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I just received my Lightsphere II which I purchased based on a thumbs-up from our Guru Birddog. I will try it out and post some pictures soon.

This picture shows the entire box contents (there is no packing material inside). It appears to be well made of good materials, but the dome is an extremely tight fit on the sphere. Takes real effort getting it both on and off.

Edit due to increasing knowledge of this little contraption: The soft vinyl plastic insert, shown in the rectangular opening, is installed on the SB-800 first and then seals to the Lightsphere which get installed over it. Apparently you can order extra seals for additional or different flash units. See instruction link below.

I'll post addition info and some pictures as I get more familiar with it.

Many thanks for the progress report. Mine is in the first shipment of 7 units ex the USA - most probably one week away.

Look forward to your test shots, and in depth report as usual.

Cheers,

Thanks for the photos Steve. (Nicely taken and composed as well)
For some reason, the Lightsphere's website is shy to show any proper product shots.
I guess they were concerned about their product's resemblance to tupperware or a flash condom (as someone on another forum commented). Or that someone might replicate one much more cheaply.
Can't wait for some test shots from you.
Did it come with any instructional material

Joolz

joolz wrote:Did it come with any instructional material

Joolz

Hi Joolz -
Nope, nothing else in the box! I should have included this, the label on the Lightsphere II does say

Model N80 - FOR BEST RESULTS Please Read Our Online Tutorial At http://www.digitalphotographers.net/N80

Also see Edit to original post on vinyl insert.

Thanks Steve,
I guess there shouldn't be too much to it except practice.
Might as well save some trees.

Joolz

what would one pay for something like this?

jdear wrote:what would one pay for something like this?

It goes for US$39 plus shipping from California.

That's about $55 Aust for something that looks like it can be made out of an old plastic bottle! Waiting for your full preview and your comments!

I took a few quick pictures my wife, but she won't let me post 'em. I will be able to take portraits that I can post with it tomorrow. (My daughter has agreed to help me with some posing practice.) If someone else hasn't posted from their Lightsphere II by then, I will file a report.

I will say one thing, the Lightsphere does seem to be much gentler on the subject's eyes, resulting in more a natural expression and a happier subject than without it. The light is nice and soft with warmly saturated colors. I found that some shadows disappear and a few new ones show up.

yes soCal, awaiting to see the proof in your images!
love to see how it compares to a portable softbox.

JD

This is by no means the ultimate test, but it does briefly show the reaction to both types of flash. No diffuser was used on the SB800. That would have been a better comparison here. Never the less, the Lightshpere does seem easier on the eyes and allows them to stay open wider and appear larger. Almost always a good thing!

Here's a picture lit by SB-800 with Lightsphere II. My two Cavies, also known as Guinea Pigs, Bandit and Lillie.



Better Look: http://www.pixspot.com/displayimage.php ... fullsize=1

SoCal Steve wrote:This is by no means the ultimate test, but it does briefly show the reaction to both types of flash. No diffuser was used on the SB800. That would have been a better comparison here. Never the less, the Lightshpere does seem easier on the eyes and allows them to stay open wider and appear larger. Almost always a good thing!

Hi Steve,

Could you do a quick test using the diffuser that comes with SB800? Let see what the difference.

regards,

Arthur

Arthur - I'll be taking some pictures of my daughter today and will post them this evening (afternoon AU time) with a one-two-three comparison for you.

Regards, Steve

Daughter SoCal (Laura) working at her computer.

You'll notice how the glare on her nose and the shadows on her far shoulder worsen from left to right. No other changes were made except the diffuser and the images are straight from the camera.

Steve,
Thanks for posting all the sample pics and your hard works, love the LSII as mentioned earlier in this thread. Can't be without it.

Wow, spectacular difference between the LSII & the other 2 shots.
Am I imagining it or is the background also better lit with the LSII?
Was the LSII bounced up with/without the half dome? or directed at your daughter?
I also imagine these were taken in landscape orientation (difficult to tell with crop).

Thanks Steve, I'm really looking forward to getting mine

I'm surprised by the differences in the highlights in her hair.

Was the flash straight on, and was the top dome part on the LSII? Just looking at the shadows on her far shoulder... Also wondering which flash metering method was used, ttl or ttl-bl etc.

