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Archive 2015 · Should I sell my Einsteins and get a Profoto B1 or B2?

  
 
superflip
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Should I sell my Einsteins and get a Profoto B1 or B2?


I'm on the fence about this. I do a lot of on location shooting and it is a huge PITA to bring my Einsteins and VML everywhere. I love all of the cool features of the Profoto, but I'm wondering if I will really see a huge difference for such a huge premium. What say ye?


Mar 04, 2015 at 10:42 PM
BigIronCruiser
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Should I sell my Einsteins and get a Profoto B1 or B2?


Welcome to the "fence sitters" club. I have several Einstein's, and occasionally give some thought to switching.....although maybe to something besides Profoto.

For starters, moving to anything means new modifiers, or at least changing (where possible) speedrings on PCB modifiers.

B2 - With only 250WS, the B2 is handicapped against outdoor location work with big(ish) modifiers. Plus we're still stuck with wires and an external battery pack. I find the hotshoe mount to be a bit of a joke. Seriously?

The B1 looks like a real winner except for the $$. The "one is none" philosophy means buying at least 2, and that's getting fairly serious at more than $2,000 per light.

I don't crave TTL, so the Rovelight is a possible alternative. They're fully self-contained, claim to deliver 600WS, and 3 can be bought for the price of a single B1. The Rovelight is only available with a Bowens (or their propietary) mount, so switching or modifying modifiers would be a PITA. They're somewhat new, so the quality and durability is yet to be determined.

The Phottix Indra 500 is another option, although there's still wires to contend with. The Phottix has TTL, and when compared to a B1, they deliver twice the power at half the price.

In the meantime, the Einstein's work great, and the fence isn't such a bad place to sit.



Mar 05, 2015 at 01:49 AM
hijazist
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Should I sell my Einsteins and get a Profoto B1 or B2?


I agree with John, great advice... The only thing is that I don't see any benefit for the Phottix Indra over something like an Einstein and a VG mini or a Quadra system. You still have to deal with an external pack, wires, etc... Btw, they're rated at 500w just like the B1 The RoveLight makes more sense to me.

OP, the problem is that the Einsteins are a great value for the money and they're hard to beat for the price. The price difference is HUGE especially that PB modifiers are very affordable.

If you're planning to buy 2 B1s that's $4200, and the remote is $400. Add a softbox, a reflector, BD, grids, etc... and you will end up spending over $6000. The B1 is an amazing system but IMHO you're the only person who can decide whether they're worth the investment or not. Aside from the great technical features (HSS, TTL, etc...), the B1 will speed up your workflow and let you focus more on your photography and creativity, of course in addition to its portability and intuitive interface, it just works and gets out of the way.

Sorry if that wasn't very helpful



Mar 05, 2015 at 05:32 AM
Gregg Heckler
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Should I sell my Einsteins and get a Profoto B1 or B2?


Yes if you want the best in performance, portability, quality, reliability, and have the money. No if you don't. Profoto also gives you the flexibility of renting modifiers and other strobes when you need more.


Mar 05, 2015 at 10:08 AM
Deezie
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Should I sell my Einsteins and get a Profoto B1 or B2?


You can pretty much use your existing modifiers with Profoto unless you have something very proprietary. I have the D4 pack and bought the kit with 2 B1's. I use Profoto, Chimera and Photoflex modifiers. They all seem to work with my Profoto speedings.

The B1's are big and heavy, but as long as you're not frequently using a boom, it shouldn't be an issue. They're built like tanks and work very reliably either manually or TTL. When using TTL, I've found that setting a high ISO on the camera tends to give varying results in terms of exposure and I have to chimp a bit on occasion. In manual mode they're very consistent.

It's convenient to not be tied to wires, and, for me, it's a real time saver. I'd be interested in hearing from peeps who've used the Rovelights.



Mar 05, 2015 at 11:16 AM
superflip
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Should I sell my Einsteins and get a Profoto B1 or B2?


