This is a review of the Profoto B10 AirTTL OCF Flash Head, a lightweight, portable and battery-powered flash designed for professional portrait photographers. Although Profoto had previously released battery-powered flash heads for on-location work such as the B1 (see our Profoto B1 Review), B1X and B2, they were all either too big and heavy, or small enough to require an external battery pack. The Profoto B10 was designed to strike a perfect balance of portability, power and weight, so it it is arguably the flash head that delivers the most value in the entire line-up.
I had a chance to test the Profoto B10 in the last few weeks for portrait photography while traveling, and I found it to be an extremely versatile off-camera flash. It is powerful enough to be able to do portraits in daylight conditions, it is light and small enough to be able to fit in a small camera bag, and the ability to use it in the field without having to hook up any cords, battery packs or other accessories gave me a lot of freedom and flexibility. Let’s take a look at the Profoto B10 in more detail.
Profoto B10 Specifications
First, let’s take a look at the specifications of the Profoto B10:
- Maximum Power: 250 Ws
- Power Control: 10 Stops
- Guide Number: 72.51′ / 22.1 m at 6.56′ / 2 m, ISO 100 with Reflector
- TTL: Yes
- HSS: Yes
- Recycle Time: 0.05 to 2 Sec (Full Power)
- Color Temperature: 5,600K
- Flash Ready Indicator: Audio
- Reflector: 3.9″ / 9.91 cm Fixed
- Accessory Fitting Type: Profoto, Profoto OCF
- Modeling Light: 150 W LED
- Modeling Light Control: Dimming 10-100% (up to 2500 lumens), Adjustable Color Temperature 3000-6500K (+-500K)
- Modeling Light Color Rendering (CRI): 90-96
- Sync Type: Button, Optical, Radio
- Sync Socket: No
- Wireless Frequency Bands: 2.4 GHz
- Wireless Channels / Groups: 8 / 3
- Operating Range: Sync and remote control 0.5-300m (1.5-1000ft), HSS and TTL: 0.5-100m (1.5-330ft)
- Bluetooth: Yes (Profoto app)
- Interface: USB Type-C
- Power Source: External Battery
- Battery: 3000 mAh Lithium-Ion
- Maximum Output Voltage: 14.4 VDC
- Flashes Per Charge: 400 Flashes (Full Power)
- Recharge Time: 90 Minutes
- Display: LCD
- Mount: 5/8″ / 16 mm Receptacle
- Auto Dump: Yes
- Fan Cooled: No
- Operating Temperature: 32 to 113°F / 0 to 45°C (Recommended)
- Dimensions: H: 3.9 x W: 4.3 x L: 6.9″ / H: 9.9 x W: 10.9 x L: 17.5 cm, Including Stand Adapter
- Weight: 3.3 lb / 1.50 kg, Including Battery and Stand Adapter
As you can see from these specifications, the Profoto B10 has quite a bit of power and features for such a small and lightweight flash. It is important to point out that the B10 has a built-in “IR Slave” capability similar to what the B1 can do, which means that you can trigger it with another speedlight. I tested the B10 with Nikon SB-800 and SB-900 speedlights and I was able to use it up to 1/200th of a second on the Nikon Z7. If you have a camera with faster flash sync speeds, you can shoot even faster – I have previously done successful tests with up to 1/320th of a second on the Nikon D800E / D810 without having any darkening of the frame.
Packaging, Build Quality and Ergonomics
Anyone who previously had experience with a Profoto flash head knows that these units are built to the highest standards and to deliver consistent results in the field, which is important for any working professional. Unlike some of its Chinese knock-offs and equivalents (more on that later), the Profoto B10 feels like a top-notch product when it is handled. While I personally rarely pay attention to things like product packaging, one can immediately tell the difference between unboxing a Profoto product vs a cheap flash unit – everything feels like it has been well thought of. Inside the cardboard Profoto box you will find a nicely padded case with a handle, for those situations where you want to just grab the whole case with all its contents. Within the case, you will find the following items:
- Profoto B10 AirTTL Flash Unit with Rubber Protective Cap
- Stand Adapter
- Lithium Ion Battery
- 3A Battery Charger
- B10 Carrying Case with Separators
- User Guide, Safety Instructions and Warranty Card
The flash head itself comes with the battery attached to the unit, but for storage purposes there is a small piece of plastic that keeps the battery from powering the flash. Once removed from packaging, my first step was to charge up the battery, which is easily detached from the flash head when I squeezed its bottom. Charging the battery is simple and quick – you just attach the male part of the charger to the hole on the bottom of the battery and the charging will commence. Once fully charged, a green indicator light on the charger will turn on. One of the main differences between the B10 and previous-generation Profoto products is the ability to charge the battery while being able to simultaneously use the product, which is a nice advantage for those who want to be able to shoot continuously in a studio environment.
