Versatile portable Profoto flash head
PROFOTO has released an interesting-sounding portable lighting unit, the B10. The unit is about five times more powerful than a flashgun but isn’t much bigger than a larger lens – at the same time it can run off batteries or the mains and has a built-in continuous light, making it handy for video as well as portraits or product shots. The flash unit on the B10 is self- contained and has a relatively impressive rating of 250W, along with 10 stops of control. Furthermore, the recycle time is just 0.05-2.2 seconds and you can get up to a 1/50,000sec flash duration in Freeze mode. Profoto claims the battery can cope with 400 full-power flashes or 75 minutes of run time with the video light, before running out of juice (you can also plug the B10 into the mains while shooting and trickle charge the battery).
Another important feature is an integrated Air radio system, which means it’s compatible with Profoto’s range of Air Remote controllers. You can trigger and control the B10 wirelessly from any Profoto AirTTL remote or the Profoto A1, and from up to 300m/1,000ft you can point and shoot with TTL or switch to manual control any time. AirTTL Remotes are available for all major camera brands. You can also view and control the B10’s settings from a new smartphone app.
To make handling and mounting the unit easier, the B10 comes with a removable stand adapter, with a standard quarter- inch thread. Even though the unit lacks a colour temperature display, you can change the colour balance from tungsten to daylight if needed, and the head has a 96% CRI (colour rendering index) rating.
The B10 is available in a one-head kit for £1,380 or two-head kit for £2,760. The new app, meanwhile, is iOS only at the moment, with an Android version promised soon. For more information, see profoto.com/uk.