Forget about commercially-made diffusors/reflectors

synapseman · 20th May 2005

I'm now convinced that all the Omni-bounces, Lightspeheres and Lumiquests are an utter waste of money. (I've got an Omni-bounce, and the plastic is starting to turn yellow) Don't believe the hype, man...

Go to Popular Bookstore, get yourself a stack of plain white cards (50 pcs for 90 cents!!!), some rubber bands, and you're good to go! I'd even go as far to say that this set-up produces superior results to those other severely-overpriced devices.

(IMHO)

reachme2003 · 20th May 2005

want to show us how you do it?

Splutter · 20th May 2005

It really depends if you are shooting indoors or outdoors. I guess the omni bounce doesn't really diffuse as much outdoors as it relies on ceilings and walls to aid its performance. For outdoors, a bounce card should be a better performer. For the lightsphere however, I found it to be rather good both indoors and outdoors, so I don't think its a hype. That said, I still think its pretty expensive at $75-$80.

Firefox · 20th May 2005

Actually, you can probably buy a nice bottle of Milk Lady Strawberry/ Chocolate/ Banana milk and drink it. After you're done, cut the bottle in half, wash it, and you'll have a Lightsphere..

kahheng · 20th May 2005

Originally Posted by Firefox

Actually, you can probably buy a nice bottle of Milk Lady Strawberry/ Chocolate/ Banana milk and drink it. After you're done, cut the bottle in half, wash it, and you'll have a Lightsphere..

That's a good one ;-) [but being lactose intolerant, I'd have to fart a lot after drinking that bottle of milk before I can make the diffuser]

Firefox · 20th May 2005

Originally Posted by kahheng

That's a good one ;-) [but being lactose intolerant, I'd have to fart a lot after drinking that bottle of milk before I can make the diffuser]

There's always the missus for drinking that.. LOL..

kahheng · 20th May 2005

Originally Posted by Firefox

There's always the missus for drinking that.. LOL..

That's true. I'd rather she have a farting fit than me

kahheng · 20th May 2005

On a slightly more serious note: I was at a friend's house the other night and he had this inflating standing light. What it is is basically a computer type exhaust fan that inflates a ufo shaped white nylon bag to form the diffuser. It's pretty neat. It automatically deflates when you turn off the power.

I figure that a cheap ghetto way to get this diffuser effect is to use white balloons. Blow one up and tape it horizontally to an upright strobe head. Would make a substantially larger light source than a Lightsphere. When done, pop and begone!

synapseman · 21st May 2005

Originally Posted by Splutter

It really depends if you are shooting indoors or outdoors. I guess the omni bounce doesn't really diffuse as much outdoors as it relies on ceilings and walls to aid its performance. For outdoors, a bounce card should be a better performer. For the lightsphere however, I found it to be rather good both indoors and outdoors, so I don't think its a hype. That said, I still think its pretty expensive at $75-$80.

First off, I'd like to apologise because I didn't actually mean the Lightsphere. I was actually thinking of the Orionbounce (a sock-like OmniBounce).

I'm also aware that the topic of "which diffuser/bounce-card is best" has been debated to death already. Am not here to discredit other users opinions. Just here to share my own experience. Well, most of these commercial products probably DO work, but by golly, I think they're just severely overpriced.

I've got an Omnibouce, but I just don't think it cuts the mustard anymore. So instead of splashing out on something which may or may not work better than the Omnibounce, I decided on this 1.8-cents solution...

Looks pretty ugly, though. Not field-tested either. But I think I love it...

Belle&Sebastain · 21st May 2005

haha, yes, card is the cheapest, i sew a 1" elastic band, more secure.

ParkertR · 21st May 2005

I've been using the lightsphere for about 5 months now and I must say that it beats every other diffuser I've used hands-down. I use it indoors and outdoors, daytime, night-time and it produces fantastic results. only rant is that it's a little top-heavy.

hate bounce cards, when you shoot portraits, the shadow comes out on one side - depending which way you hold your camera for a portrait oriented shot.

20th May 2005	#1
synapseman Senior Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: State of Confusion Posts: 2,088	Forget about commercially-made diffusors/reflectors I'm now convinced that all the Omni-bounces, Lightspeheres and Lumiquests are an utter waste of money. (I've got an Omni-bounce, and the plastic is starting to turn yellow) Don't believe the hype, man... Go to Popular Bookstore, get yourself a stack of plain white cards (50 pcs for 90 cents!!!), some rubber bands, and you're good to go! I'd even go as far to say that this set-up produces superior results to those other severely-overpriced devices. (IMHO) __________________ The synapseman uses Sony Alpha system & Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2.

20th May 2005	#3
Splutter Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Gim Boon Tai Posts: 2,819	It really depends if you are shooting indoors or outdoors. I guess the omni bounce doesn't really diffuse as much outdoors as it relies on ceilings and walls to aid its performance. For outdoors, a bounce card should be a better performer. For the lightsphere however, I found it to be rather good both indoors and outdoors, so I don't think its a hype. That said, I still think its pretty expensive at $75-$80. __________________ If you understand my works, it's photography. If you don't, it's art. SplutterPhotography\|flickr

21st May 2005	#10
Belle&Sebastain Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: here Posts: 3,752	haha, yes, card is the cheapest, i sew a 1" elastic band, more secure. __________________ web http://www.9frames.com blog http://gilbertchua.blogspot.com/ WPN http://www.wpn.sg/

21st May 2005	#11
ParkertR Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Singapore/Thailand Posts: 5,804	I've been using the lightsphere for about 5 months now and I must say that it beats every other diffuser I've used hands-down. I use it indoors and outdoors, daytime, night-time and it produces fantastic results. only rant is that it's a little top-heavy. hate bounce cards, when you shoot portraits, the shadow comes out on one side - depending which way you hold your camera for a portrait oriented shot. __________________ Budget wedding photographer :)

20th May 2005	#2
reachme2003 Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 3,536	want to show us how you do it?

20th May 2005	#4
Firefox Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Bedok Posts: 716	Actually, you can probably buy a nice bottle of Milk Lady Strawberry/ Chocolate/ Banana milk and drink it. After you're done, cut the bottle in half, wash it, and you'll have a Lightsphere..

20th May 2005	#8
kahheng Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 1,380	On a slightly more serious note: I was at a friend's house the other night and he had this inflating standing light. What it is is basically a computer type exhaust fan that inflates a ufo shaped white nylon bag to form the diffuser. It's pretty neat. It automatically deflates when you turn off the power. I figure that a cheap ghetto way to get this diffuser effect is to use white balloons. Blow one up and tape it horizontally to an upright strobe head. Would make a substantially larger light source than a Lightsphere. When done, pop and begone!