Hi all, happy Sony A7IV owner here, looking hard at the Profoto B10X. I have read a number of posts here and there about people having issues with some Profoto products, such as triggers, and the Sony hotshoe. I was wondering if any of you have experience with this as a real issue? Or is it the internet amplification effect at work?
Seems like the little pins on the front of the Sony trigger are easy to damage, plus there's more plastic in the interface to camera on the triggers. I've dropped Canon and Nikon profoto triggers countless times without issue, but have broken plastic feet on Sony triggers on a couple occasions.
Also, the Sony multi-interface hotshoe can short out if moisture gets in there, which then leads to a camera error message "device not supported" and won't allow you to take photos. Not a fatal flaw, but does introduce potential show stoppers if you're shooting in weather or as clumsy as I am.
Not sure if the new Profoto Connect Pro is any better in this regard.
hnaa wrote:
Hi all, happy Sony A7IV owner here, looking hard at the Profoto B10X. I have read a number of posts here and there about people having issues with some Profoto products, such as triggers, and the Sony hotshoe. I was wondering if any of you have experience with this as a real issue? Or is it the internet amplification effect at work?
Only issue I've come across is EFCS can cause misfires for 10-20% of the shots so you may need to disable it if you run into this problem.
Nothing to do with Profoto but I detest the small exposed pins Sony uses, I go out of my way to baby it to avoid damaging anything but it's a terrible design.
As a long time user of Profoto with quite some investment in their system, I hear more issues with the new Connect Pro remote than the older remotes. I'm sticking with the older style ones.
But as to the hotshoe problems, I think this is more a Sony issue with an unfortunate design. Profoto doesn't help with not offering repairs to hotshoe mounts. They'll just offer a small reduction to a replacement remote, (unless they've changed their policy recently). So best check your local independent repair places, (who are faster than the snail's-pace PF operation).
Over recent years, PF has lost the plot regarding customer service. There's no phone support and servicing is crazy slow. My kit is all beyond warranty periods anyway, but I'm fortunate to have an excellent independent specialist who are far more useful (and knowledgeable) than PF service.
Remember with the B10X, if the tube needs replacing, you need to send it off for service. And you can't swap the fat face for the dome when you want. I'd recommend the B1X strobes instead.
Just a question for any Sony A7IV user. Do you know if the AF assist works on the flash unit? I've seen videos of the A1x AF assist on a A7III but that was it. Profoto lists "Laser AF-Assist" now on the A10 and I'm wondering if it even works on the current Sony lineup...
If not married to the idea of Profoto and TTL, any Godox strobe plus the cheap (US$25 ea.) R2 single pin transceivers from Adorama (seem to be a dedicated Adorama product) work perfectly.
Cheap, small, reliable, full manual power control, camera agnostic, function as receivers if desired, and no Sony pins to worry about on the remote (or in contact with the camera pins). They're centre pin only. Even if a TTL remote can be turned to manual (dumbed down electronically), pin-on-pin contact still takes place and thus the potential for damage.
We bought a number a few years ago as cheap manual-only backups and extra receivers. We've used them on Hasselblad H and X, GFX and now starting on Sony. Being single-pin only, they're also one of the few units that will work on an H series Hassy (w/o a dumb adapter) w/o giving the camera fits - and the only that will do so with full Godox power control.
We're former (and dedicated) old-school (exposed dome Pro systems) Profoto users and I agree with a former poster than they've lost the plot in recent years. So much so, we sold all our Profoto gear and moved to Godox after using the two in tandem.
So over the past month I've been having issues with what I thought was Profoto and Sony as my Godox flashes seem to work properly. The main issue I found was some damage to a few of the contacts in the hotshoe of the Sony camera. How this happened, I have no idea as I use the same flashes and triggers on both of my camera bodies. I sent it in for repair... estimate... $546! That's 20% of the cost of a new A7IV body.
I almost fell off my chair... I was guessing $300 on the high end... boy was I wrong!