The LSII seems the most natural skin tones, nice soft light, looks good.

Very Very good comparism...

Look at the shadow under her neck, much softer with the lightsphere...

Very nice...

I also used the dome to do the pre-set WB. It better than the Pringle lid and can be use on any size of lens (62/ 72/77)
Great stuff!

mudder wrote:Was the flash straight on, and was the top dome part on the LSII? Just looking at the shadows on her far shoulder... Also wondering which flash metering method was used, ttl or ttl-bl etc.

These were taken in Landscape, TTL, 8 ft (2M+) ceiling, with the dome on and the flash pointed straight at the ceiling. 50mm f1.4 at about 3ft.
Cheers.

Hi Steve,

Thanks for posting the samples. It is worth investing in this lightsphere. I am going to order one. I got a wedding shot coming up - this would be very useful.

regards,

Arthur

Thanks for the info... Gee the LSII seems to really make a difference huh...

mudder wrote:I'm surprised by the differences in the highlights in her hair.
The LSII seems the most natural skin tones, nice soft light, looks good.

That was the first thing I noticed too. Far less 'reflection' of the flash. Looks good.

Thanks for all the images and info Steve.
Birddog - that's ingenious Gary Fong claims that the LSII was designed specifically to be colour neutral, so it should work well. How have you found it?

joolz wrote:Thanks for all the images and info Steve.
Birddog - that's ingenious Gary Fong claims that the LSII was designed specifically to be colour neutral, so it should work well. How have you found it?

I had few minutes to play with it this afternoon inside my Corporate Customer's Office, lot of funs. They keep asking me: what does it do? why do I need it? when they saw the SB800 with LSII, they all looked at it and very surprised. They didn't have any ideas of what it's

I told "fib" : A new "lighting radar" system to track all the lighting sources to compensate the meter of the camera.

I did play the pre-set WB with it instead of the Expodisc and Pringle lid, work well, as said earlier, it's better value than the Pringle lid.

Guess what? this Saturday, at the Temple, I'll have it on same as MCWB, people may

Using the LightsphereII outdoors for flash fill. Pointed up. I forgot to take the dome off, but you can see if still worked nicely. Check out the complexion.

My daughter Laura (http://www.charcoaldesigns.com (she made me do that)) and her dog, Trigger.



Please check out the much better look without the washout at http://www.pixspot.com/displayimage.php ... fullsize=1

I've just thought of a question that I hope one of you new Lightsphere II owners can answer for me.
The SB-800 fires "pre-flashes" which it uses to determine esposure settings for TTL flash shots.
How does the LSII affect the pre-flashes and does TTL metering suffer?

cricketfan wrote:I've just thought of a question that I hope one of you new Lightsphere II owners can answer for me.
The SB-800 fires "pre-flashes" which it uses to determine esposure settings for TTL flash shots.
How does the LSII affect the pre-flashes and does TTL metering suffer?

Maybe one of the others can give a more thorough answer soon, but the TTL seems to take everything in stride and work it all out without requiring any additional adjustments. However I'm suspicious that the Lightsphere might cause problems with Commander Mode where an SB800 with a Lightsphere was trying to be the Master unit and sending out light code to another SB800 slave that it's trying to control. Worth testing out when I get a chance to.

SoCal Steve wrote:Maybe one of the others can give a more thorough answer soon, but the TTL seems to take everything in stride and work it all out without requiring any additional adjustments.

I believe this is correct. The LS2 is worth about a stop less light, but the TTL metering compensates for it. I must say in my testing so far, TTL is proving much more reliable than AA, whereas without the LS2 it's usually the other way round. I'm also shooting with 0 FEC, whereas I'm usually at -2/3 FEC; I may even increase this a bit, we'll see.

Love the new avatar MCWB, & thanks to both you and Birddog again for the LSII order.
I haven't had a chance to play with the LSII enough, but so far, the SB800 seems to compensate for it very well.
It seems, however that direct flash & bounced flash are giving me different colour temperatures. Direct flash with the dome seems to be warmer. Not sure if this is due to surrounding environment, but will have to test further.
Such soft light....

One thing the LS11 will do if you use it in the "straight up" position...it will chew the crud out of your batteries. The gun will be working harder then usual and get a little hotter. Small price to pay if it improves the lighting though.

