Lanternlock China Balls: Opinions?

R

Ronald Gerald Smith

Active member
I am considering buying one of these, but I wanted to find out from others on their opinion of it. It's not cheap, priced at $85 at Filmtools. It does seem like it would be better than just going with the wire setup, so the bulb doesn't swing around loosely, plus I will mount it on a c-stand. What do you all think about these things? Is it worth the price or should I just go with the traditional China ball setup? Also, I have tried the Chimera china balls. They are fantastic but is not what I want to go for at this time.

Also, I am hearing about a lot of people booming china balls. What kind of pole would they use to boom them? I am hoping not a traditional sound boom pole?
 
I have one of the Lanternlock fixtures. It is indeed very impressively well designed and built. Now whether you need that level of precision in a china-ball light source is a situational question. And whether a china-ball is the right light source for a particular situation is something I am still working out.
 
Ronald Gerald Smith said:
Also, I am hearing about a lot of people booming china balls. What kind of pole would they use to boom them? I am hoping not a traditional sound boom pole?
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No, you would boom a china ball off of a light boom, which are usually counter weighted arms that you can attach to a C-Stand and hook a light on one end. The china balls are pretty light and you can hang one off of a gobo arm and a C-stand. Something like this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:C-stand_retracted_and_gobo_arm_P1098.jpeg

Of course you could also hang one off of the end a painters pole and use it to add a nice, almost shadowless ambiance to traveling shoots, with some one holding it like a mic boom pole. This would take some practice, but should work fine.
 
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The only problem with chinaballs is they have very short survival rate when grip's hands get on those. I have 2 and they are both in pieces. Other then that they work as advertised and provide beautiful soft light.
 
My favorites. I have two in each size.

Patryk is right, though. You have to keep replacing the china balls that attach to them because they're flimsy and are probably going to tear from day one from mishandling.

I wish there were silk options for each size, at least those would endure a bit longer.

They're also relatively light weight, so in a case where you can't build a speedrail to hang one, you could go with a cobbled together C-Stand and Arm extension setup and just bag the stand for safety.
 
Patryk_Rebisz said:
The only problem with chinaballs is they have very short survival rate when grip's hands get on those. I have 2 and they are both in pieces. Other then that they work as advertised and provide beautiful soft light.
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Yeah that is an issue. What I have used before, and I just picked up a couple more, is 12" acrylic globes, made for outdoor post lighting. They make a very beautiful soft light, with great wrap. I love them. They make fixtures for them, but what I found it that they fit snuggly in a home depot clamp work light, and I just gaf tape it down. With the two I just bought I am going to come up with a better mounting system, but even the gaf tape clamp light version is damn near indestructible. They are not only grip proof, they are PA proof! :cheesy:

Here they are at Home Depot:

http://www.homedepot.com/Lighting-Fans/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xpbZaryu/R-100671507/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

Here is a fixture they make for it:

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&productId=100671529&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&MERCH=REC-_-product-2-_-100671507-_-100671529-_-N&locStoreNum=4609&marketID=335
 
slondon, it would be nice if you mentioned how thin the nylon is... just got 2 of the lantern balls today and they are useless - the nylon is so thin that the light doesn't produce soft light at all...
 
Patryk_Rebisz said:
slondon, it would be nice if you mentioned how thin the nylon is... just got 2 of the lantern balls today and they are useless - the nylon is so thin that the light doesn't produce soft light at all...
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My apologies, I guess. I haven't bought any for a couple of years but I use some ALL the time and the light is nice and soft as it should be though the nylon ones diffuse less than paper. Less lossy too.

Do you really believe they are useless and don't produce soft light at all? Seems extreme to me.

What do you think, Paul?

This snapshot from a still camera is illuminated with a single nylon China ball.
 

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I think the thing that makes the paper lantern, a good soft/diffuse light source is actual RICE paper itself. If you change the diffussion fabric/paper you get a different effect.
 
I wonder if the fact hat it gives off a shimmer as mentioned in the link would also effect the look.
 
I just got 4 24 inch nylon China balls. They produce a very nice soft light. A little less than paper but also more light transmission. The nylon is basically the same as a 4x4 poly silk.
 
Maybe you guys got lucky and were sent higher end nylon (thicker) mine is very thin and see through. The nylon lantern barely diffuses the light - not recommended. Stick to paper.

Brian, i'm using mogu-based long bulbs.
 
I love the functionality of Lanternlocks, but agree about the short lifespan of the chinaball. The main thing that annoys me is that the base ring makes Lanternlock's paper chinaball a proprietary size, meaning that I must overpay $14 every time I need to replace the paper.

Has anyone been able to fit a nylon chinaball onto a Lanernlock? If so, I might bother actually using mine.
 
i want some, i had one from ikea, but it was delicate and didnt put off that much light

are these expensive ones really worth it?
 
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