# Profoto B1 500w/s TTL flash (Canon only right now)



## Halfrack (Nov 5, 2013)

Um.. DAMN! Traffic crashed their site, but 500w/s with TTL - using their remote - 220 pops per battery - and it's itty bity. TTL is in the remote you place on camera, Canon right now, and they promise a Nikon version next year.

http://profoto.com/us/products/off-camera-flash/b1-off-camera-flash/item/b1-500-airttl?category_id=1863#media


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## Menace (Nov 7, 2013)

I've already placed a request for two of theses babies with Santa for this Xmas!


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## V8Beast (Nov 7, 2013)

My jaw is still on the floor. What an incredible product. Too bad I can't afford a set of these puppies


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## Drizzt321 (Nov 7, 2013)

That is...wow. Impressive. Time to win the lotto so I can get a bunch of these and a 1DX so I can get metering at the AF point. Silly Canon keeping that out of the 5d3


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## CR00 (Nov 7, 2013)

V8Beast said:


> My jaw is still on the floor. What an incredible product. Too bad I can't afford a set of these puppies



We could wait for some chinese knockoff ones.


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## Lichtgestalt (Nov 7, 2013)

profoto is so damn expensive. 

i once won a ebay auction with 2 linkstar 500W strobes, a stand and a profoto reflector that did not really fit the strobes. all for around 150 euro.

i then thought i sell the profoto reflector on ebay, because it has no bowens bajonett that all my strobes use.

i got over 130 euro for the profoto reflector. 




> We could wait for some chinese knockoff ones.



yep i think they are working on something like that.


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## Halfrack (Nov 23, 2013)

I played with a set last night. Biggest thing in lighting in years. It didn't like the EOS-M, but played really well with the 5d mk3 and manually with the Hasselblad. Screw fixed lighting, a couple of assistants and poles, done. If anything it makes me want to try the Prio Lites http://www.priolite.com/en/home.html as the whole no cables setup is REALLY NICE!


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## JonB8305 (Nov 23, 2013)

I bought my D1 500's too soon. 

Does this eliminate the need for a light meter? If so why wasn't this done a lot sooner.


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## neuroanatomist (Nov 23, 2013)

Looks nice, but I'd get 4 PCB Einsteins, or three with Vagabond Mini Lithiums, instead of one of these.


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## Halfrack (Nov 28, 2013)

JonB8305 said:


> Does this eliminate the need for a light meter? If so why wasn't this done a lot sooner.



It can/does do away with light meters, if that jives with your style. The dependance on TTL isn't for everyone, but it does work, and makes run and gun shooting really easy.

I agree the price point is high, but for the brand it is in line with everything they make. The math they were looking to hit was 3x the price of a 600ex-RT, so they hit it, for better or worse. It is the only way to do TTL in a studio sized strobe, so first movers pricing.


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## V8Beast (Nov 28, 2013)

Halfrack said:


> JonB8305 said:
> 
> 
> > Does this eliminate the need for a light meter? If so why wasn't this done a lot sooner.
> ...



The TTL is very intriguing, but I think the integrated battery/head assembly is equally impressive. Fumbling around with battery packs and cords on location is a big pain.


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## agierke (Nov 29, 2013)

a 1000ws output would have been nice for that price point. 2 g's for a 500ws head.....mmm no thanks.

it's nice that the TTL feature is now out of the proverbially bag...hopefully we will see other companies come out with their own versions at better price points. 600 RTs are nice but i would like the easy access to a full range of light modifiers like you get with the B1.


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## JonB8305 (Nov 29, 2013)

agierke said:


> a 1000ws output would have been nice for that price point. 2 g's for a 500ws head.....mmm no thanks.
> 
> it's nice that the TTL feature is now out of the proverbially bag...hopefully we will see other companies come out with their own versions at better price points. 600 RTs are nice but i would like the easy access to a full range of light modifiers like you get with the B1.



Profoto came out with a speeding last month for speed lights, so you can use their modifiers for your speed lights now.


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## Viggo (Nov 29, 2013)

I saw this all over my fb on release and it really looks awesome, but my fear is that it's top heavy and will flip over when it's windy. That's what I love my Quadra, I have the battery pack around the base of the lighstand and the cord up to the very light head with a very light Octa, and almost no end to what sorts of wind it can endure. 

No I don't have an assistant that can carry sandbags


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## pwp (Dec 10, 2013)

I recently disposed of half a dozen Profoto 600 Compact monos, two 2400w/s Profoto floorpacks and a boatload of Profoto accessories and modifiers and replaced them with half a dozen Einsteins, PCB modifiers/accessories/triggers etc and really couldn't be happier. 

The one thing that could tempt me back to Profoto would be if the B1 played nicely with High Speed Sync. Does it?

-pw


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## JonB8305 (Dec 10, 2013)

pwp said:


> I recently disposed of half a dozen Profoto 600 Compact monos, two 2400w/s Profoto floorpacks and a boatload of Profoto accessories and modifiers and replaced them with half a dozen Einsteins, PCB modifiers/accessories/triggers etc and really couldn't be happier.
> 
> The one thing that could tempt me back to Profoto would be if the B1 played nicely with High Speed Sync. Does it?
> 
> -pw



man I need a couple 600's for background and hair lights.


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## JonB8305 (Dec 10, 2013)

It doesn't do HSS though.


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## pwp (Dec 10, 2013)

I could have Googled this myself earlier but here's the stark fact...disappointingly there's no HSS with the Profoto B1 TTL. 

It's a pity, HSS is the single hot item that would win volume sales for Profoto, far more than mere TTL. For precision work, I tend to switch my 580exII speedlights to manual. On a real-world job, I doubt many photographers would find a great deal of value paying the high entry price just for the TTL option. In reality, the B1 offers nothing more to me than an Einstein and Vagabond MiniLithium battery setup other than a bigger hole in my Mastercard. 

-pw


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## Viggo (Dec 10, 2013)

Forgive my ignorance here, but I had the simplest elinchrom D-lite 4, and I bought Phottix Odin for my speedlites and read I can suddenly do HSS with the D-lites, and they did, I could shoot my simple studio strobes at 1/8000s no issues and seemingly no loss of power. Here's my question, why is my Quadra advertised as super fast flash duration, it does a really poor job freezing motion compared to speedlites. Why not make the flash duration longer and let me use HSS instead? That gives more options and a cheaper system to buy I would think...


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## RLPhoto (Dec 11, 2013)

Too bad that is so darn expensive and I'm a manual type of guy when I decide to pull out the strobes anyway. Not saying it isn't very cool to have TTL strobes but it's a matter of time before we get TTL Einsteins.


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