![\"\"](\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/images\/review\/profoto-b1\/images\/IMG_9468.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I’m a bit of a fan of Profoto gear<\/a>. When I first started looking at the more serious on-location lighting systems, my initial purchase was the Profoto 600R. I was drawn by their reputation for reliability and features such as consistent color balance even when you change power settings. The wide variety of light modifiers, as well as the ease of use and setup also had me favor Profoto, even thought it is the more expensive system on the market. Of course, the sleek elegant look of Profoto gear also counted. As far as lighting gear goes, Profoto even looks sexy.<\/p>\n With\u00a0500 Ws power,\u00a0the\u00a0Profoto B1\u00a0TTL flash<\/strong><\/a> (B&H<\/a> \/ Amazon<\/a><\/em>)\u00a0is going really appeal to photographers who need a lot of power from their flash when shooting on location.\u00a0Various features which make them exceptionally suited for on-location work, Profoto really brought something exciting to the market. I believe this is going to kick them onto another level with photo enthusiasts.<\/p>\n Let’s look at some of the spec, and then how the Profoto B1 flashes performed during actual photo sessions.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n These units are easy to use, and easy to set up. The controls are mostly self-evident, and a few minutes scanning the instruction manual, will have you up and running. As you can see from the photographs, the B1 flashes are near-identical to the D1 units. The flash-head is flat in the front, which might make the use of gels easier, although the heat might be a problem with a gel.<\/p>\n The battery is truly light-weight and compact. There is also a check button to see how much power you have left.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n When I got my hands on two of the brand-new Profoto B1 units for testing purposes, I was quite excited to try them out on various photo sessions that I was shooting for my next book on\u00a0Lighting & Design<\/a>.<\/p>\n Initially,\u00a0the Profoto B1\u00a0TTL flash<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(B&H<\/a>\u00a0\/\u00a0Amazon<\/a><\/em>)\u00a0was only available for Canon, so for these photo sessions, I used both\u00a0the\u00a0Canon 6D<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Canon 5D mark III<\/a>\u00a0(affiliate<\/em>)\u00a0and the\u00a0Canon 24-70mm f\/2.8L II<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Canon EF 70-200mm f\/2.8L IS II<\/a>\u00a0(affiliate<\/em>). For most of these, I used the\u00a0Profoto RFi 1’\u00d73′ softbox<\/a>\u00a0(affiliate<\/em>)\u00a0with the\u00a0Profoto 50 degree 1\u00d73 grid<\/a>\u00a0(affiliate<\/em>)\u00a0to control how the light fell.<\/p>\n So what was the experience of using the Profoto B1 units on photo shoots on location? In short, they deliver! I am very impressed. I want!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n For this photo session with Heather Berman, a New York actor and dancer<\/a> (and previous Rockette), I wanted to use the dramatic sun and sky to off-set Heather’s vivid dress and elegant moves. I needed to match the exposure for bright sky. Unfortunately, I left my neutral density filter<\/a> at home, so I had to shoot at f\/14 \u2026 but the lack of control over the depth-of-field doesn’t \u00a0bother me here with the final images, since it really is about Heather, her dress and the blue sky.<\/p>\n Here I shot in manual mode, at full power. <\/p>\n I’ve previously posted these images of the photo session with Carina and Carolina –\u00a0controlling off-camera flash for impact \u2013 gridded stripbox \/ softbox<\/a>. The delightful twins were energetic and fun to shoot, but on this cold day, it was imperative to set up fast and shoot fast. I used a bare B1 unit behind them for rim light.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n For this next setup, I also wanted that rim-light behind them, therefore I placed the one B1 flash on the ground, propped up by a lens case to angle the flash upwards.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ger is a cosplay artist who creates fantastic outfits, and has published a book on Cosplay. With a\u00a0gridded Profoto RFi 1’\u00d73′ softbox<\/a>\u00a0(affiliate<\/em>)\u00a0behind her as a rim-light, and a large\u00a0Profoto RFi 3’x4′ softbox<\/a>\u00a0(affiliate<\/em>)\u00a0to give very soft light on her. To minimize the amount of light falling on the wall, I feathered the main light away from the wall. I used the units in manual mode here. Initial exposure was via TTL mode, and when I checked and saw the test exposure looked good, I flipped to Manual exposure mode via the\u00a0Air Remote TTL controller<\/strong>, it retained the TTL exposure\u00a0\u2026 but as a fixed manual setting now. And that’s the beauty of using the Profoto B1 \u2026 you can lock the TTL exposure by setting it to Manual.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I met up with my friend Mike Allebach<\/a> at an intriguing venue in Philly, Tattooed Mom’s. Ideal for a more gritty look. Shooting inside, I didn’t need that full blast matching-the-sun kind of power, but a more delicate touch of light. Camera settings of 1\/50 @ f\/4 @ 400 ISO retained enough of the ambience of the place, but allowing me to spot-light Mike with the gridded stripbox. Exposure was in TTL mode on the Profoto B1. This is where I became impressed with how accurate the TTL mode of these units were, since the darker tones didn’t affect the exposure as I had expected. Somehow it just worked. This is the straight-out-of-the-camera JPG.