Help me buy a mirror ball - but not a mirror ball

May 7, 2006 10:15 PM

Help me find a mirror ball to purchase. No, not *that* kind of mirror ball - the other kind...

So I've been doing panoramic photography for a while now. It's going swimmingly, having captured dozens of scenes using my digital camera and some software.

There is a niche in the panorama scene for 'mirrorball', where you take a single shot of a mirrorball at the zenith/nadir and, bang, you've got a low-quality 360 pano in one shot. The mirrorball is the solid, completely reflective sphere kind, not the million-tile disco kind.

This type of photography is really appealing to me, because I'd like to capture events and action that don't wait around for the photog to get all the necessary panoramic shots. However, the internet is awash in disco mirror balls and fawning conversations about Sarah Mcglauf^WMacGlaph^WWhat's-her-face's album. Through all that noise, I'm having a hard time finding a mirrorball to purchase.

I bought a "garden" mirrorball to try out, but it's got so many 'artistic' distortions, that it's worthless. (There's an example of a test pano shot using it in the comments...) I can find a convex mirror, like the kind used for security, but I'm not sure they would work.

So, can anyone find high-quality mirror balls for purchase? Or, do you think that those 360 deg security mirrors would suffice?

posted by unixrat to media & arts (7 comments total)

Here's an example of the crap garden mirror ball that I have. The distortions are obvious - for instance, I'm not nearly as tall as my house nor is my head that big.

Requires Quicktime
posted by unixrat at 10:17 PM on May 7, 2006

I think this is the kind of thing you're looking for: Kaidan Model 3.
posted by bshort at 10:25 PM on May 7, 2006

from this page:

Where can I buy a mirror ball?

There a few different types of mirror balls available. The most common and cheapest are the garden ornament types sold at garden accessory shops (often in the departments that deal with water features or other ornamentation). These come in several different sizes and usually start at around $5.

There are acrylic hemispherical mirrors used in buildings for security etc. These are available from suppliers such as McMaster-Carr: http://www.mcmaster.com/ (search for "dome mirror").

It is also possible to use a large (2" diameter) stainless steel ball bearing. These are available from an industrial supply house, or a supplier such as King Bearing (Watsonville, CA, [phone]).
posted by Manouk at 10:29 PM on May 7, 2006

You can use ball bearings if you polish them up. Ive heard of people using huge ones meant for big mining trucks. Im sure they are expensive and Im not sure where to find them online but they will be nice and spherical.

I found some on ebay -
The trick will be finding really big ones.
posted by phyle at 10:31 PM on May 7, 2006

In some big cities you can find places that sell "plastics". They sell all kinds of thicknesses of acrylics and lexans or whatevers. They sell trophies, pouring resin, things to hold brochures in, etc. All kinds of stuff made out of plastic. Anyway, I've been in a couple of those in Los Angeles (Solter Plastics, for example) that also sold those dome mirrors for security that Manouk mentioned. The bigger ones can get pretty expensive and I don't know how distorted they are, but you may want to look for a "plastics" place in a city near you.
posted by redteam at 1:50 AM on May 8, 2006

Chicago has a really big mirrorball. I'm pretty sure it's unavailable for purchase, however.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 7:14 AM on May 8, 2006

I think you're looking for a Victorian Gazing Ball.

This site gives some other names they go by.
posted by elisabeth r at 7:34 AM on May 8, 2006