I guess the compromise you must take into consideration is the amount of power (apparently one stop more power needed) that diffusing the light so much uses. I am using the SD-8A battery pack with the SB-800 and it works a treat.

joolz
I think 1 stop is way too conservative a figure. I'm betting with the gun pointed straight up it's going to be 3 or 4 stops.

Are there any more LS2 images that we can see?

steve
thank you for spending the time with the comparison shots of your daughter.... i will be glad to get mine and have a mess with it

cheers rob

I'm more than happy with the LSII in the last two days shooting at the monastery.
The outcome is far better than the original diffuser with no limitation, though I have to push little bit harder on the output of the SB800. BTW the SD-8A helped it alot.

robw25 wrote:steve
thank you for spending the time with the comparison shots of your daughter.... i will be glad to get mine and have a mess with it

cheers rob

Nice of you to take time to say that, Rob. Glad to do it. I have since received a Lightsphere for my second D70 and SB800. I have to shoot a wedding this coming weekend in Napa, Calif. for my nephew and they should be invaluable additions. Thanks to Birddog for calling this great piece of gear to our attention!

Birddog114 wrote: BTW the SD-8A helped it alot.

Do you have them in stock Birdy? Didn't see them in the Bargains section.

SoCal Steve wrote:

robw25 wrote:steve
thank you for spending the time with the comparison shots of your daughter.... i will be glad to get mine and have a mess with it

cheers rob

Nice of you to take time to say that, Rob. Glad to do it. I have since received a Lightsphere for my second D70 and SB800. I have to shoot a wedding this coming weekend in Napa, Calif. for my nephew and they should be invaluable additions. Thanks to Birddog for calling this great piece of gear to our attention!

Steve,
Make sure don't try anything at the start Napa, Cal, I'm drunk by then!

though I have to push little bit harder on the output of the SB800

Ive heard on other forums people saying this, that the SB-800 eats through batteries with the LS2.

JD

cricketfan wrote:

Birddog114 wrote: BTW the SD-8A helped it alot.

Do you have them in stock Birdy? Didn't see them in the Bargains section.

Cricketfan,

Just PMed!

Birddog114 wrote:Cricketfan,

Just PMed!

Thanx Birdy!

jdear wrote:

though I have to push little bit harder on the output of the SB800

Ive heard on other forums people saying this, that the SB-800 eats through batteries with the LS2.

JD

Yes, it's. The original diffuser won't let you zoom the flash more longer than 14mm, and the LSII can drive the SB800 to its maximum lenght then you must push the power little bit farther and of course it consumed the juice.
You should have the SD-8A to accompany with the LSII or spare set of battery in your pocket if you want to cover two days work like I did for last Saturday and Sunday.
I used D2h on the SB-800 with original diffuser and the D2x with SB-800 and LSII + SD-8A, and I know which one is power hungry

Matt. K wrote:I think 1 stop is way too conservative a figure. I'm betting with the gun pointed straight up it's going to be 3 or 4 stops.

Yup, for sure. I think maybe the '1 stop less light' refers to pointing straight at the subject with the dome on. With it pointed straight up it's a heap more, I can say after my experiences on the weekend I'd definitely want a SD-8A if I was shooting a wedding etc with the LS2. In terms of evaluating the unit, it seems to give a slightly warm cast but the light is very diffuse, however I still really need to put aside the time to see what worked and what didn't.

MCWB
Looking forward to seeing some of your images. I'll post some of mine shortly used with the SB800 diffuser. I'm expecting the LS to give better modelling.

got some LS2 examples you can show us birddog?

JD

Finally got a chance to do some test shooting today. Here are 2 out of camera (converted from NEF with CS2 - testing that as well). Both used LSII without dome, bounced on the ceiling.

Audrey


Audrey & grandma



Joolz

I just shot a wedding and cut out a piece of white cardboard and strapped it to my flash as I didn't have time to get a lightsphere II. Worked pretty well but it didn't look really professional. Great conversation piece.

dooda wrote:I just shot a wedding and cut out a piece of white cardboard and strapped it to my flash as I didn't have time to get a lightsphere II. Worked pretty well but it didn't look really professional. Great conversation piece.

I hope you're going to tell us more about how your wedding shoot went. I have to do my first this coming weekend and my fingernails are already down to the quick!