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Here I started off shooting in TTL mode, but with ever-changing compositions, shooting wide and tight, the TTL exposure did vary. So with one of the exposures which looked correct on the back of my camera, I then simply set the\u00a0Air Remote TTL controller\u00a0<\/strong>to manual mode, and that locked the desired exposure.<\/p>\n As mentioned in the article \u00a0on\u00a0controlling off-camera flash with a gridded stripbox<\/a>, I really like the smaller\u00a0Profoto RFi 1’\u00d73′ softbox<\/a>\u00a0(affiliate<\/em>)\u00a0along with the\u00a0Profoto 50 degree 1\u00d73 grid<\/a>\u00a0(affiliate<\/em>)\u00a0to control the light, and thereby accentuating my subject and the mood.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The incredible \u00a0Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens<\/a>\u00a0was the backdrop for\u00a0photographer\u00a0Jaleel King<\/strong> and his wheels. The gridded stripbox and a 10 degree grid on a reflector made up the lighting here, helping to give a gentle spot-lit effect.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mike Larose, is a New York actor & musician friend of mine. You might have seen him on the Tangents blog already in a completely different guise<\/a>. This time, photographing headshots and promotional photos for Mike, we worked outside along a pathway in a wooded area.<\/p>\n The gridded stripbox on him lights him selectively, and a 10 degree grid on a reflector from behind gave the rim-light. This was the one occasion I shot with the Nikon D4 and the Nikon 70-200mm f\/2.8 VR II and triggered the Profoto B1 units with PocketWizard Plus II sets. (I had run down the battery of my Canon 6D, so reverted to my main system for the rest of the shoot.)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ken Raftree is a musician and singer, and we worked on a variety of promotional photos for him. With this sequence I wanted that spotlight effect. A single Profoto B1 unit and a\u00a0Profoto 7″ Reflector\u00a0with a\u00a0Profoto 10-degree Honeycomb Grid,\u00a0gave that harder spotlight look, with the dramatic fall-off.<\/p>\n The pull-back shot shows again the sheer simplicity of the setup with the Profoto B1 – no cables. Just the unit on a light-stand.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n One field that I think Profoto B1\u00a0TTL flash<\/a>\u00a0(B&H<\/a>\u00a0\/\u00a0Amazon<\/a><\/em>) will be very appealing is wedding photography. The ease of use, and quick setup and easy control, along with the amount of light this can push out, would make photographing groups and families so much easier.<\/p>\n Getting an initial exposure via TTL, and then locking it with Manual mode, makes exposure metering easier (if you’re okay trusting the back of your camera’s preview.)<\/p>\n Finally, it says something when a \u00a0review sample of a piece of photo gear leaves you with that strong desire – I.have.to.have.this<\/p>\n <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/images\/review\/profoto-b1\/NV2_0765.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nProfoto B1 specifications<\/h2>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/images\/review\/profoto-b1\/NV2_0755.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/images\/review\/profoto-b1\/NV2_0768.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/images\/review\/profoto-b1\/NV2_0769.jpg\")
<\/p>\nUsing the Profoto B1 on photo shoots<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/images\/review\/profoto-b1\/images\/IMG_9348.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\ncamera settings: 1\/160 @ f\/14 @ 100 ISO
\nThe light on Heather was softened (and controlled) with a\u00a0gridded Profoto RFi 1’\u00d73′ softbox<\/a>\u00a0(affiliate<\/em>)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/images\/review\/profoto-b1\/images\/Carina-Carolina-1054.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/images\/review\/profoto-b1\/images\/Carina-Carolina-1050.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/images\/review\/profoto-b1\/images\/Carina-Carolina-1109.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/images\/review\/profoto-b1\/images\/Carina-Carolina-1180-edit.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/images\/review\/profoto-b1\/images\/Ger-Tysk_096.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/images\/review\/profoto-b1\/images\/Ger-Tysk_099.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/images\/review\/profoto-b1\/images\/Mike-Allebach-60_057.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/images\/review\/profoto-b1\/images\/Mike-Allebach-60_064.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/images\/review\/profoto-b1\/images\/Mike-Allebach-60_124.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/images\/review\/profoto-b1\/images\/Mike-Allebach-60_108.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/images\/review\/profoto-b1\/images\/Jaleel-King-60_030.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/images\/review\/profoto-b1\/images\/Jaleel-King-60_027.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/images\/review\/profoto-b1\/images\/Mike-LaRose-headshots-183.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/images\/review\/profoto-b1\/images\/Mike-LaRose-headshots-115.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/images\/review\/profoto-b1\/images\/Raftree-2013-10_0388.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/images\/review\/profoto-b1\/images\/Raftree-2013-10_0338.jpg\")
<\/p>\nSummary<\/h2>\n