Lightsphere
Flash Diffusers
by J. Ramon Palacios

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Session III. Strong mixed lighting.

This time the living room was illuminated for a live TV remote broadcast, with two huge hot reflectors and extra-warmth filters. I considered making a white balance preset, but decided to leave in AUTO and see how well the Lightsphere would work under these extreme conditions for its claimed virtue of balancing mixed sources of light.

The Clear Lightsphere II with inverted dome on a Nikon SB-800 speedlight

Diffused flash with the Lightsphere II CLEAR, no dome.

These images were made with the Nikon D2X and 85mm f/1.4D AF Nikkor at ISO 100.

Lumisphere II CLEAR, used without dome, at 90° into the medium height ceiling. ISO 100, f/3.5 1/60 sec Spot metering This bench is at one end of the living room, and the reflectors were at the other end, about 20 feet away.
SB-800 with Lightsphere II CLEAR, at 90°, no dome ISO 100 Aperture f/3.5 1/60 sec Spot metering As we moved closer to the TV reflectors, the SB-800 was unable to deliver enough power to subdue the strong warm cast light, but the Lightsphere continued to balance it nicely.
Medium to large sized areas are well covered, even with obstructions. Here, I just pumped up the ISO to 400 Left: 90° Right: 0°
Session IV. Exteriors group under a trees canopy near sunset, sunlight coming in from behind. Nikon D2X with 80-200mm f/2.8D ED IF AF-S Nikkor @ 80mm + SB-800 direct, with dome; i-TTL + BL; 1/90 f/4.8, ISO 200 Center-weighted metering While harsh shadows were drastically reduced with the speedlight, light is not even.
Nothing is changed from above for ISO, flash settings and exposure, except for the addition of the Lightsphere CLEAR, pointing directly into the group with no dome. How about that?!!

Conclusions

The Gary Fong Lumisphere II Flash Diffusion System has by far the best diffusion ability among all systems I have tried including reflectors; from the modest white card with rubber band, used by early freelance PJ's and itinerant street photographers I've met, to the Nikon speedlight dome.

It was not until 1988 that the Nikon flash system took "a quantum leap forward" with the introduction of the SB-24 speedlight, opening the doors to us common mortals into full fledged natural looking TTL auto flash. It is the incredible Nikon TTL system on modern Nikon bodies since the Nikon F4 and N8008s (1988), further refined now into i-TTL, that makes it all possible. This flash diffusion system can take full advantage of that capabilty. This can be accomplished not just by the well seasoned pro but also by the enthusiast shooting in P program as shown in all the images here.

The Lumisphere system had some reputation for being a hungry eater of power to accomplish its magic. It is only logical it will demand more juice. I remain to shoot a wedding or a social event to test how much is such demand increased.

In the meantime, all of my flash shooting will be done with the Gary Fong Lumisphere II Flash Diffusion System, both CLEAR and CLOUD -depending on the skin complexion of subjects- even if it looks like a Tupperware® bowl. The Lightsphere comes with a companion tutorial DVD. Watch it. I am sure I can do better once I see it myself.

I am anxious to get the time to try with two speedlights with Lightspheres, managed from a Nikon SU-800.

In the meantime ....

Have a great time