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Archive 2019 · Official: Profoto A1X Flash for Sony ($1,095)

  
 
glencx
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p.4 #1 · p.4 #1 · Official: Profoto A1X Flash for Sony ($1,095)


Just fyi, I found out I needed to upgrade my a7s2 from 3.00 to 3.01. Flash works great. I like the TTL/Manual switch on the side, it doesn't get lost in the control panel area. Also, almost went crazy trying to figure out how to disassemble the gel holder. I found a video on youtube and I reclaimed my sanity.

Glen



May 21, 2019 at 10:08 PM
Christian S
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p.4 #2 · p.4 #2 · Official: Profoto A1X Flash for Sony ($1,095)


I bought the AD 200 with transmitter. For a while it was great until the bare bulb would not work. So I bought a replacement unit for $30 and it worked. No big. I also bought two B10’s and have gotten really into them. They are worth every penny. The design and user friendliness blew my mind. Plus they work every time.

Just the other day I pulled out my AD 200 and my transmitter would not fire the unit. The unit itself fired. I was like WTF. This would be #2 fail. In the kind of work I do I can’t afford my tools to fail. The inconsistency is still way to high for me to trust Godox. I don’t have time to deal with inconsistency. The B10 units bring a lot of value to the table with their reliability. I’m glad I bought both brands. In hand the B10 makes my job easy and fun. After 20 years of shooting I found them to be well thought out and a joy to use. Also this was my first ProFoto Purchase. The interface and ability to monitor your power level on your iPhone is the bomb. It’s not perfect but it works.



May 21, 2019 at 11:05 PM
Hodie
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p.4 #3 · p.4 #3 · Official: Profoto A1X Flash for Sony ($1,095)


Christian S wrote:
I bought the AD 200 with transmitter. For a while it was great until the bare bulb would not work. So I bought a replacement unit for $30 and it worked. No big. I also bought two B10’s and have gotten really into them. They are worth every penny. The design and user friendliness blew my mind. Plus they work every time.

Just the other day I pulled out my AD 200 and my transmitter would not fire the unit. The unit itself fired. I was like WTF. This would be #2 fail. In the kind of work I do
...Show more

Those are solid points to go with a trusted, albeit expensive, brand name. I think the key with Godox is to understand the risk/reward and probably to have redundancy (i.e., buy multiple lights).



May 23, 2019 at 12:26 PM
GMPhotography
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p.4 #4 · p.4 #4 · Official: Profoto A1X Flash for Sony ($1,095)


Three days shooting has not missed a shot


May 23, 2019 at 01:11 PM
sungphoto
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p.4 #5 · p.4 #5 · Official: Profoto A1X Flash for Sony ($1,095)


Christian S wrote:
I bought the AD 200 with transmitter. For a while it was great until the bare bulb would not work. So I bought a replacement unit for $30 and it worked. No big. I also bought two B10’s and have gotten really into them. They are worth every penny. The design and user friendliness blew my mind. Plus they work every time.

Just the other day I pulled out my AD 200 and my transmitter would not fire the unit. The unit itself fired. I was like WTF. This would be #2 fail. In the kind of work I do
...Show more

I had an Ad200 stop recognizing the head after a month of usage - never dropped. Completely out of the blue, but thankfully noticed it when I was playing around in the studio and not with a client. Lost a bit of faith in godox with that, then a modeling light on an AD600 extension head stopped working for no reason after a few months, and I started to ponder other systems.

Switched over to profoto last year (2 b1s, 2 b2s and 3 b10s) and generally pretty happy with it. Pricy stuff, but when you regularly shoot for 8-10+ at a time, they're a joy to use compared to other systems. Like Nikon, they just nail the UI.

I still keep a couple AD200s in reserve for travel and personal projects abroad when I don't want to lug around more than a backpack.



May 23, 2019 at 07:16 PM
jlafferty
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p.4 #6 · p.4 #6 · Official: Profoto A1X Flash for Sony ($1,095)


I participate in a pro photo discussion group on FB and recently a well established pro shooter came in and went on a tear about how spotty Profoto gear has become. Several people chimed in with mixed responses but it’s clear his experiences aren’t isolated. If you think paying top dollar for Profoto will save you from headaches, you’re just among the people who are fortunate. The install base of Godox has to be much larger than Profoto and I would expect the failure rate to expand proportionally - just throwing more money at gear doesn’t make it go away entirely.