I don't really NEED to upgrade to Profoto. I think my inner gadget geek is just looking for a new toy. I definitely like the idea of just bringing a B1, lightstand and a BD to a beach shoot. Maybe it's just that stupid marketing video that Profoto put out. In order to switch systems, I would have to sell all 3 of my Einsteins, triggers, and modifiers. I would still be short for the 2-light kit. Maybe I should just say screw it, sell EVERYTHING and get a Leica (probably wouldn't be able to afford the associated lens though).


Mar 06, 2015 at 01:21 AM
Andrew Pece Photography
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Should I sell my Einsteins and get a Profoto B1 or B2?


It honestly sounds to me like you should hold onto your Einstein setup.

You can't knock a great system, and I am not knocking profoto, but what happens is top photographers get paid good chunks of money to say good things about profoto. This opinion leader marketing is very effective. If you want my opinion there aren't too many things you can't do with einsteins that the profotos can do. I suppose it is more a matter of everyday convenience, and whether or not you are willing to pay the price.




Mar 06, 2015 at 02:36 AM
hijazist
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Should I sell my Einsteins and get a Profoto B1 or B2?


I agree about the marketing campaigns part, but isn't that the case with almost every brand of not just lights but also light meters, cameras, lenses, etc...? The difference is that Profoto does it well.

Andrew Pece Photography wrote:
It honestly sounds to me like you should hold onto your Einstein setup.

You can't knock a great system, and I am not knocking profoto, but what happens is top photographers get paid good chunks of money to say good things about profoto. This opinion leader marketing is very effective. If you want my opinion there aren't too many things you can't do with einsteins that the profotos can do. I suppose it is more a matter of everyday convenience, and whether or not you are willing to pay the price.





Mar 06, 2015 at 03:08 AM
Alexluu627
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Should I sell my Einsteins and get a Profoto B1 or B2?


To be honest if you have a chance to upgrade to Profoto without financial problems, I would do it in a heartbeat. I love my einsteins, but Profotos are on a next level in my opinion. Greater build quality and the temp consistency in so much better. My Einsteins seem to be warmer.


Mar 06, 2015 at 03:42 AM
Konablue
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Should I sell my Einsteins and get a Profoto B1 or B2?


My ideal lighting setup would be a single Profoto B1 along with the 2 light B2 kit. With having a B1 available there should be enough power to handle most situations short of bright mid-day shoots. Of course, you still have cords to deal with on the B2s but that's manageable and most of the time I would be using just one or two lights anyway. The lightweight B2 head with the power-pack down low on the stand or shoulder strap is better than a top heavy lightstand or boom. I often have to use a Vagabond Mini to power my D1s anyway.

Additionally, I would like to have TTL or HSS available in my toolkit. It may save time to use TTL to get a baseline and then switch to manual to tweak as desired. The only situation I can think of for using the hotshot mount is when you can't use a stand or don't have an assistant. I wouldn't buy one separately but if they're going to include it then I'll take it.

I went from working with White Lightning and Alien Bees to the D1 Air 1000 and 500w monos and find the Profoto stuff a pleasure to use once you get over the displeasure of parting with the $$ to pay for it all.



Mar 06, 2015 at 08:47 AM
superflip
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Should I sell my Einsteins and get a Profoto B1 or B2?


I was thinking the same thing. The only problem is the $$$. For something like that you are looking at over $5k including light modifiers. ugghh... Maybe Elinchrome will come out with a similar solution that has HSS and TTL.


Mar 06, 2015 at 12:30 PM
keano12
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Should I sell my Einsteins and get a Profoto B1 or B2?


I ended up with the Rovelights. $480/600w. I would like TTL from a creative standpoint and speed on the go. I think I can wait till the end of the year since everyone will be jumping on the TTL ship and competitive pricing. Happy with the RL for now.

Edited on Mar 25, 2015 at 02:00 AM · View previous versions



Mar 07, 2015 at 04:22 AM
tedwca
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Should I sell my Einsteins and get a Profoto B1 or B2?


The Einsteins do not have HSS built in.