The B10 has a standard 5/8″ receiver on its bottom and it does not come with an integrated umbrella adapter, which is great for a number of reasons. First of all, if you have tight space in your camera bag, you can leave the stand adapter detached and store it separately. Second, if you bring a tripod, a superclamp or a C-stand with a 5/8″ male thread, you can attach the head directly on those without using the adapter at all. And lastly, if you shoot in a studio environment, you can attach the head on all kinds of stands and accessories without adding the weight and the bulk of the stand adapter. At the same time, I personally found the stand adapter to be quite useful as a simple handle when hand-holding the flash, which turned to be very useful when I took portraits of Lola in New York:
NIKON Z 7 + NIKKOR Z 24-70mm f/2.8 S @ 70mm, ISO 800, 1/50, f/2.8
For remote work, I ended up leaving the B10 case at home, since I wanted to pack everything nicely into my camera bag. And that’s certainly where the B10 shines – it is so compact and small, that it easily fit in the center section of my MindShift Gear Backlight 26L Backpack. Take a look:
And here is the full list of gear that I brought with me to New York:
- Profoto B10 with battery and stand adapter
- Profoto 3A charger
- Profoto OCF speed ring
- Profoto 2×3′ OCF softbox
- Profoto Air Remote TTL-N for Nikon
- Nikon Z7
- Nikon Z 35mm f/1.8 S
- Nikon Z 50mm f/1.8 S
- Nikon Z 24-70mm f/2.8 S
- Nikon Z 14-30mm f/4 S
- Nikon MH-25A charger + extra EN-EL15b battery
- RRS Multi-Clamp Kit with BC-18 Head
- Bose QuietComfort 20
- Gitzo Traveler Tripod
- FLM CB-32 F Ballhead
- Basic umbrella light stand
That’s quite a bit of gear I was able to pack in a relatively compact backpack. The light stand, along with the Profoto 2×3 OCF softbox went into my suitcase, while he rest of the gear was packed into my backpack. The best part is, the B10 only added approximately 1.5 kg of weight to my shoulders, which is roughly the weight of a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens. And size-wise, the B10 is shorter, but a bit wider than a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens. If I were to try to pack a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens with me, both the B10 and the Nikon Z 14-30mm f/4 S would have to come out from this bag…
As expected, the build quality of the Profoto B10 is superb. Its tough plastic shell is useful in protecting the unit against occasional bumps and scratches. Although Profoto made sure to protect the front of the flash with a protective rubber grip, the LCD screen that sits on the rear of the unit is protected by a slightly extruded piece of plastic, as well as the two large buttons / dials on the bottom:
This means that while the B10 could take a hit without much damage on its back if it falls on a flat surface, if you manage to drop it on an uneven surface, you certainly risk damaging the LCD screen, which could turn into a costly repair. Ideally, if you are planning to use the B10 with a large light modifier, you should make sure to secure the head on a solid light stand that you can either hold, or protect with a heavy sandbag, especially in windy conditions.
The three buttons on the back of the Profoto B10 serve different functions. The white one on the right is used to power on the unit and test flash. The main button / dial in the center is used to change flash power, as well as access and navigate through the B10 menu. Pressing the button once opens up the menu, then you can rotate the button to select a menu setting, then press it again to change values. The left button / dial located on the left is used for turning on modeling light and adjusting its power, as well as its color temperature. Simply rotating the dial will adjust the power, while pressing the button and rotating it will adjust the color temperature. I personally love this feature of the B10, as it can be used not only as a powerful flash, but also as a decent video light!
It is clear that Profoto engineers put quite a bit of thought into the design of the B10 to make it as small, and yet as functional as possible. Its unique, compact design with a signature Profoto display on the back of the unit, as well as a very minimalistic, and yet functional button layout definitely make it stand out from its competition. The intuitive menu system is icing on the cake – even if you have previously never used a Profoto flash, you will have no problems understanding the menu (I never even bothered to use the Profoto manual). Unfortunately, the same cannot be said with most other flash units on the market that have too many buttons and a hard to understand menu system.
Compatibility and Firmware Updates
Similar to other Profoto units, the B10 is compatible with most camera systems on the market today. I was initially worried about compatibility with Nikon’s mirrorless system, but it turned out that Profoto provided a firmware update for both B10 and the Air Remote TTL-N remote that brought compatibility to both Nikon Z6 and Z7. The firmware update process was simple and intuitive. After I downloaded the latest firmware from Profoto’s website and connected the B10 to my iMac Pro with a USB Type C cable (had to turn off the unit and remove the battery first), the software recognized the flash and took a few minutes to upload the firmware:
After the upload is done, you disconnect the cable, mount the battery and turn it on – that’s what starts the actual firmware upgrade process. The firmware transfer process with the utility is simply there to transfer firmware files.
From there, I performed a similar update to the Profoto Air Remote TTL-N. The process was a bit different for the Air Remote TTL-N. After I connected the micro USB cable to the unit, I had to press the “+” and “C” buttons together until the word “USB” appeared on the display:
After that I pressed the “Click to start firmware update” button, which upgraded the firmware on the Air Remote TTL-N. I was then shown a “Firmware updated completed” message on the software. I then disconnected the cable, mounted the Air Remote TTL-N on my Nikon Z7 and tested the B10 – it was able to fire the flash without any issues.
Profoto B10 vs Godox vs Other Flash Systems
Over the years, I have tried a number of different flash systems on the market from Elinchrom and Paul C Buff to Godox. For many years, I was a big fan of the Elinchrom system, because it delivered superb and very consistent results, especially in a studio environment. However, it was a beast of a system to carry around with me, so I ended up selling it. Ever since Profoto released the B1, I realized that big flashes and battery packs are just not for me, so I wanted to move to a more compact radio system. I looked at a number of options on the market, but none of them were as portable and lightweight as I wanted them to be.