Hodie wrote:
Those are solid points to go with a trusted, albeit expensive, brand name. I think the key with Godox is to understand the risk/reward and probably to have redundancy (i.e., buy multiple lights).





May 24, 2019 at 01:32 PM
GMPhotography
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p.4 #7 · p.4 #7 · Official: Profoto A1X Flash for Sony ($1,095)


On the same token because people spend a shit load of money on something gives them the right to bitch more. Or fell they have the right too. Look no gear is perfect. I’ve rented Profoto all over the world doing annual reports and owned many of them. Really durable products and reliable as any other but when you get into the smaller units there obviously not as tough. I get that I use Godox AD 400 and Ad 200 all the times and they work very well. Where I have had more problems is the portables like the 685 and 860II. I actually worried all the time about going out on a gig with the 860.
After 3 days using the A1x I feel pretty darn good about it. It never failed to shoot and was on target. But than again it expensive it should work perfect. I’m demanding too

But bitching is common on any product especially when it’s expensive



May 24, 2019 at 01:47 PM
jlafferty
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p.4 #8 · p.4 #8 · Official: Profoto A1X Flash for Sony ($1,095)


Hmm, I get what you’re saying but in this case I feel like this guy’s post was more of someone showing their cards for once. Like, nobody wants to break ranks and admit they have issues with Profoto, and this guy has had enough issues in 6 months he couldn’t hold it in. Of course a few people chimed in and said “I dropped my shit down stairs and it worked perfectly!” But at least four other people weighed in with their frustrations. I think as Profoto tries to capture more of the consumer market, we’re going to see QC slip, or are already seeing it. If it doesn’t affect you, that’s great. We should all be so lucky.


May 24, 2019 at 02:56 PM
GMPhotography
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p.4 #9 · p.4 #9 · Official: Profoto A1X Flash for Sony ($1,095)


Hey if something not working I’m telling and most will do the same I have no bias towards anything. Honestly we need a much bigger sample than one or two people spouting off. Not that I don’t believe him but we need to see a history of complaints. Hell he could work for Photix for all we know. I would like a little sticker magnets as once you get to two it’s a little weaker.


May 24, 2019 at 03:10 PM
Jonesy
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p.4 #10 · p.4 #10 · Official: Profoto A1X Flash for Sony ($1,095)


I owned the A1 for Canon and just switched to Sony and picked up the A1X. Its definitely built a bit different than the A1. No play in the swivel head at all.


May 24, 2019 at 03:36 PM
jlafferty
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p.4 #11 · p.4 #11 · Official: Profoto A1X Flash for Sony ($1,095)


Now you’re just making things up speculating about this guy I promise you he’s a legit shooter with plenty of experience with no hidden agenda.

Otherwise your post is exactly my point and we agree - you can’t say you’ve had a great experience and claim investing in a specific brand is a panacea anymore than I can. And at the same time casting doubts about another brand because of your isolated experience. What’s good for the goose…

GMPhotography wrote:
Hey if something not working I’m telling and most will do the same I have no bias towards anything. Honestly we need a much bigger sample than one or two people spouting off. Not that I don’t believe him but we need to see a history of complaints. Hell he could work for Photix for all we know. I would like a little sticker magnets as once you get to two it’s a little weaker.





May 24, 2019 at 03:42 PM
cambyses
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p.4 #12 · p.4 #12 · Official: Profoto A1X Flash for Sony ($1,095)


GMPhotography wrote:
Yes they are working . I like the gel holder from Profoto better and the dome that come with it but grid, diffusion and others all work pretty well. I at least tried all them on. I’m shooting now with A1x dome, bounce card and two different gels depending on what room I’m in. This thing works really nice

But it’s worth buying the Godox accessories kit. Most of it works great


Not sure Guy how you saw this as "working"! I did order the Godox accessory kit and received it last night. There is no way for the items in the accessory kit to work with A1. The diameter is slightly larger than the diameter of A1. As such, none of the magnetic rings would stay in place properly and solidly, and would easily fall with the smallest touch! If the diameter of A1X is identical to A1, then I don't see how the Godox accessories would work with A1X either. Now, if one installs the original Profoto Wide Angle accessory on A1 first, then the Godox accessories would sit on the wide angle slightly better and would be usable to some degree. But without the wide angle, there is no way for the Godox accessories to be secured enough on A1.

