small softbox worked better than the fong sphere (by a pretty decent margin)
and for bouncing, it was pretty crappy. our Rogue Flashbender was lightyears better than the fong.
maybe i just needed more practice with the fong thingy...but i wont be buying one to find out. ill stick with my softboxes and flashbenders.

i have seen people get amazing results with some pretty crazy DIY stuff...
i dont think its a matter of whether or not the fong sphere CAN work good, its just a matter of whether its something you want to work to become proficient with, or if you end up preferring something else.

 

[Steve5D]

Some years back, I made a flash diffuser out of craft foam and velcro, and it actually worked really well. I may actually make a couple more...

I have watched a couple of creativelive.com episodes where highly-skilled profesionalls with decades' worth of experience demo'd, and showed images, they had made using the Rogue brand of "Flashbenders"...and the results are very good. It's basically a product that was I think spun off out of the craft-foam diffuser craze that swept across the Internet six,seven years ago.

Yeah, that's about the time period when I made mine. It worked very well.

I did get an Amazon gift card for Christmas, though, and those Flashbenders do look kinda' cool...

 

[Steve5D]

What is so good about Gary Fong's products anyway?

That's pretty much the essence of my question...

 

[Robin Usagani]

Because I have seen this product in action like 3X. All three times were being used by someone who had no idea what they were doing. I see them shooting bride and groom in the open with fong dong with flash on.

 

[Derrel]

What is so good about Gary Fong's products anyway?

That's pretty much the essence of my question...

Well, I watched the Gary Fong video linked above, the one where he has the model use the remote, and she snaps a photo of herself with each of the modifiers, as Gary runs the camera and swaps the different modifiers in and out...as one can see from the comparison photos, the Fong Diffuser casts the lightest, least-dense shadow behind her. She's placed VERY close to that white wall, and the shooting area has a nice, white ceiling. Just based on the shadows alone, we can see that the Fong Diffuser in that test is throwing out the MOST-diffused, and the LEAST-directional light pattern of any of the tested modifiers. WHich again, goes right back to the exact kind of use I think it's intended for: smaller rooms, low ceilings, cramped situations.

When Gary got started selling these things, I think his MAIN client base were then-new wedding photographers, and these people tend to shoot a lot of before the wedding stuff in low-ceilinged hotel rooms....bride and her attendants getting ready, groom and groomsmen getting dressed...you know, very standard stuff with a single flash, ON the camera...and the Fong Diffuser creates very soft, diffused light, spreads the light all around, and creates a LOT of shadow-filling, softened light by way of reducing the directionality of the light from a speedlight's Fresnel lens...

I watched his on-the-street video comparo of open shade, versus a monolight with an umbrella, versus the Fong Diffuser on an SB-910, photographing a standing model on the sidewalk, with bright, California-type sunlight on the street and opposite sidewalk behind the girl. The umbrella-lighted shots looked like, well, umbrella light. The FOng Diffuser was obviously a smaller source, and created some specularity on her skin. The open shade shot produced a blown-out background, and FLAT, dull lighting on the woman. By bringing LIGHT into the shaded area, both the umbrella shot and the FOng DIffuser shot allowed him to make the sky blue by bringing the delta between shade/sunlight down. So...you know...basic lighting 101 stuff.

It's a modifier. It does what it does. Used in the RIGHT locations, it produces good lighting, when the need is to create diffused, omni-directional light. Of course, a lot of people don't seem to understand how to actually light ANYthing, so they ridicule the tool because they really don't get the concept of ambient spill versus directional light. It's only ONE kind of a tool...we don't bash a hammer because it's not a socket wrench, and we don't bash a box-end wrench because it make a crappy hammer and an even worse pry bar...

Diffused, omni-directional light: hotel rooms, apartment rooms, inside of boats, motor homes, RV's, camping trailers, cramped rooms of all types, or for when flash with soft, open shadowing is desired. Jeebus...that's what it does...

 

[Steve5D]

Because I have seen this product in action like 3X. All three times were being used by someone who had no idea what they were doing. I see them shooting bride and groom in the open with fong dong with flash on.

Robin, respectfully, you're not making any sense.

Your criticism isn't of the product, which is what I actually asked about, but of three people you've seen using the product.

You're saying you don't like them because the three times you've seen them being used were instances where the photographers didn't, in your estimation, know what they were doing. That's like saying someone shouldn't buy a Chevy because someone, somewhere, doesn't know how to drive a car.

I might be wrong, but I sense that there might be other reasons you've such an aversion to them, and you're just choosing not to share them. I can dig that, but at least say so. Saying they're bad because three people didn't know how to properly use it doesn't really help.

How do they perform in the hands of someone who actually does know what they're doing?