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Lightsphere vs. Omni-Bounce vs. Demb Anonymous
Yes, I know about ABBC and Strobist.

But if you absolutely had to get one of these, which one would you get?

I am ordering a Speedlite 430 EX and wanted to add one of those.
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>> Jeremo !iKGMr61IHM
LSII is great, but it is bulky.

The omni bounce can be easily made with sticky taping pieces of plastic into a box shape.

so get the LS II
>> Blackadder !!bSWRwu/NqzQ
Why not buy the Lambency which costs a fraction of the LightSphere? It's an overpriced piece of tupperware, after all. You can also buy knock off versions of the omnibounce and just about any other diffuser. That way you can buy more than one and get the benefit of them all.
>> Anonymous
>>101470

I like supporting Gary Fong.

I kid, I kid. Different ones as in a clear and a clouded?
>> Jeremo !iKGMr61IHM
>>101470

holy shit... lambency are available elsewhere? I saw it in Shanghai once and laughed like 'Fuck the Chinese will counterfeit anything... even the LS II'

... oh well, so much for Gary Fong's patent pending...
>> Blackadder !!bSWRwu/NqzQ
>>101472

UK here and I got one from eBay, so you can get them outside of China. You can get them other sites too. I think they are even turning up in street markets.

They work fine. I got the clear one with a selection of lids thrown in (white, yellow, blue and orange) for free. There's more packages around, I believe, but that was the one I got. The best thing about it other than being a LS for a pittance is that I can use it for other projects or camera DIY and not worry about blowing a stack of money if it all goes wrong. It's also a low enough price that I can justify buying it as a curiosity, to try it out on a whim or for occasional use.

You can even get Gary Phong's more recent rip-off diffuser the "WhaleTail" from the Chinese ones the same ways.
>> Jeremo !iKGMr61IHM
>>101485

how much did you pay for it? I saw it in Shanghai for about 85RMB i think. Which is roughly 11 US dollars... whatever that is in pounds
>> Blackadder !!bSWRwu/NqzQ
In case anyone is interested, I've seen the LS copy called Lambency for the most part, the Omni-Bounce copies are called "Bounce diffuser" or "Diffuser dome" (and other names) and the WhaleTail copy is called a few things but one name I've seen is "Universal Flash Diffuser Set" (sometimes the title just says the "Flash Diffuser Set" part. That should make it easier if you are searching for them.

You can buy one spare spare LS II white dome for $10 (the amber one costs you $20) or you can buy the Lambency with four domes for $10. Just to put that into perspective for you. The WhaleTail copy costs about £5/$10 for the full set with four gels and three sets of lids.

I've yet to get the WhailTail but at that price, why the hell not? I'm nosey enough to try them all out for the fun of it and compare them.
>> Blackadder !!bSWRwu/NqzQ
>>101489

The lambency with four domes and delivery from HK works out about £11.
>> Blackadder !!bSWRwu/NqzQ
As far as the clear VS cloud LS, I think I was best going with the clear one. I lose less light that way and quite a few others seem to prefer the clear one, up to you though. The clear LS is made of a thick flexible plastic which means that you'd have a hard time breaking it unless you spend a while jumping up and down on it. Great for shoving in a bag or the back of the car and not worrying. Practically invincible to all intents and purposes. It seems the cloud LS is made of a hard plastic and so breakages are possible if you treat it the same way.
>> Anonymous
>>101504

While the clear one is obviously more tolerant to damage being somewhat flexible. The clouded one is still very, very strong.

I've handled it before and the plastic is of good quality. Don't know about the knock off version on eBay.
>> Blackadder !!bSWRwu/NqzQ
>>101634

That's not too bad then.

From everything I've heard the knock off versions are close enough that people that have compared them with the LS think they are using the same moulds or even the same manufacturing facilities. It wouldn't surprise me. It is China after all. That's what you get for using their facilities to make them for a pittance and then selling them with a high mark up. They are pretty much identical, it would seem. Apart from the price.
>> Jeremo !iKGMr61IHM
>>101637
I don think they're the same moudls, the LS II are slightly angled where as the lambency are straight up and straight down.
>> Blackadder !!bSWRwu/NqzQ
>>101690

The lambency is slightly angled too.
>> Blackadder !!bSWRwu/NqzQ
>>101693

Although come to think of it maybe there are variations with the cheap ones. I've seen several sellers with different lids for these things. Hard to tell as the pictures vary so much. All the knock offs might not be the same then? Wouldn't surprise me. Tupperware can't be that hard to make around the country or world.
>> Anonymous
Do the knock off ones include the dome like the Gary Fong?
>> Macheath !8b4g0BkNZg
I think a Sto-Fen omnibounce is worth having if only because it's a lot more portable than the others. It's only like what, $20? And if you want a bigger one, buy one of those cheap lambency domes for $15. That's two diffusers for less than the price of a Gary Fong diffuser!
>> Blackadder !!bSWRwu/NqzQ
>>101883

The knock off ones can include up to four inverted domes like the LS II.

>>101885

You can get a knock off Omni-Bounce too and save even more. It's very useful if you're trekking for far or at a function and only have pocket space.
>> Macheath !8b4g0BkNZg
>>101902

But the savings of buying a ghetto omni-bounce isn't the same as buying the savings of buying a ghetto lightsphere.

How much do the fake omni bounces sell for? I'd still buy it if it was up to $10 though.