The only accessory that does work is the silicon snoot which is not too sensitive to the exact diameter. But I don't want to pay $59 just for a snoot. So I will unfortunately have to return the Godox accessory kit.



May 24, 2019 at 05:09 PM
GMPhotography
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p.4 #13 · p.4 #13 · Official: Profoto A1X Flash for Sony ($1,095)


I thought they worked okay but I did say it was not perfect and some parts like the grid might be worth it. Sorry about that. The Profoto stuff don’t fit perfect either. My done flew off the other day I wound up with gaffers tape on it


May 24, 2019 at 05:49 PM
sungphoto
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p.4 #14 · p.4 #14 · Official: Profoto A1X Flash for Sony ($1,095)


jlafferty wrote:
Now you’re just making things up speculating about this guy I promise you he’s a legit shooter with plenty of experience with no hidden agenda.

Otherwise your post is exactly my point and we agree - you can’t say you’ve had a great experience and claim investing in a specific brand is a panacea anymore than I can. And at the same time casting doubts about another brand because of your isolated experience. What’s good for the goose…



Ultimately I don't think it makes sense for most people to get this speedlite if you're not already invested in the profoto system (or plan on transitioning to it). That said, Sony shooters have long had fewer options for a lot of lighting gear, and Sony charges obscene prices for their speedlites which offer less features than competing systems, so I could understand why the A1X finally coming in Sony MIS mount would cause some excitement.

I think it's a bit harder of a sell for Nikon and Canon shooters who already have a pretty vast array of high quality 1st and 3rd party speedlites and strobe systems available to them. I liked my A1, but even as a heavily invested Profoto user I didn't think it was worth keeping when I could buy 5-6 godox speedlites for the price of one A1. It does sound like they've fixed some of the things I really didn't like - primarily the slop/looseness on the head swivel, so I'll prob take a second look at the A1X

I wonder if Profoto will ever release some sort of retrofit/fix for the A1 head looseness.



May 24, 2019 at 06:15 PM
Simon Barker
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p.4 #15 · p.4 #15 · Official: Profoto A1X Flash for Sony ($1,095)


jlafferty wrote:
Hmm, I get what you’re saying but in this case I feel like this guy’s post was more of someone showing their cards for once. Like, nobody wants to break ranks and admit they have issues with Profoto, and this guy has had enough issues in 6 months he couldn’t hold it in.


To be as open minded as possible you can't really rely on what a few people say no matter how good of a photographer they are (photographer's tend to be very picky and bloody minded once they've formed an opinion), a good repair shop on the other hand probably knows a thing or two about which products are solid and which aren't as they're the ones who'll actually get to see them in enough numbers to know if there's design flaws, QC issues or just fragile design etc but they probably aren't too keen on spilling the beans.

Beyond a certain point I think it's a mistake to assume too much about the reliability of products just because of the brand, I'd happily trust a Pro-7/8/D1 as they've proven reliable (although Pro-7's are basically EOL now) but have been warned repeatedly to avoid Compacts and I've heard a lot of complaints about both Pro-10's and D2's. What's the right conclusion to draw from that information?

Godox on the other hand I've not really had many serious faults from their newer kit although there's plenty of complaints, I assume that's partly because there's so many more of them floating about with the public (let's not forget there's a big portion of people who never read or post online so you'll see fewer Profoto/Broncolor horror stories), I did have an AD200 with a loose connection but other than that they're all still working, same for the AD400 although I haven't used it very much. I do expect more oddities from Godox under normal usage, I had a transmitter just stop working for about an hour and then happily come back to life to never repeat the same behaviour and I just learned to live with misfires using Godox on Sony although newer firmware releases have improved this. It's easier to forgive when the costs are so much lower and the average person is going to let price dictate their views.

So yeah I make assumptions about what to expect from certain brands but I think reliability is something you have to judge on a per product basis and how can you fairly do that until you've been using a few of those products for a decent duration?

One of the things I used to take comfort in with Profoto/Broncolor/etc was having access to repair shops which could extend the life of equipment considerably but that seems to be going out the window as everything seems to just be board rather than component replacements and I can't speak for anywhere else in the world but in the UK I'm finding fewer places to repair equipment to a high standard.



