While dreaming about art is one thing, getting engaged in art is a rather difficult job and as a profession, it is tiresome and yet beautiful. Photography is such an art form that is most sought after nowadays because it has become one of the most versatile and tough jobs that only skillful, talented and gifted people can engage in.
One of the most important aspects of photography is the lighting that is needed for the surrounding or the object of a photograph.
A good photograph will be a direct result of very good lighting while bad lighting or the lack of good lighting often leads to hassles like a pixelated photo, a photo without exposure thereby impacting the overall quality of the photograph.
There are many brands that have been providing lighting products for adding to the essence of photography.
Profoto B1X
Profoto is renowned for producing breakthrough products in the lighting sector. After their initial benchmark, ProfotoB1 that redefined the on-location lighting with their off-camera flash, they have released a new benchmark, the ProfotoB1X.
Why choose the B1X?
TheProfotoB1X is the chart-topping battery powered TTL flash which can be taken as a yardstick of on-location lighting. With its cordless and battery powered moonlights, photography can be more convenient for the young souls filled with adventures.
Its cordless design is the representation of the freedom and pliability that it offers. It provides for a more portable design which breaks the demarcations of immobility.
With its portable, cordless, lightweight and battery powered functions, one can venture into the beauty of the real world and marshal the steadfast light shaping system that offers the best photos from the most arduous lighting conditions.
With the High-Speed Sync (HSS) it delivers, it is really easy to control and shape light as per your need. It consists of easy and intuitive controls that avert wasting of time in setting the light and add more time for your creativity.
It is ready to well-lighted photos even in low-light, to alter and contour light even in broad daylight. It offers you swiftness and minimalism for better result and satisfaction.
The most crucial function of this flash is that it provides you “power.” The power to unleash the most of your creativity, the power to venture into the adventures of beautiful nature, the power to change and shape light as per one’s need and the power to pliable on-location shooting, the power to be swift and simple.
Profoto calls the B1X not an update of B1 but a noteworthy replacement with improvement in “power.”
The ProfotoB1 was a game-changer at the time of its release. The B1 performs with a swift 1/1 recycle period at 500 Watt-seconds at just 2 seconds. This is about ten times more potent than a pocket strobe.
It has excellent flash to flash consistency which reduces Kelvin discrepancies With TTL, HSS, easy to use speed ring system, rear curtain sync, a self-contained battery, a lot of light modifiers, and many other features; it is very expedient for easier photography.
The controls are easily accessible and innate. The cordless and accessible design is easy to use, and it helps to give staggering photos with brilliant lighting and ensures that no time is lost as we don’t tangle in wires and cords and scroll through submenus.
Now that we realize, B1X, indeed, has a lot of improvement over the B1 and owns the “power” that it advertises itself. Despite having a 50 % more powerful battery, and better performance in modeling light, and a modified HSS, it has managed to keep the same weight.
Just like the B1, it supports TTL using air remote. The design is the same as that of B1 with same weight, shape, and controls as that of B1. The major purpose of the B1X has been recognized as to make the photographers realize their vision, anywhere. And by anywhere, they literally mean anywhere.
That is why the LED modeling light has been made to add 80% more light output, the battery made to 50% more power and the B1X has had the widest HSS range available on any flash, and this is how we get power in all the right places.
It consists of TTL and manual mode which can be used as per need. It has high-speed sync of up to 1/8,000 s. It consists of a rechargeable Lithium-ion battery that can give up to 325 flashes in full power and thousands in its lowest of settings.
The Air TTL helps to find the right exposure quickly and that too up to a distance of 300 meters away and all it requires is simply point and shoot. Or you can shift to manual control.
The complete nine f-stop HSS power range is essential to take well-lighted photos in low light. It also has portable and frivolous steadfast range of light shapers for off-camera flash.
It is compatible with more than 120 other light shaping tools. It also consists of two brand new OCF hard reflectors, the OCF Zoom which distributes a supplementary stop of light and the OCF Magnum which gives almost two stops of light.