A couple of years back, I had a chance to visit and photograph Israel, and that’s where I had my first encounter with the Godox system. I was shooting a model in the desert with a bunch of other photographers, and since I did not have a flash with me, I had to use a Godox flash with its remote trigger. I was using the Fujifilm GFX 50S in bright daylight conditions and after spending about 10 minutes with the Godox flash, I simply gave up. I am not sure if there was anything wrong with the trigger or the unit itself, but the flash would only engage every 4-5 shots, which was very frustrating. I tried swapping out batteries, recycling the power on both the trigger and the flash, but it would still fire inconsistently. Perhaps it could have been a firmware incompatibility or some other problem, who knows. The other frustrating bit for me was changing the settings – I remember I had a hard time understanding how to adjust Godox settings, so I had to ask someone else in the group to help out. Others had similar issues that day, and they ended up shooting portraits without a flash. All this left a bad taste in my mouth, so despite the price appeal of the Godox system, I decided that it was not for me. Since then, Godox released a number of new flash heads that seem to be much better in comparison, but I have still been hesitant for a number of reasons, including quality control issues and support (which seems to be non-existent in the USA). But above all, none of the Godox flashes are as portable, as powerful and as lightweight as the B10, which is a pretty big deal for me.
When it comes to cost, it is absolutely true that Profoto charges a premium for their products. At $1,699, the B10 is one of the most expensive flash heads on the market. Add the cost of the Air Remote TTL ($429), as well as a flash modifier and a speed ring, and you are looking at spending close to $2,500, and that’s for a single flash. In comparison, the Godox AD400Pro is without a doubt something I would take a close look at, especially at its low $650 price tag. For the same budget of $2,500, you could easily get a few of the AD400Pro units, flash triggers and modifiers, so the price difference is certainly significant.
However, for those of us working in the field, cost is not always the determining factor. I am personally willing to pay a premium for the high quality product that is lightweight, portable, easy and intuitive to use, and I know that if anything happens with my unit in the field, I can get professional support from Profoto, something I cannot count on with the Godox system. In fact, if you ask about Godox support from its fan base, you will mostly hear that it is easier and better to just replace a broken Godox with another one. Godox flashes are so cheap – why not get a few of them? This certainly makes sense from the budget standpoint. Budget is something you should definitely weigh on your end before deciding on a flash system. In fact, I would argue that if budget is an issue, Profoto is not for you. The way I look at Profoto vs Godox or other cheap flash systems on the market, is similar to how I look at iOS vs Android or Mac vs PC debates. There will always be those who will argue that buying the latest Mac Pro or an iPhone is downright idiotic, because there are better, faster and cheaper options out there. Despite all this, there are many people out there who are willing to pay a premium for that Apple logo. It does not matter whether it has to do with the perception of higher product quality, familiarity / comfort level, or simple willingness to support the company by purchasing its products. Having owned an iPhone in the past 10 years or so and having tried a number of high-end Android devices, I personally cannot see myself moving to Android – I simply did not enjoy the Android experience, and I absolutely hated the fact that most Android devices come pre-packaged with crapware I cannot easily remove. Others have different arguments and experiences, but at the end of the day, we can all agree that the purchasing decision of an individual does not solely depend on price alone. Those who buy Apple devices are likely to continue to buy them, no matter how great their Android and PC equivalents are.
Lastly, as a business owner and seller in the USA, I do have a personal issue with supporting Chinese manufacturers who have zero shame in copying products and producing copycats. Having been ripped off many times in the past by Chinese manufacturers who copied the Sensor Gel Stick and sold it on Amazon and other outlets, my revenue from sales has declined to the point it almost makes no sense to continue selling the product. Someone even had the guts to set up a “sensorgelstick.com” domain to redirect sales to Amazon for earning commissions from a product I originally named. I am not necessarily suggesting that Godox and other similar companies copy products from other companies, but we have seen Godox release the V1, which looked too similar to Profoto’s A1 (heck, even the names of the products are similar). These sort of practices hurt companies in the long run and the sad part it, there isn’t much we can do to stop these copycats. R&D costs a lot of money for manufacturers, so any time someone just rips their product off, it hurts their business in the long run.
Flash Consistency and Reliability
Unlike my previous experience with the Godox system, I found the Profoto B10 to be a consistent and a reliable flash unit. No matter how close or far I got to B10 with my camera, it fired every single time with high accuracy. For example, when shooting a model, I set the flash output to be at 5.0 and took a number of images with the same ambient light and exposure settings – every image came out looking exactly the same, with the same amount of light on my subject. I can say the same thing about the consistency of color output from the B10. This type of consistency and reliability are important in the field for working professionals and it is something you might not be able to get from a cheap flash system, so keep that in mind.
