anybody have any experience with M8, flash, and Lightsphere II?

[flynn]

Has anybody had any experience with hotshoe mounted flash on the M8 and Gary Fongs Lightsphere II?

The light quality from his product looks great, but it does not look like you can use it well with the SF-24D Leica flash because it does not flip up toward the ceiling.


Timothy

[jruffolo]

Hi Timothy-
I use a lightsphere II on a Metz 54 and DMR. It works wonderfully, and provides the best light that I have ever obtained from a single on camera flash unit. It physically won't fit on an SF20/24, so you'd have to go with a metz with tiltable head; as when used the flash head always needs to be pointed upwards; the exception being for macro photos; when pointed forwards it produces a nice soft light. Ive attached some not particularly great quick photos from around my house, but you can see the nice quality of light the metz & lightsphere are able to produce, of people or an overall room. Hope this helps,
-John

[etherfarm]

Hi Flynn.

I almost always use some kind of diffuser when I use flash. On the SF-24D I use an SFILL, which works OK in auto mode, but is obviously not built for any kind of range, so you'll get a nice soft light on the close subjects but the rest of the room or background will be pretty dark.

You avoid this with a flash that can bounce, of course (or TTL and slower shutter speeds). On my Metz 54-MZ3 I use either a Lumiquest 80-20 or a Stofen Omnibounce. Both of those work well.

I rarely take the Metz out of the house anymore due to its size. I really wish they'd come out with something between the 24D and the 54 series. I'd get it in a heartbeat.

[guy_mancuso]

I have one sitting here in my office but it is the uglist thing I have ever seen, it does work nice but i should sell the thing n a Metz 54 and that i feel like your putting a Sherman tank on top of a man hole cover. I use the Stofen all the time on the Metz 54 which is also too big. I may buy a Nikon SB600 and use that until Metz makes something better for the M8. i use this a lot since i do a lot of corporate events

[flynn]

Thanks for all your comments. The picures are great. I really like the light that you can get from the lightsphere II.

Timothy

[kobold]

For the majority of my recent work (D200, SB-800), the cloudy Lightsphere is always on the flash. A superb, cheap piece of excellent equipment. HIghly recommended.

[glenerrolrd]

I use one frequently but only with my Canon 5D and the 580EX flash. Its big and the whole package is closer to medium format than the M8. I think the light is great and is especially nice for fill flash . I think its too big for the M8 and would join the crowd to find a small flash, diffuser to carry with the M8.

[grober]

Originally Posted by glenerrolrd

Its big and the whole package is closer to medium format than the M8. I think the light is great and is especially nice for fill flash . I think its too big for the M8 and would join the crowd to find a small flash, diffuser to carry with the M8.

DITTOS to the Max!

I use the Gary's original Lightsphere on a Sunpak 383. It provides a wonderfully diffuse light source, provided there is a low-to-moderate height ceiling in the room, but it just too bloody large in physical size! Despite the size penalty, I use it on the Sunpak 383 and not my Vivitar 283 because the 383 has a head that swivels for shots in portrait mode (vertical.)

Always piled on top of a Wein SynchSafe, of course.

-g

[kobold]

I agree, there's no stealth factor with a Lightsphere; I use a Sto-fen Omni if space is a problem, but the fact is that the Lightsphere results are so good that I use it on an SB-800 and D200 almost all the time.