Elinchrom BRX 500 vs Profoto D1 Air 500

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etchen
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p.1 #1 · Elinchrom BRX 500 vs Profoto D1 Air 500

Looking to purchase just 1 strobe and a Large Softbox for it.
1) Elinchrom BRX 500 with Large 3x4'ish softbox.
2) Profoto D1 Air 500 with 3x4 Profoto softbox.

For the people that have used both, what would you recommend and why if money wasn't an issue?

I'm mainly take studio portraits and occassionally work on location that usually has a plug for power.

Feb 27, 2013 at 11:40 PM

tedwca
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p.1 #2 · Elinchrom BRX 500 vs Profoto D1 Air 500

You are better off comparing the Profoto to the Style RX 600 as far as comparing the two. I have the older versions and I prefer the Profoto due to the far superior mounting system for modifiers. I have an adapter that lets me mount all my Elinchrom modifiers on the Profoto.

Feb 27, 2013 at 11:47 PM

etchen
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p.1 #3 · Elinchrom BRX 500 vs Profoto D1 Air 500

okay, that would make sense comparing it to the Style RX 600.
So if you prefer the easiness of Profoto due to the mounting, does that mean you prefer the elinchrom strobes? - kind of confused

Feb 28, 2013 at 12:06 AM

tedwca
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p.1 #4 · Elinchrom BRX 500 vs Profoto D1 Air 500

The quality of both is very good, but the robustness of the Profoto mounting system make them the winner for me. The reason I mentioned the Elinchrom adapter is I have a lot of Elinchrom modifiers that I can use on both lights. I have the Big Octa, the 39" Octa, a couple of the 16" Maxilites, and a 27" Beauty dish with grid.

Feb 28, 2013 at 03:43 AM

colinm
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p.1 #5 · Elinchrom BRX 500 vs Profoto D1 Air 500

Profoto for me too. Far better modifier mount, feels better in the hand and in use, faster and easier to use, and at least in the US, MAC Group's (Profoto's) service is much better than Manfrotto's (Elinchrom's). I don't know what the situation is in Canada, so hopefully somebody else can offer some insight there.

The Elinchroms aren't bad, but if money isn't an issue, I'd take the Profoto every time.

Feb 28, 2013 at 02:28 PM

Beni
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p.1 #6 · Elinchrom BRX 500 vs Profoto D1 Air 500

I've got a couple of those softboxes for my D1's, they're big. Very big. I would want the best mounting system I could get.

Feb 28, 2013 at 03:07 PM

Conner999
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p.1 #7 · Elinchrom BRX 500 vs Profoto D1 Air 500

Have owned Eli BXRis, used RXs and since moved to Profoto including some D1 AiRs -> +1 on an prior comments. If budget permits, Profoto w/o a doubt, no hesitation.

Feb 28, 2013 at 03:15 PM

corposant
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p.1 #8 · Elinchrom BRX 500 vs Profoto D1 Air 500

tedwca wrote:
The quality of both is very good, but the robustness of the Profoto mounting system make them the winner for me. The reason I mentioned the Elinchrom adapter is I have a lot of Elinchrom modifiers that I can use on both lights. I have the Big Octa, the 39" Octa, a couple of the 16" Maxilites, and a 27" Beauty dish with grid.

Jumping in here - do you have any issues using your adapter? I understand it works better on some Profoto heads than others...

Feb 28, 2013 at 06:06 PM

stuuke
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p.1 #9 · Elinchrom BRX 500 vs Profoto D1 Air 500

I've been slowly switching over to Profoto. I have the Acute battery packs but my monolights are still Elinchrom RX's. My RX's have been very reliable and work great. They also work well with the PCB battery. The skyport system is a little hit or miss but the new transmitter has helped with reliability and durability. I would agree with the comments on Elinchroms service but I haven't had to use Profoto. I don't think that you would be disappointed with the Profoto's. A lot of people questioned the design with the recessed flash tube but nobody I know that uses them has any complaints. On the used market you can get an RX for about half of the price of the Profoto so if money is a consideration I would go Elinchrom.

Feb 28, 2013 at 06:08 PM

etchen
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p.1 #10 · Elinchrom BRX 500 vs Profoto D1 Air 500

Thank you so much everyone!
You guys have made things definitely a lot easier for me to decide which direction to take here. Profoto seems to have a solid reputation from the ongoing research I've done.

Mar 01, 2013 at 01:07 AM

tedwca
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p.1 #11 · Elinchrom BRX 500 vs Profoto D1 Air 500

Mar 01, 2013 at 04:12 AM

etchen
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p.1 #12 · Elinchrom BRX 500 vs Profoto D1 Air 500

i'm going to have to play around with the umbrellas with the D1 but I don't plan on getting umbrellas. I've used them before and didn't quite like the light (personal issue). thanks for all the help and comments.

Mar 02, 2013 at 12:07 AM

Conner999
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p.1 #13 · Elinchrom BRX 500 vs Profoto D1 Air 500

corposant wrote:
tedwca wrote:
The quality of both is very good, but the robustness of the Profoto mounting system make them the winner for me. The reason I mentioned the Elinchrom adapter is I have a lot of Elinchrom modifiers that I can use on both lights. I have the Big Octa, the 39" Octa, a couple of the 16" Maxilites, and a 27" Beauty dish with grid.

Jumping in here - do you have any issues using your adapter? I understand it works better on some Profoto heads than others...

The Eli-Profoto adapter (it's made by Eli) has a silver reflector built in - remove it as that's the source of the problem. It's utterly unnecessary/decorative with Profoto heads due to the dome on the latter.

The reflector JUST (and I mean JUST) narrows the opening down enough that some Profoto heads won't zoom properly. Just remove the reflector and away you go. The same 3-4 screws go thru the reflector and hold the various bits of the adapter together. Just remove them, chuck reflector and re-assemble. Oh, some loctite on the machine screw nuts also wouldn't hurt since you're in there. Whole process takes 10 min.

At that juncture, any Profoto head (Acute, Pro, Compact, D1), no issues, full zoom. Have used my adapters that way for years if/when using any Eli softboxes or tin modifiers.

Mar 02, 2013 at 01:37 PM

tedwca
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p.1 #14 · Elinchrom BRX 500 vs Profoto D1 Air 500

etchen wrote:
i'm going to have to play around with the umbrellas with the D1 but I don't plan on getting umbrellas. I've used them before and didn't quite like the light (personal issue). thanks for all the help and comments.

I rarely use umbrellas, but several of the Elinchrom modifiers use the umbrella mount to hold the center deflector in place. The beauty dishes and the deep octa are the main ones I use that need access to the umbrella slot.

Mar 02, 2013 at 09:55 PM

jzucker
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p.1 #15 · Elinchrom BRX 500 vs Profoto D1 Air 500

i had two BXRI 500 units burn out. Completely melted down. The front panel assembly that the modeling bulb screws into including the bulb base is plastic and the heat sensor doesn't shut down the unit when it overheats. This was in a beauty dish, with a sock. This happened twice. Customer support was horrible. Slow service (4+weeks to fix a 3 month old product). They ignored my request for a loaner and though they acknowledged a design issue, could only advise me not to use it in a beauty dish with a sock on it. Additionally, the light stand mount is very flimsy and the power range is very narrow.

And, I had many misfires from the remote where the flash just didn't trigger.

I switched to einsteins and while they are not perfect, they have been rock solid reliable and have an incredible power range and the remotes just work.

Feel free to contact me for more details. I will never buy an elinchrom product again.

Mar 04, 2013 at 08:48 PM

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