TTL and HSS
The Profoto B10 has built-in TTL support for a number of different camera systems. While I purchased the Profoto Air Remote TTL-N for Nikon, you can buy a similar remote for Canon, Sony, Fujifilm and Olympus systems. With the TTL capability, you don’t have to worry about manually controlling flash output and the system will automatically determine the best flash power output. I tried out TTL on both Nikon Z6 and Z7, and I am happy to report that it worked flawlessly. Setting up TTL is super easy – all you have to do is press the button to the right of the “Mode” screen in Profoto Air Remote TTL-N trigger and once it switches to “TTL”, you are all set. If you press the button again, it switches back to Manual. Here is an image captured in TTL mode:
While TTL is nice to have, the feature that is a lot more important for me personally is High Speed Sync (HSS). When shooting in bright daylight conditions, lugging a variable ND filter just to keep the shutter speed below maximum flash sync speed (typically around 1/200-1/250th of a second) is not always ideal and sometimes I just forget about it. In such cases, instead of ending up with images that are only partially illuminated, or instead of forcing myself to use smaller apertures, it is nice to be able to switch to HSS and still get great results, even wide open. That’s what I did with my model shoot when shooting in daylight conditions – I used the Nikon Z 50mm f/1.8 S at maximum aperture of f/1.8 and with HSS on, I fired away without paying attention to my shutter speed. The results were amazing and HSS worked flawlessly! Here is a sample image captured with HSS:
The Profoto B10 was able to handle 1/800th of a second without any issues and I was happy to keep my aperture at f/1.8 to isolate the model from the busy background.
Air Remote TTL
While I really love the Profoto B10, I cannot say great things about the Air Remote TTL – at least not at its steep $429 price tag. With Elinchrom pricing its triggers at around $250 and Godox pricing its flash triggers at just $69, $429 seems like a lot of money Profoto wants its customers to pay for a simple radio trigger. The worst part of the Air Remote TTL is its inability to read the flash power from the Profoto B10, which is a rather serious oversight. When shooting in manual mode, you have no idea what flash power is set on the Profoto B10 – you will have to look at the back of the LCD. Pressing the “Energy” plus and minus buttons pushes the power up and down, but after about two seconds the adjustment resets and if you will have no clue what it is set to on the flash unit. Profoto should have found a way to read the flash power from the B10 and report it on the Air Remote TTL, or at least not reset the adjustments, so that you know whether you added more or less flash power.
In addition to this, the Air Remote TTL has no built-in AF assist IR beam light that can help significantly when shooting in low-light conditions. See my article “How to make autofocus work in extremely low light” to understand the benefits of AF assist IR beam. For $429, Profoto should have added this useful feature to the Air Remote TTL in my opinion.
Battery Life
The Profoto B10 comes with a powerful Lithium-Ion battery rated at 43.2 Wh / 3 Ah. In terms of flashes per charge, it means that you can fire the B10 up to 400 times in full power before the battery is fully drained – and that’s at 250 Ws of maximum power. It is pretty incredible that Profoto was able to squeeze that much juice into such a small battery. Just to give you an idea of how much power you can get from a single full charge, when I did a model shoot locally in Colorado, I came back with roughly 250 images, all taken with flash at different power levels. My battery indicator on the LCD, as well as the battery itself (yes, you can check battery level by pressing a button on the battery) showed that I only consumed one bar – I had a lot more battery life left! So 400 flashes at full power is indeed a lot of battery life. I personally do not see myself shooting at full power that many times on a single shoot.
If you are planning to use the modeling light a lot for shooting video, keep in mind that the battery does get drained faster this way – you can expect to have about 75 minutes of continuous run time in full brightness. So if you are a professional portrait or wedding photographer, you might want to add another battery to your arsenal.
The only negative thing about Lithium-Ion batteries is that they tend to die when they are not used and when their charge levels drop too low. If you find yourself shooting very rarely, then I would recommend to charge these batteries every once in a while to keep the battery running.
Ease of Use
I have already pointed out that I never even bothered opening the Profoto B10 manual and that shows how easy it is to use the B10. Everything is designed to be extremely easy to operate – from buttons to the menu system. The only thing you have to remember is how to turn the B10 on and off (which is just pressing and holding the white button)…the rest you can figure out by just looking at the LCD.
Profoto did a phenomenal job with the LCD screen. Unlike most ugly LCD and OLED screens we see on other speedlights and flash units, the Profoto LCD screen has plenty of resolution to be able to fit all the information, including the menu system. Speaking of the menu system, you are not going to get shortened menu options that require you to look things up – everything is spelled out in full words like “Continuous Light” and “Exposure Warning”, which is very nice. To date, I have not yet seen a flash system that is this organized and so easy to use!
iPhone App for Remote Control
The Profoto B10 comes with a Bluetooth functionality, which allows it to connect to the Profoto app, which is available for the iPhone. Once you download the app and login with your Profoto account, make sure to enable “Bluetooth” from the settings menu on the B10. As soon as you do that, the iPhone app will detect the B10 and ask you to connect to it:
Once connected, the app will ask if you want to register the device. If you have not already registered the device, it is a good idea to do it now, so that you can get all the firmware updates in the future. Once connected, unlike the Air Remote TTL, you will be able to get the full flash status using the app. It will display the current power level, as well as give you all the features, including the full flash menu:
Personally, I love this connectivity option and the app, which so far seems to be very stable and bug-free. I love the ability to change flash settings using the app and knowing what my power is set to. The only downside is compatibility – I wish Profoto developed a similar app for Android.
