Does anyone here appreciate that they are designed with built-in reflector? Just 77 degree angle, not bare-bulb as the predeccessors? Softboxes are not reasonably lit this way, and what about beauty dishes? I am puzzled of Profoto's decison.
At least this foreshadows why they show them from the back in almost all PR publications..
PeterBerressem wrote:
Does anyone here appreciate that they are designed with built-in reflector? Just 77 degree angle, not bare-bulb as the predeccessors?
Wow. You're not kidding. I see it now in the kit shot buried in the pdf.
It also looks like they are going to use a "optional glass cover" to "give you more light spread" (pg 3).
The dome appears to be frosted, which must reduce efficiency substantially.
Carmen Miranda wrote:
You're kidding? Do you have a link or shot of this?
Look at the brochure http://www.profoto.com/content/6/8/1/2/7b8bc370/Profoto_D1_EN.pdf The light spread angle of 77 degrees is shown on page 14. They also show kits with umbrellas, softboxes and beauty dish (softlight) on page 10. One thing for sure, it won't work with my Profoto Hardbox
I'm not interested in monoblocks, but I'll see about borrowing a D1 Air to test.
I honestly am not bothered by the glass dome and integrated reflector, it seems most Profoto shooters use the frosted glass for the regular heads most of the time anyways. This is just another version of that with a slightly different more 'travel friendly' approach.
Assuming the glass sticks out from the front of the head a bit it should work well in BD's and softboxes. At least it's an option, unlike the Dynalite heads with a built in reflector. Those are dumb
I don't suspect that they'll pull much market share away from Elinchrom, which offers a less expensive quality monolight and is already battle-tested. Most Profoto users are already sold on pack-use and in this economy $1200/head for what has been a questionable line of monolights in the past is a little crazy.
Deezie wrote:
I don't suspect that they'll pull much market share away from Elinchrom, which offers a less expensive quality monolight and is already battle-tested. Most Profoto users are already sold on pack-use and in this economy $1200/head for what has been a questionable line of monolights in the past is a little crazy.
Where did you did you see that pricing? I didn't see a MSRP. The 500ws couldn't be that expensive could it? I suppose it could the 600ws RX is ~$950...
I'm looking forward to seeing some hands on video other than what Profoto has already posted. I'm amazed no one has posted any from WPPI yet. I'm curious to see the glass dome on the front and how the whole thing looks with a standard reflector in place.
Here's to hopping actual prices are slightly below those MSRP prices.
Decision to have the "built-in" reflector is weird and curious and doesn't fit in with Profoto's philosophy of having the light exposed... however I did read that there is a "zoom" feature which allows you to move the light forward... wonder what the light quality is like?'
The other big plus for these is that you can optionally run them off a battery - mind you the battery is probably going to be $1000.00+ too... at which point you could simply run a 600R off a Vagabond instead.
sboerup wrote:
Ya, those prices are just way out there, don't know many who'd buy them. The 600R was already expensive for what you got.
Hehe, quoting myself. I think I recind my statement. I still think the prices are a little high, they should be in the $900 range for the 500ws IMO, but after watching the Profoto videos and doing a mental comparison to the 600RX, I'd rather have the D1s. Awesome lights!
I watched all of those video's, didn't see anything in them that said 'you can only do this with profoto'. Wondering what it was you saw that makes you say that.
Beni wrote:
I watched all of those video's, didn't see anything in them that said 'you can only do this with profoto'. Wondering what it was you saw that makes you say that.
+1
Those videos didn't tell me much more than how cool the push in multifunction knob was. I for one felt they were totally inadequate as a product tour. Obviously that wasn't their real focus.
I got to play with a D1 500 at Samy's in Hollywood this weekend. These lights are fantastic minus 2 serious design flaws which I'll talk about later. The Air system works great, controls the new lights, but what will they do to tie these in to the recently added strobes like the 7B2 if you need to rent one? Or are all Profoto strobes getting the air system added with an update? Or at least a trigger module that you plug into the sync input? The lights were very well built, smooth and I was overly impressed......except for:
The bulb unit on this thing, as some people pointed out, was quite puzzling. The salesmen, while he admittedly didn't know much, was puzzled by it, too. He made some comment that Profoto passes on instructions that modification is required only when using beauty dishes. I was like, what? You're kidding. He just threw his arms up and shook his head. Apparently you have to remove the center disk on BD's for this to work. This built in reflector design negates the use of many modifiers from beauty dishes to soft boxes. It baffles my mind how Profoto could have designed this. I asked if there was an add-on that allowed you to get the bulb exposed and he had no idea. Oh, no PW backup with this system. There's no input. It's Air or nothing. However, the air seemed to work very well. I'd prefer a backup option, though.
Oh, no PW backup with this system. There's no input. It's Air or nothing. However, the air seemed to work very well. I'd prefer a backup option, though.
Those of us used to wireless metering with a Sekonic aren't too happy about that. Maybe version 2 will address some of these concerns.
cineski wrote:
This built in reflector design negates the use of many modifiers from beauty dishes to soft boxes. It baffles my mind how Profoto could have designed this. I asked if there was an add-on that allowed you to get the bulb exposed and he had no idea. Oh, no PW backup with this system. There's no input. It's Air or nothing.
Both issues are beyond odd. Even Profoto's pack pedigree cannot explain these moves away. They both sound like very serious design flaws to me.
Are you saying you can't even use a PC cable?
