Gary Fong GFLSC01 LightSphere Collapsible Flash Diffuser

Simply. Lightweight. Easily packed away. What's more: it works!The GF Collapsible LightSphere is superb. It works and really does make a huge difference. I used to hate using flash and would always prefer available light as to maintain capturing an image as I saw it--in the given light of the situation. Before discovering diffusion, normal flash would be so harsh, accentuate face oils and blemishes and just give an overall unpleasant look to the images as I took them. I was a little apprehensive about purchasing the LS as I thought that maybe the same would occur, but just to a lesser degree. After watching MANY reviews from proudct reviewers and Gary Fong himself and seeing the LS used professionally in a few high-profile Las Vegas night clubs (I'm in the industry), I decided to make the mildly steep purchase. After about 2 weeks of use I can attest to the quality of this product and say that it is extremely effective at eliminating shadows and provides a crisp clarity to images while maintaining color accuracy and providing a certain pleasant softness that, in my research, is unriveled in the market today.Although large when expanded to it's working configuration, it isn't too cumbersome. Especially for robust flashes like the Canon 600ex-rt.Cons: The price. Let me explain. Any serious photographer understands that in this business--even if you're just a devout hobbyist--you get what you pay for. Whether it be a price you pay for a camera whose innards are made with exotic or high-demand materials, or if you're buying into a stoic brand based on it's reputation, the money you put out for photographic equipment does provide a return through it's performance and technology. That said: the GF LS is just a molded piece of some type of silicone or polyurethane! Albeit, extremely effective. I mean, honestly, how expensive could it REALLY be to produce?Conclusion: More power to Mr. Fong for providing his fellow photographers a simplistically innovative product that does what it's designed and advertised to do all-the-while making what is likely a good chunk of money from it's sales. It's changed my flash photography for the better!

I have used a previous generation Gary Fong diffuser so I pretty much knew what I was getting into. As other reviews have indicated, this improved unit doesn't seem to have quite the distance for projecting the light as the previous. I do like the option of reversing the half dome in order to give a little more height for direct lighting onto the subject, this seems to help a little along with having a good flash unit with lots of lighting strength control on it. The huge selling point far outways that minor difference anyway, get this, it actually fits in your bag! It is so wonderful with it collapsing down to just 1" thick, then the half dome is about as thick, fits nicely in a zippered side pocket where as the older version there was just no way it fit anywhere convenient.Only other note is be for certain you will get way too many looks, comments and questions so just be prepared to field all of those. I like the end result, but personally could do without it being on my camera for asthetics, oh well. As far as the universal fit, mine was tried on a generic flashmaster and worked ok, and what I use it on daily is the Canon Speedlite 580exii. It is a VERY snug fit, takes a few minutes for me to gently attach it to the flash head, then the half dome has to be inserted as well. This isn't a complaint, the previous lightsphere attached quick and easily in seconds and didn't need for the lightsphere then the dome to be separately attached, however, it also fell off continually on a shoot, never made me feel confident it would behave.

I was somewhat skeptical about this device when I got it. After all, $60 is a lot of money for a foldable piece of plastic with a top. I really needed a diffuser, though, so I decided to give it a chance. Once I started using it, I was more impressed. The build quality is fairly good and the results quite pleasing. Although you can always bounce a flash "sans-diffuser" to get a similar effect, straight bounce will give you vertical shadowing under eyes that, while far more natural than a direct flash, still looks quite "indoors". Besides this, in order to bounce you have to be working with a fairly low ceiling, which is quite often not the case if you're working in a large auditorium, church sanctuary, or outdoors. In these situations, the Lightsphere Collapsible is quite useful since it directs the light both up towards the ceiling (if applicable) and in all directions around the camera creating sort of a "ball of light".That said, don't expect too much from an on-camera accessory. If you turn the camera for a portrait shot, expect shadowing on the opposite side. It doesn't particularly matter if you can rotate your flash as Gary Fong demonstrates in his videos. If you turn the camera, your flash is now 6-10" away from you camera on one side. Unless you keep the flash directly on top of your camera, you will inevitably get a one-sided shadow. Not necessarily a bad thing if you don't have a wall behind the subject, but definitely something to keep in mind.Overall, I've been very satisfied with this little accessory. The collapsible aspect is nice for packing as long as you have room for it, and the fit is good (although my flash has a smaller head than the Nikon SB-900 and similar) It's not perfect and takes a little getting used to, but is very useful and should make your flash photography much more natural and pleasing.