Summary
What can I say, Profoto has done it again! Having used the Profoto B1 in the past, I fell in love with the system, but I was not ready to commit to a big and heavy flash unit. But with the release of the B10, I knew it was a matter of time until I acquired it to use for my portrait photography needs, especially when traveling. So far I have only been able to take it with me to a trip to New York, but with my upcoming trips to Uzbekistan, Jordan and other countries, I am planning to bring the B10 along me whenever I can. Having shot so many portraits in Uzbekistan a few months ago, I often struggled with challenging light conditions and wished I had a powerful flash with me. I am happy to know that I can fit the B10 along with the Air Remote TTL-N unit in my small travel backpack without adding too much weight on my shoulders. With its TTL and HSS support, its superb ergonomics and minimalistic, yet functional design, as well as all the bells and whistles pointed out in this review, the Profoto B10 proved to be a superb flash unit that earns our highest award.
More Image Samples
Profoto B10
- Features
- Build Quality
- Handling
- Battery Life
- Size and Weight
- Packaging and Manual
- Ease of Use
- Stability
- Value
Photography Life Overall Rating
Thanks for the review and the clear words to “copycats”. As difficult as it is, the V1 apparently is not only 1/4 of the price of the A1 but in few aspects it appears to be “better” (such as very constant color temperature). I put better in quotation marks because the product is not long enough on the market to see how stable it will be. But then, the “throw away if broken” mentality of Godox buyers will fix this the same way. I think, we already produce too much waste…
I guess, Godox will copy the B10 and it’s bigger brother/sister B10 plus * more sooner than later. But for me, as European, the sentiment is the same: Yes, it costs a lot to buy the original device and I’m not only happy with it**. but in the long term, I think I made the better decision intead of going Godox.
Anyway, I just used mine today and can only support waht you said about ease of use, Nasim. It’s simple and elegant and I was pleased with the results, once again. Btw. which modifiers did you use for the beautiful portraits?
*slightly bigger, doubles the power output , not much more expensive (the price region is already sky high)
** the Profoto app is only for iPhone – not even another iOS device can download it. I’d be happy to use it on the iPod or an iPad Mini but I simply don’t need a smartphone.
Joachim, thank you for your feedback. The V1 looks so much alike the A1 – they should have at least named it differently like Godox AD100Pro or something like that. I haven’t had a chance to test either product, but it is clear that Godox “borrows” ideas from other successful systems out there. It is not a coincidence that the two products are so similar in the way they look and the way they function. I don’t know if Profoto will be successful in their potential litigation situation with Godox, but I am definitely not siding with Godox on this one. As a business owner, getting ripped off by Chinese manufacturers who don’t give a damn really hurts. The sad part is, these manufacturers are getting smarter and doing OEM labels than some unknown brand. Even Amazon now sells “generic” products with Amazon label, when they are all just ripped off Chinese crap. I know a number of people in the lighting industry (LED lights, camera accessories) that got really hurt by these kinds of products. Look at Amazon’s top sellers – most of those products are dirt cheap, Chinese-made crap products that won’t last and people love buying them. The “disposable” mentality is really sickening and that’s what is hurting small businesses and the environment. People are used to just tossing things in trash rather than fixing them, because the replacement cost is very low. And I am not just saying this sitting on a high horse – I catch myself often doing the same thing.
I recently watched a video on YouTube and could relate to it on so many levels. I encourage you and all of our readers to watch it all the way:
www.youtube.com/watch…VuVlk2E_e4
As for modifiers, I used either the bare flash (all NY pictures with Lola), or a 2×3′ softbox. I do not own any other Profoto modifiers yet, but thinking of getting a grid, along with perhaps an Octabank in the future.
Great review, even greater photos. I spent quite a while looking at them. I like the lightening. Thank you, Nasim.
Just for comparison Elinchrom ELB 400: An minimalistic but complete set-up with speedring for the diffuser box but without diffuser box itself, with straps, controller (no TTL), small diffusor and batteries, without charger of an Elinchrom ELB 400 system (500 Ws, 350 shots full power, recycle time 1.8s) weights just under 3kg or 6.6lbs. It has double the weight it is bigger (all elements counted) but it has double the power. You could add a second head (w/o speedring, w diffuser, w cable) for just about 700grams or 1.5lbs more. That means two heads weight about 3.7kg or 8.2lbs. Two heads (action and hi speed head also available) and the power were the main argument for me. (That’s where your octobox has landed on :-).
Still, two B10s are lighter! And they reach the same power as one ELB 400. What a great development!
Seems that fits perfectly to your pro level Z system. All in just one bag and carry-able. Really amazing! How heavy is your carry system with stands, bags, camera, lenses, spare batteries, charge, etc? Would be very interesting to know.
Cheers, -jan
Jan, glad you’ve enjoyed the images – Lola and I had a lot of fun taking them!