Being lightweight and solid, they have their own striking punch which makes them perfect for on-location lighting.
The color consistency and recycling are phenomenal, which is on the same level as B1. Its battery life is substantial along with its compatibility with many other products.
Although it can be used as video light very easily, using the LED modeling lamp for video recording as a strobe can result in the unit getting hot such that its fan can make noise noticeable enough to be heard in the footage.
It has a competitive market with rival brands like Broncolor and Godox on par with it. Profoto keeps on releasing product firmware updates to enhance functionality and certify compatibility with novel camera models.
Also, repairing services are available in Profoto stores or the shops from which the product has been bought.
For studio photographers, this is a dream device with so many expedient features. Its robust build quality, its elegantly consistent colors, the powerful lighting it provides, its simple to use design, its loveable light output, and luminous modeling light are its major features that grab all the attention.
Still, it has some problems that can be encountered during everyday usage. When working with individual lights, a better reading is expected. However, this device is unable to offer because that reading because numerous photographers have manifold lights in a sole channel.
It is a pretty expensive device, and its price may not offer you satisfaction, but if you recall that it will last you for years and give you just what you wanted, you probably will obtain peace in your mind.
With onboardAirTTL supporting wireless sync, control, and TTL and entirely assimilated with other AirTTL flashes such as B2 and D2, it also requires an Air Remote TTL that is traded disjointedly.
If one looks at the ProfotoB1X, one can observe exquisiteness. Mostly, the exterior is quite considerably identical to the original ProfotoB1 lights, and without knowledge, one probably wouldn’t be able to distinguish between them.
It has the same back handle, rotating the knob, top umbrella mounts thread slot, etc. as the ProfotoB1. It has one slot for radio receivers to plug into a battery slot which is pretty big in size.
At the rear lies an LCD screen that shows the germane information sync button, modeling light button, test button which doubles for activating and deactivating the light, a ready button, and a knob to make selections.
At the front lies the frosted glass which makes the umbrella reflector optional and needs no light modifiers.
They have a solid build, and they feel absolutely premium. They are pretty lightweight and easy to travel around within a backpack, and they don’t even require heavy battery packets with their brilliant battery life.
With updated firmware, they are pretty easy to use and can be switched between TTL and manual mode increasing the ease of use. The image quality is top-notch and is just as expected for the price, brilliantly lighted.
High-speed sync (HSS) permits you to suppress the light output from the sun such that you can make the backgrounds look indistinct, subjugate strong ambient light, and still make your subject radiant and this works in both TTL and manual modes.
The most benefits of HSS can be gained during daytime and to place vigor in one’s pictures. The color consistency changes as per the change in power output of a flash.
It is an exceptionally proficient light whose capabilities will be most valued by the professional photographer who can marshal this kind of output so that they spend less time editing and more time getting actual performances to pay the bills.
With a robust build quality and minimalist design, one can remain confident of having used one’s finances wisely due to its great color consistency, exceptional battery, phenomenal functionality, versatility, compatibility, portability thus making it powerful enough to tackle any lighting situations.
For those already owning a B1, the best option would be to upgrade the battery, and voila, it is almost the same as B1X, but if “almost” doesn’t work for you, then, you should probably get one.
If one thinks 500 w is inadequate for the purpose, one can simply buy the OCF reflectors launched with the B1X like OCF Magnum and OCF Zoom.
Putting in a nutshell, the ProfotoB1X is indeed a powerful lighting device and gives the power just as it promises. With its cordless design, its off-camera flash is indeed, a touchstone for on-location lighting.
It can be useful for adventurous photographers due to its cordless design, lightweight, portable and compact, brilliant battery life. The swiftness and minimalism it provides are simply helpful.
The easily accessible and instinctive controls are easy to get used to. It has TTL and manual mode to get brilliant lighting in demanding conditions, especially in low light Its HSS power range of up to 1\8,000 s and other powerful specs along withOCF Hard reflectors are very useful for on-location shooting by giving brilliant image consistency and well-lighted photos.