I'd never even heard of Gary Fong or the Lightsphere2 before you mentioned it right here. This is a pretty slick idea. It looks great on the website, but of course it looks great there. To be honest, I think I'll give it a try. I've certainly spent $50 on things I've enjoyed a lot less...

One thing that's certainly true, and not just in photography, is that you get what you pay for.

http://store.garyfonginc.com/liiido.html

I don't necessarily agree with that as a blanket statement. But the concept looks good and works, though I'm not thrilled with his outdoor lighting examples because the direct flash should have been fill flash and the background would have looked normal.

I've used the Lumiquest Pocket Bouncer and the Stofen Omni Bounce successfully. The new Nikon SB-800s come with their own white plastic dome like the Omni Bounce, and that works great also. But I'm tempted to try one also because it appears to be a cross between the Lumiquest and the Omni Bounce. And like you said, I've also thrown away $50 on products that have never done much for my photography.
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Gary Fong is a very well known photographer, specializing in
weddings (read very high priced). I would recomend this diffuser only for the most powerfull on board flashes. You are going to lose at least one F stop of light. I also would
not use in in a room that does not have a very "white" ceiling or you will pick up some very unwanted color castes.

You are right Chip, It looks good there. Thats why i was hopeing that some one that has or does use one could give me some real world info about it.
And you are certainly correct in saying that you have spent more on things that you did not like as much, as i have done the same thing. So i started trying to research my purchases a little better.
Thanks for the input everybody and i hope to get more replys from others that have or do use this defuser..

I use a micro Apollo myself, but there is a thread at the MPix forums on the Fong device. www.Mpix.com

Is anyone still reading this thread?

I went to a David Ziser seminar last week. One of the things he discussed was how he uses on camera flash. He always points his on camera flash to the side so he gets bounced sidelight on the subjects face. If there isn't a white wall within flash bouncing distance, he bounces the flash off his assistant's white shirt. One of the tricks he uses to always get professional looking photos, even when using on camera flash.

Larry,

To assume "professional looking photos" means anything near the same to everyone really stretches credulity. Just because someone makes money doing photography really says nothing about image quality. There are a lot more people that are good at merchandising a product than there are photographers that make aesthetically fine images.

Not exactly. Professional looking photos shot on location means more like that they fit the client's needs and look like they were taken in a studio because the photographer is showing total control of his location and equipment.