I love Elinchrom and that’s what I owned for many years. I sold it off purely because it was too big to lug around, but if I had a studio setting, I would have no problem going back to Elinchrom. The color accuracy and consistency were amazing and the system just worked! I decided to go with Profoto primarily because I need a very lightweight system I can travel with. For years my setup incorporated speedlights for on-location shoots, but those things aren’t very powerful when shooting in daylight conditions and I love being able to overpower the sun. I remember last time I ended up with three speedlights shooting through a large umbrella and it was a pain in the butt to set up (IR beams don’t do well in daylight, so I had to hook each speedlight to a PocketWizard), so I told myself that I need a better solution. So the Profoto B10 is just a perfect light for me and I am most likely going to get another head later on for those situations where I need more than one light.
As for my backpack weight, it wasn’t much when I traveled to NY and it was definitely carry-able! Basically, it was the weight of the Z7 + lenses and a single B10 that weighs 1.5 kg.
Dear Nasim,
thank you once more for a very well written review. To me, there is only one question left: How does the profoto communicate with Fuji?
When you navigate to profotos homepage, you only find options to buy their flash units for Canon, Nikon and Sony. I believe I remember that Fujifilm cameras are compatible with Nikon. But I am not sure. So maybe you can fill me in.
I had an Air-Remote-TTL for Fuji, worked excellent apart from the limitations Nasim told about. And since I need a Profoto Air-Remote anyway to operate the B10, it was just another 450$… *sigh* The good thing was: I got it refurbished and when I sold it I didn’t loose a lot money. The Profoto A1 is not available in Fuji Version, but the Nikon version could be controlled by the Fuji Remote.
Thank you!
Gunnar, like Joachim pointed out, you don’t need to worry about the flash head – the important component here is going to be the Air Remote TTL-F unit, which is specifically designed for the Fuji system. It works like a charm and all available functions like TTL and HSS work as well.
Thanks für very comprehensive review. I would just like add that there is also a 500ws second version of the B10 called B10 Plus – for a rather small premium you get double the power.
Sven, I thought about pointing that out in the review, but decided to skip mentioning the B10 Plus. I saw the recent announcement of the B10 Plus and although it looks very appealing at twice the power, it is also larger and heavier than the B10. For my needs, the B10 is more than enough of a light source, even when shooting in daylight conditions and overpowering the sun. I don’t do big group shots and I rarely shoot full body portraits to need that much power…
I wish you would make it clear somehow what readers you think your website “caters to”. If you think, as I do, that many of your readers and/or subscribers are serious amateurs rather than professionals, then I think it would be wise to broaden your scope to different brands of both flash-equipment and camera. I am a serious amateur photographer having made the switch from DSLR (Nikon) to mirror-less (FujiFilm X-trans) and from Nikon or more expensive flash-gear to Godox. I really think I’m not alone in this.
I wish you would be more open to these type of brands and gear, because I just happen to think that many readers would be interested. It’s not just a coincidence that both FujiFilm and Godox are growing in a declining market.
Wouter, I love Fujifilm and I own both the X-H1 and the GFX 50S. Not sure why you would put Fujifilm together with Godox as an example of growth – one is a phenomenal company that makes amazing cameras and lenses, and the other is a company that rips products off and sells cheap Chinese-made lights. While Godox might be enjoying tremendous growth, it is doing that at the expense of companies like Profoto and Elinchrom, who spend time, money and effort in making quality products. R&D and making a solid product costs a lot of money – that’s why these companies are seeing declining profits! Companies like Godox and other knock-off brands are stealing their ideas and making cheap equivalents that sell at a third of a cost. No wonder they can sell the products at a third of a cost! Look at the damage Chinese companies are putting on US, European and Japanese companies. Yongnuo and other Chinese brands made cheap flashes that copied their Nikon / Canon / Sony equivalents, which resulted in these companies losing a lot of money in selling speedlights and lighting accessories. Remember how Yongnuo ripped off Canon’s 50mm prime? It sells for $45 on Amazon! Samyang copied lenses from Zeiss and if it wasn’t for Zeiss litigation that put a stop to the ripped off lenses, Zeiss would have lost a lot of money in the long run. Chinese manufacturers used to only copy easy to make products, but lately they have been doing everything from lighting to even lenses. How would you feel if there was a Nikon Z7 or a Fuji X-T3 Chinese equivalent at a third of the price?
As for PL, we are always open to posting reviews of any kind of product on the market, including Godox. The AD200Pro and AD400Pro are the lights I have been wanting to test out, so if we start doing more flash photography gear reviews, I will definitely get those to check out.
Wouter, you’re for sure not the only one with a Fuji / Godox combination, but when I look around, there are sooo many reviews and YouTube “tests” of Godox or “Godox vs Profoto shootout” around, that I don’t get why you want PL / Nasim to “open up”. Cheap stuff, because copying saves a lot of money, remains cheap stuff, even if the specs are similar or better. And bad functionality, like Nasim pointed it out, is not limited to Godox alone. I don’t think this website needs to care on everything what “serious amateurs” might want to fill their bags with.
Very often a good copy can avoid some mistakes which a manufacturer of the original might had to make. So, if you’re happy with your Godox gear, no one hinders you to tell us about why. Still, on the long term manufacturers like Godox will kill innovative brands – and how many Chinese brands coming up with innovations you can name?
