I found a used Profoto 600 for $200 from a guy that's local to me. Prior to finding this, I had done extensive research on mono lights (prior owner of Hensels and Elinchrom, currrent owner of Einsteins.) So I am aware of the quality of the product but I 'm also aware of the expense of maintenance and of modifiers.
The questions I have is would it be worth the low price for the light considering the age, and additional cost for modifiers for it as opposed to getting another Einstein for more than twice the price but having less expense on the modifier and service end?
Thanks in advance for your suggestions.
Profotoīs softboxes arenīt expensive now that they have the new line called RFi softboxes. The reflector style modifiers on the other hand are still expensive, but it seems to me at least here in my country prices have fallen a bit lately. Could be due to the exchange rate going up and down.
You should be able to use any brand of modifiers, except for some of Paul Buff's soft boxes. If you have the Einsteins I would consider the Profoto compacts to be a step down.
I have Einsteins and I would have to say the Profoto is the better light.
It is better (IMO) for these reasons:
Very solid build
Modifiers do not fall off
Power is controlled by a knob as opposed to the Einstein's fiddly (and slow) buttons
The shortcomings compared to Einstein are:
Flash duration is longer (If that matters, my studio and location work are not affected)
Repair costs are high
As it is older there may be a repair in your future
I have the lowest price, no longer in production Profoto 600e pack and heads, and they work great. I don't know how many pops were on my kit before I bought it from a pro, but they have been great. I use mainly Chimera softboxes.
When I want to use other Profoto equipment like a ringflash or any other Profoto modifier, I can easily rent it from Calumet two blocks down the street from where I work in DC.
No, my old 600e set does not have the specs of the Einsteins, but it works perfectly well for me for mostly portraiture and product images. I have a Lumedyne set for battery carry-anywhere capability. Whenever I upgrade, I won't hesitate to buy used Profoto again.
I own a bunch of Profoto gear, including several 600R monolights. For reflector modifiers, I have a lot of Profoto brand reflectors, because they mount well, and the ones that have a zoom function are easy to adjust for beam angle, rather than owning lots of different reflectors. For soft box modifiers, I only own Photoflex brand boxes, which are much less expensive, and I am happy with their performance. Many of those boxes were purchased used at less than half the new price, which puts them at less than 1/4 of what a Profoto box would be. Also note that you can get third party speed rings, both 4 rod and 8 rod, that clamp properly on to Profoto heads, for under $50 from eBay, so do not spend $170 on the Profoto brand 4 rod one.
I have not needed any repair work, but I do understand that it can be quite expensive. But if you get a good enough deal on a used strobe or system, and get a bunch of use out of it, you can likely have your value out of the rig before it needs repair. The Profoto stuff is pretty rugged and pretty reliable, which helps a lot.
Profotos are really expensive to repair, and sometimes very simple things can end up being quite costly. I've had to repair my Acute 600B packs and heads twice (once it was my fault), and the parts costs were so high on one occasion that it ended up being more economical to just buy another head and toss the old one. Broken frosted glass dome? $200. Burnt-out flash ring? $250. Broken power switch? $300. Dying battery? $300-600.
The equipment is built to last (I've been using mine since 2005), but beware the maintenance boogeyman when he rears his ugly head.