Mar 07, 2015 at 05:27 AM
superflip
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Should I sell my Einsteins and get a Profoto B1 or B2?


Einsteins have hyper sync. It's a litte bit different.


Mar 07, 2015 at 11:00 AM
neoshazam
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Should I sell my Einsteins and get a Profoto B1 or B2?


superflip wrote:
I'm on the fence about this. I do a lot of on location shooting and it is a huge PITA to bring my Einsteins and VML everywhere. I love all of the cool features of the Profoto, but I'm wondering if I will really see a huge difference for such a huge premium. What say ye?


Why is it such a pain ?

superflip wrote:
I don't really NEED to upgrade to Profoto. I think my inner gadget geek is just looking for a new toy. I definitely like the idea of just bringing a B1, lightstand and a BD to a beach shoot. Maybe it's just that stupid marketing video that Profoto put out. In order to switch systems, I would have to sell all 3 of my Einsteins, triggers, and modifiers. I would still be short for the 2-light kit. Maybe I should just say screw it, sell EVERYTHING and get a Leica (probably wouldn't be able to afford the associated lens though).
...Show more

I'm guessing there is no wind on that beach ?
I think about the B1 but a few things always hold me back :

1.) Price :
1a) for the unit itself .
1b) for modifiers/speedrings.

2.) Power : If I'm paying +$1000 for a single light I want to be able to have enough power for just about any situation. ~1200 watts or more so I can have a decent sized modifier against the sun if necessary.

3.) Protection : Anywhere without wind where 500 watts or less is needed will be awesome, but dealing with any wind/uneven terrain I'm going to have to sandbag or weigh down the stand so that +$1500 light doesn't fling itself into the ground, so some of that "set it and forget it" freedom would be lost.



Mar 07, 2015 at 11:07 AM
keano12
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Should I sell my Einsteins and get a Profoto B1 or B2?


If you read reviews of users that have the Rovelights most are all positive except for the remote. I'm checking out the hyper sync on PCB site but I think Rovelight makes more sense. The HSS does work. It weighs 1.5lb more then Einstein head no cables.


Mar 07, 2015 at 01:59 PM
keano12
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · Should I sell my Einsteins and get a Profoto B1 or B2?


If you read reviews of users that have the Rovelights most are all positive except for the remote. I'm checking out the hyper sync on PCB site but I think Rovelight makes more sense. The HSS does work. It weighs 1.5lb more then Einstein head no cables.


Mar 07, 2015 at 01:59 PM
Gregg Heckler
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · Should I sell my Einsteins and get a Profoto B1 or B2?


"Einsteins have hyper sync. It's a litte bit different."

Einsteins don't have Hypersync they use "CyberSync" for wireless triggering. Two completely different things. If you want Hypersync (the ability to sync at higher shutter speeds than your camera's sync speed) you can buy the Pocketwizard TT1 or TT5 and MC9 and then you have some level of Hypersync. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong.

This is one of the beauties of the B! and B2. They have Profoto's version of Hypersync built in.



Mar 07, 2015 at 06:35 PM
superflip
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · Should I sell my Einsteins and get a Profoto B1 or B2?


Greg,
You are correct, but cybersync is just the name of their triggers. The PW tt1/5 allow hyper
Sync capabilities.



Mar 07, 2015 at 07:03 PM
Batty_F
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · Should I sell my Einsteins and get a Profoto B1 or B2?


I don't think it's quite correct to say the Profoto B1/B2 have Profoto's version of HyperSync built in. The B1/B2 have High Speed Sync built in which is not the same as HyperSync. High Speed Sync can support TTL and evenly illuminates the frame. HyperSync is generally used at full power to take advantage of long flash durations that only happen at full power and generally doesn't support TTL, and typically doesn't evenly illuminate the frame unless you have a really slow strobe with a perfect decay curve to support HyperSync.

Profoto HSS FAQ:
http://www.profoto.com/blog/off-camera-flash/profoto-hss-faq/



Mar 08, 2015 at 12:44 AM
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