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The Profoto B1 500Ws battery powered light with TTL capability is extremely portable and easy to setup. It works great for location shoot and the battery pack is built into the light which makes it extremely convenient without any cables. It weights about 3 kg (including batteries) not much more than a standard strobe. When the Profoto B1 is used in a studio, the absence of the power cable makes setting up and moving the strobe around so much faster. On location having the battery pack built into the light means there is no more battery pack hanging at the bottom of the light stand and no more battery pack cables.
[REWIND – Profoto B1 Review – Is it worth your money?]
Order your Profoto B1 here
Profoto B1 500 AirTTL Battery-Powered Flash
Profoto B1 500 Air Battery-Powered 2-Light Location Kit
Profoto Lithium-ion Battery for B1 500 AirTTL
Profoto Air Remote TTL-C for Canon
Profoto Air Remote TTL-N for Nikon
The Profoto B1 has a large LCD display for easy operation. Its body is elongated with the flash tube behind a protection glass. At the back the power level is adjustable in 1/10 increments over a 9 f-stop power range (2-500Ws). This is a huge range compare to 7 stops from most strobes. At the lowest power level, the output is equivalent to about 1/32 power from a speedlight. The means you can use the Profoto B1 indoor to balance with the indoor ambient or outdoor at full power 500Ws to overpower the sun. The Profoto B1 battery is rated for 220 full power flashes at 14.4V/ 3000mAh. You do need a couple of spare batteries as backup, especially if you have the modelling light turned on. Here is a tip, purchase the 4.5A fast charger, it fully charges a battery in just one hour.
The Profoto B1 is not only extremely portable for location shoot but also in a studio. Moving the light around is so much easier without worrying about cables, simply pickup the lightstand with the Profoto B1 and move it as one unit. Unlike battery packs, you have to move the light stand and the battery pack together with a cable dangling in between. The Profoto B1 gives you tremendous flexibility despite of where you are shooting.
In this shoot here even though it was shot in the studio, the Profoto B1 was extremely easy to use compare to my other studio strobes. I had set up the Profoto B1 with Octa and Strip OCF modifiers which barely took 5 minutes to set up. I started off by taking a few test shots using TTL via the Profoto Air Remote TTL which gave me the initial power setting and then I reverted back to Manual to fine tune the power setting. Overall, it was a very smooth/fast photo session right from the start from setting up the light to adjusting the power of the light and to shaping the light using Profoto’s “super simple to setup” OCF modifiers.
Profoto B1 Pros and Cons
Pros
- Beautiful build quality and design, a design that will last for years
- Battery powered cordless operation
- Profoto TTL and HSS
- up to 220 full power flashes per charge
- Interchangeable battery
- Super fast 1 hr charging with 4.5A charger
- 9 Stops of adjustable power in 1/10 step (2-500Ws)
- Sophisticated Air remote with LCD and up to 300m wireless range
- Freeze mode offers up to 1/19000s flash duration
- Compatible with both Nikon or Canon system (requires dedicated remote only)
- Size and weight is as compact as other strobes
- Profoto rental network available around the world
Cons
- Delays with Air Remote
- Air Remote is not included.
- Can’t mix TTL and M mode in the groups
- Price
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