Joachim, just looked again at Amazon and the Yongnuo 50mm f/1.8 that it knocked-off the Canon design. For $45, guess which lens is selling more? I am surprised that Canon did not go after Yongnuo in Chinese / International court. If I were them, I would pursue litigation and get those bastards out of the market…
An excellent review of Profoto B10. I don’t own any Profoto strobes so I can’t comment on them but I’ve been a Godox user and I have v860ii, 200, 360, 400 Pro and I recently added V1. They all work very well for my works( wedding, portrait etc..). Even if money wasn’t problem, I’m not sure if I would get a Profoto product. From my past experiences with Godox products, I’m quite pleased with its quality. But there is one thing they will need to improve.
For both the v860ii and the V1, they share the same slow recycling time. When you just shoot ,let’s say, less than 50 shots or so you wouldn’t notice it but I do wedding shoots and I particularly use those strobes for wedding reception, so as I shoot more and more, its recycling gets progressively slow. 3 sec… 6 sec…to 9 sec. So I would have to switch it out to another strobe till it starts the same problem. Godox needs to improve its capacitator. On the other hand, the Profoto A1 doesn’t seem to have such problem. So this is the big difference between the A1 and V1. I don’t want to pay nearly $1000 for a speedlight so I got Nikon SB 5000 that is known to have a fast recycling time. I will put it to a real shoot test soon.
Hidetoshi, thanks for your feedback and for pointing out the recycle time of the V1. Just out of curiosity, why get the V1 when the SB-5000 is a solid Nikon brand product that has built-in radio features? I know the V1 is half the cost of the SB-5000, but you are getting a native Nikon speedlight with Nikon compatibility, support and firmware updates.
Nasim,
The main reason why I left Nikon flash to Godox was its battery. The Godox lithium battery is one piece and it lasts all day long so I didn’t want to go back to Nikon speedlight that uses AA batteries and I even didn’t pay attention to the SB5000. Once I found out what the SB5000 could do, I thought this might be the answer to my use. I had to buy external battery pack but I usually don’t use full power, so my guess is that I won’t experience slow recycling time problem during a wedding reception. Reviews of the SB 5000 are ok…..some people love it, others don’t. The main reason why I bough this flash was its fast recycling time so I will find out soon.
I got the V1 because its light spread looks to be better than the v860ii or even better than the A1. I used it extensively for a paid shoot recently and I was quite impressed by its nice light. But you have to be careful about its head angle and its power to find your own sweet spot . I even shot a large group shot( ..about 14 people) indoor with the V1 only and I bounced it against the white ceiling. I didn’t expect a good shot but to my surprise, it came out pretty good. The only downside and it’s a major one for me, is its slow recycling time for consecutive shots. As of today, I haven’t seen any reviewers that pointed out this problem. They simply do the review about what it can and its light quality. But nobody has tested it in a real world shoot to push it to its limit. I did. Accidentally. Lol. I will keep it though. It’s a nice speedlight for its price and if you take time and use it for your shoot, you wouldn’t have a slow recycling time issue.
Hi Hidetoshi, I learned, luckily early enough in my young days, that the poor man always buys twice. And I would never take the risk to take hardware to a job that I do not know. For my cameras I spent thousands of dollars, my lenses are pro level, so why would I e.g. trust some system with that characteristics you describe above? I am quite sure, those two Elinchrom ELB 400 with its 3 heads, its modifiers, the remote controls will last a very long time. And if I think I need something else, smaller or even more powerful, I’ll be able to sell it for a reasonable price.
This little B10 definitely got my attention.
I don’t think it’s so easy to get them bastards out of the place. Brands like Canon and Nikon were moving their production lines to China – I don’t see the Chinese as less intelligent than other people. Plus, in China it’s no NoNoNo to copy – on the contrary, brands like Yongnuo and Godox enjoy a high reputation. So, no wonder that some Chinese businessmen wanted to increase their income a bit. I reckon, 45$ is the production + something cost for the Canon lens. It’s no wonder the idea to increase the margins by cutting down production costs occasionally backfires – to the “bastards” outsourcing their own know-how. If a brand let others do the work and just wants to enjoy the money, it can make the genuine brand superfluous.
Look at Nikon, Nasim, and try to tell me their new Z-lenses, all made in China are worth that money Nikon is asking for. I compare a Sigma lens (made in Japan) to a Nikon lens (made in Thailand or China) and am amazed that the Nikon China lens is more expensive and still not coming close to the made in Japan stuff from Sigma. So, who gets the benefits of Nikon sales?
I probably would have chimed in the “Profoto is way too expensive” choir if I haven’t had a chance to try out the A1 in a little workshop and like you also say, it’s a pleasure and so easy to use these products. The price hurts once – a bad UI always when I try to use it.
Hi, Nasim,
good verification from the photographer’s point of view. If I had not already my Profoto B2 (I am very satisfied with it), I would buy myself the B10. Meanwhile there is still the somewhat larger brother, the B10 Plus, which is even more interesting for me. I can well imagine that it can complement my B2 very well – for outdoor shots. In my opinion Profoto should replace the locking knob on the B10 and the B10 Plus, it is not so handy.
Many greetings from Germany
Great pictures and nicely written.