May 24, 2019 at 06:18 PM
GMPhotography
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p.4 #16 · p.4 #16 · Official: Profoto A1X Flash for Sony ($1,095)


sungphoto wrote:
Ultimately I don't think it makes sense for most people to get this speedlite if you're not already invested in the profoto system (or plan on transitioning to it). That said, Sony shooters have long had fewer options for a lot of lighting gear, and Sony charges obscene prices for their speedlites which offer less features than competing systems, so I could understand why the A1X finally coming in Sony MIS mount would cause some excitement.

I think it's a bit harder of a sell for Nikon and Canon shooters who already have a pretty vast array of high quality 1st
...Show more

A metal foot with locking mechanism was enough for me. I could not count on the Godox 860 it’s really that simple. The AD units yes love them. 1000 bucks to not lose a client is worth paying.



May 24, 2019 at 07:21 PM
jlafferty
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p.4 #17 · p.4 #17 · Official: Profoto A1X Flash for Sony ($1,095)


Everything you've written is spot on.

Simon Barker wrote:
To be as open minded as possible you can't really rely on what a few people say no matter how good of a photographer they are (photographer's tend to be very picky and bloody minded once they've formed an opinion), a good repair shop on the other hand probably knows a thing or two about which products are solid and which aren't as they're the ones who'll actually get to see them in enough numbers to know if there's design flaws, QC issues or just fragile design etc but they probably aren't too keen on spilling the beans.

Beyond a
...Show more




May 24, 2019 at 08:36 PM
Hodie
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p.4 #18 · p.4 #18 · Official: Profoto A1X Flash for Sony ($1,095)


FWIW, I shot an all-weekend family portrait shoot (25 families) for a school fundraiser using the Godox AD400 + Xpro transmitter without a single misfire. So, I have faith in my Godox gear for now. I brought my two AD200s and an AD-B2 as a fallback.


May 26, 2019 at 10:50 PM
mineymole
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p.4 #19 · p.4 #19 · Official: Profoto A1X Flash for Sony ($1,095)


I have owned every flash under the sun. Right now I am shooting Sony and am extremely happy that Profoto is finally offering the flash for Sony users.

I have been using Godox for 5 years in various incarnations. With Sony it has been nothing but a headache. I did order the new roundhead Godox and had to send it right back to Adorama. It misfired every other shot. This is my biggest problem with the Godox Li-On R2. Too many misfires as soon as the unit heats up. The best flashes Godox makes are the AD200 units and the small mini Li-on R2.

I have also tried the Sony flashes. With the new camera firmware update the Sony flashes for off camera work much better (faster). However, you suffer from having to use AA batteries, battery packs so you don't get misfires. TTL is perfect with the Sony flashes (BTW). I just don't want to cart around all the batteries, battery packs anymore. If Sony had developed a flash that used Li-on batteries I would use Sony, but that isn't the case.

I just shot a wedding using a brand new pair of the Profoto A1X flashes and I didn't have one misfire. Not one. That doesn't mean there are not issues. The battery life, even on the new A1X, is no where near the battery life on the Godox flashes. This is a PITA especially with the premium cost of an extra battery pack. But I'll live. The attachments are clumsy and fall off easily and I am really sad that I won't be able to use my MagMod stuff anymore. (Magmod are you listening? Please create stuff for these flashes!). I will add at least two more A1 flashes to my kit, and yes, they are crazy expensive but... they work. They are made with quality parts (the metal foot and lock!). Even the little bluetooth connect trigger is fun and works quite easily for simple reception lighting. But... eventually I'll have to bite the bullet and buy the Profoto Sony Trigger (super crazy price I know).

That is my take from shooting weddings with Godox, Sony, Nikon, Canon and now Profoto.




Jun 10, 2019 at 10:22 AM
GMPhotography
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p.4 #20 · p.4 #20 · Official: Profoto A1X Flash for Sony ($1,095)


I bought a A1 battery as backup for 79 dollars which saved a little money and I carry a 3/4 inch small roll of gaffers tape. Seems we just never get away from gaffers tape. I did buy the full kit with trigger but have not tried that yet

On Godox I use 2 AD 200 round heads and I use 2 AD 400 units. I won’t get away from those units but on camera stuff I will go Profoto. I have yet to misfire



Jun 10, 2019 at 10:29 AM
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