I would prefer that you always open any product review a disclosure statement. “I bought this product at retail price from XXX vendor. I was not paid for my review, nor do I or PL benefit in any way from these comments”. Something like that goes a long way towards addressing concerns readers may have about your authenticity and trustworthiness. I have noticed this lack of disclosure statement in many reviews here. Some of the reviews on this site veer towards “marketing” language and/or have used product images directly from the manufacturer, which triggers some questioning on my part.
Can you please incorporate a statement to this effect? Or perhaps a site wide policy?
Buzz,
Under every article you will find a “disclosures” link, which shows our site-wide policy in detail. Yes, we do often use product images from the manufacturer (actually, most images we simply take from B&H or Amazon and those images are provided to sellers from manufacturers) and we do that because it saves us time and effort in producing content. Sometimes we do take product shots ourselves, but only if we feel that the images we find aren’t good enough, or don’t show the product from the angle we want to show it. None of this really means anything in terms of our connection to the manufacturer. Speaking of which, unless otherwise stated, we do not have any active connections with manufacturers. We don’t do sponsored content and we never get paid for anything we write on this site. We never go to product launch events and demos paid by the manufacturers either (we frequently get invited), although we do miss content opportunities as a result, which we are OK with, since our reputation stands above that.
Thank you for the link to the disclosures. I missed that previously.
It does not however mention in your link nor in your review how you got this item for review. Did you buy it, at retail price? Was it provided to you for review?
This information is helpful and adds transparency and clarity for readers. As you know, vine and many other programs that provide items for free or reduced price in exchange for product reviews are an intentional way companies manipulate others to purchase things. Without knowing whether that applies to your review (and site in general), readers are left to wonder how unbiased you truly are.
For reference, Consumer Reports states on their site that “Our shoppers pay full retail and purchase all the products we test to generate our ratings from the same places consumers do; we accept no sample products for testing.”
Do you?
Terrific and I love the 50mm 1.8s! Will you post a review of that lens eventually? Thanks, Max
Hi Nasim,
I would be really more interested how a B10 or a B10 Plus with a 140cm umbrella white, with a 90x120cm softbox and an OCF Magnum reflector compared to a B1(x) cuts off. Where would the differences – aperture – be at ISO 100 and 2m distance of the light to the model? How even is the illumination of the large softbox, how big is the light fall-off to the edge? What do the shadows look like with the OCF Magnum reflector, have they have a clear edge. How fast are the recharging times at about level 6,7,8 and 9, how constant is the colour temperature at very fast flash sequences, how short is the time of the flashes at T=0.1 at levels from 5 etc.?
Thank you very much
Heike, your requests are rather specific and I’m not Nasim – but if you’d ask me to do this kind of testing my reply would be “how much do you want to pay for it?”. Can you rent a B10 where you live? And do the rather big test efforts yourself? I mean, testing the refreshing times at 4 different apertures appears to be a little nerdy – as it needs to be done within a couple of battery states, like full, half full and nearly empty – or would you also want to know how the refresh time is when the battery is at 55% and compared to 7 and 9?
No offense, but the mentality to take if for granted to get a ton of information for free and when it’s done then ask for 5 more tons is really strange to me.
Especially, because you need other flashes tested the exact same way (for free again? just nod… :) ) to be able to compare them. Else all data only makes nice spreadsheets but the practical use is rather low.
Hi Joachim,
I was only able to make it clear that without concrete comparisons with practice-related attitudes, no substantial statements about a new product are possible and that a product presentation can therefore be placed in the realm of marketing, if You understand what I mean.
Many greetings
It’s called a review, not a comparsion. If you know websites which present, test and compare professional flash systems (I don’t know them to be honest) then these places might be a better source to aquire the kind of information you’re looking for. I was sold for Profoto A1 as soon as I had one in my hands, used it without reading a manual and could set it up to get the results I wanted. The rest of technical features wasn’t interesting to me. I could read the specs, but I don’t care much. What I do care is how reliable the system is and if it’s distracting me at what I like to light. At this price and with this reputation (pricey, but great) I expect it to be better than good and so far I’m opposite of disappointed.
After the A1 came another A1 and then the B10 came out and I already had the trigger. Like Nasim said it works like a charm. The information you’re asking for was never significant to me – I don’t know how fast it refreshs (in seconds), but I do know it’s faster than I usually need it. I don’t know how even it is lighting a wall with a certain light modifier, but I do know I don’t photograph walls. And I also do know it’s a highly portable flashlight – but not a super powerful studio light with separate generators and a couple of 1000 Ws. And I really made good decisions whenever I decided to rent before I bought – or bought not.
Hi Joachim,My approach may be different from yours.
a flash head like a B10 or B1 will only become a tool for photographers if it is preceded by a light shaper. With a new flash head like the B10, it’s important to see what the effect is compared to the previous tool. The “smaller and lighter” size of the flash head is important but not enough. After all, the product is also advertised and recommended. Only I don’t know why I should replace a B1 with it if I wasn’t informed about the light effect of a B10 with the specific light shapers. The photos shown here are very good, but I would have liked to know with which light shapers at which distance and at which angle the B10 was used. Among the photos are the allegedly used camera, lens with aperture, shutter speed and ISO. With the best will in the world, I don’t know what this product presentation of the Profoto B10 is all about. After all, Nassim is a professional photographer and not a marketing man.
Many greetings