Life On The Move

Review: Profoto B2 for the Adventure Photographer

 

 

The first time I put my hands on a Profoto generator I realized what all the fuss was about.  I was helping my good friend and colleague Jensen Walker on a shoot, in exchange he was teaching me about lighting techniques.  More specifically what “Give me one more stop” actually meant.  I can honestly say that it was love at first sight when we were going over the images on his Macbook later that night.

Before this shoot, my only experience with light management was with speedlites.  I did my research and came to the conclusion that I was going to have to wait a while before I would be able to afford to add Profoto to my quiver.

Fast forward several years.  I had established myself as a working photographer and I was working full time.  At this point, I had used speedites from Nikon and Canon, Photoflex Triton, Elinchrom and Profoto.  This past March, Jensen sent me a message saying that a new, affordable, VERY mobile lighting system was being released from Profoto.  I choked on my coffee in excitement then proceeded to nearly trip over my toddler trying to get to my laptop.  There they were, the Profoto B2s in all their glory.  I went straight to my old pals at B&H and threw more of my hard earned cash at them for what I hoped would be a much needed improvement to my lighting system.

The Profoto B2 250w Off Camera Flash is the smaller version of the 500w B1.  Profoto advertised the B2 as a go to piece of equipment for wedding photographers and really anyone constantly on the go.  The B1 is an all in one cordless unit, while the B2 is just like using a D4 except much lighter, smaller and no where near as powerful.

To give you an idea of comparison based on power, I have read that the Canon 580EX is about 60-80 watts.  That means the B2 should give the user more than twice as much beautiful light to augment and work with.  The B2’s recycle rate of .03-1.35 seconds is quick and reliable.  I have not had to wait for the unit to power up in between shots.  The unit is quite light at 3.5 pounds for the generator and 1.5/head.  It offers a 9 stop range that can be adjusted via the Air TTL system. Profoto tells us that you can expect 215 full power flashes per battery.  Based on my experience shooting in hypersync mode, I’ve noticed my battery drops to 50% after shooting only a few sequences of bouldering or trail running.

I should start my personal review by giving you an idea of what I was using before my B2’s arrived.  In my pack I had the Photoflex Triton system.  At the time, this was great entry level setup for my needs.  Photoflex has updated the equipment but I have no experience with the new system.  The entire set up was reasonably priced, but the quality of the products were lacking.  I am constantly shooting in harsh environments.  The environments I work in are wet, dusty, snowy and everything in between.  A far from superior shooting environment for expensive camera gear often meant for studio work.  I was also using the Pocket Wizard Flex TT5 for Canon and Plus III’s.  After each trip on an international airliner, I would have to reform the “hard” reflector, which was a huge headache.  After a few months of this the reflector would never fit the head as intended and I would have to use tape just to get by.  The recycle rate had diminished significantly over the time I owned the unit so needless to say, I was beyond ready to upgrade my entire lighting system.

I ordered the Location Kit that included:

• 1x B2 250 AirTTL Battery Pack
• 2x Li-Ion Batteries
• 2x B2 Off-Camera Flash Heads
• 1x Battery Charger
• 1x Location Bag, 1x Carrying Bag
• Air Remote TTL-C Transceiver

I added these to complete my kit:

• 2x Extension Cables @ 3.om each
• 1x Speedring for OCF attachments
• 1x 2’x3′ OCF Softbox
• 1x Zoom Reflector
• 1x Seven Inch Reflector

Coming in at just over $3000 via B&H Photo.

 

 

 

I watched a few videos of unboxing and setups to show me how everything worked.  I read through the manual, then headed for my first test shoot in the bouldering mecca of Fontainebleau, France with my family in tow.  I packed my camera and lenses, then added the new lights and two Manfrotto 1051BAC, which are ultralight, but very sturdy.  We set out on the open road.  The first time out shooting with the strobes was a great learning experience.  My reflectors had not arrived in time for this trip, so I used the 2’x3′ softbox and with one Disc.  I shot in the middle of the day on purpose to really test the strength of the lights.

 

 

 

 

At this point I was concerned by the amount of power that the B2’s offered.  I had taken some nice images using speedlites in the past and I read that the power was more than twice the output of those, so I knew I just needed to get used to working with the B2s.

After a few more test shoots here in Europe,  I really put these lights to the test on a recent trip to Australia.  The purpose of this trip was to capture bouldering for a couple different clients while following some of the world’s best climbing athletes.  I had never been to Australia, so I did not know exactly what to expect, but I knew that the B2s could handle the challenge.  Here are some samples from the Grampians.

For this shot of 5.10 athlete James Webb on Cherry Picking, I used two heads and one generator.  One head located under the bolder facing out and a second just in front of the camera spraying the front of the boulder.  The strobe under the boulder has the Zoom attached while the one in front has only a disc attached.  I did this so the light under the block would be directed more at the climber to help create an edge or rather separation and the disc to spread the light wide to fill where the natural light cast shadows.  To give you an idea of the power I used in terms of the generator settings, I had both the heads on one generator with an extension cord going to the head under the boulder.  The light under the boulder was set to around 8.6 and the head pointing to the boulder was at 9.2.  I had the Air TTL set to Hypersync, but for this image I shot @ 1/160 f4.5 iso 500 on a Canon 17-40mm f4.

Same boulder different setup.  I wanted to use warm gels on the strobes and adjust the Kelvin on the camera to create an interesting shot.  I had seen this technique used in NBA and NFL photography for years and thought I’d give it a go.  B2 positions were the same and the power setup was very close to the same as before.  Camera setting were different with 1/200 f8 iso 320 with the same 17-40mm f4 lens.

 

 

The B2’s come with an unexpected amount of power for this size modeling light.  With a fully charged battery, Profoto claims a 90 minute life.  I cannot confirm this, but I can say that one battery will run two heads with modeling lights for at least 30 minutes.  The modeling lights are 9w LED which is equivalent to a 50w halogen.  The light produced from these LEDs is quite yellow/orange.  Don’t expect a white output at about 3000K.  Good to know if you shoot video and need a little light in a pinch.

 

This image was shot with one head on the B2 during “golden hour”.  Walking up to the block I could see exactly where I needed to have fill light.  The setting sun came right across the prow exactly where the climbers would be pebble wrestling.  I location and that I wanted to shoot from a tree overhanging the prow.  I attached the Zoom to the head and set the generator to 7.0.

 

 

Once in position up the tree, I was able to use the Air TTL to adjust the power output of the head to fill properly. You can adjust on up to three heads simultaneously depending on your setup.  In the above shot I ended up using 8.1 to fill to my liking.  While the light produced was not the same tone, I was satisfied with the climber’s movements and position in the final product.

 

 

Shooting routes with the B2s is a different story and setup is completely different.  Last month I spent three weeks with North Face athletes Yuji Hirayama, James Pearson and Caroline Ciavaldini, capturing their adventures through the south of France.  This was a great opportunity to use the B2s with more complexity.  Strobes were setup from several different distances from the Air TTL. In one situation I was 30 meters in the air hanging over the Verdon Gorge.  Not a single miss fire occurred.

 

 

In the past, I have used the Pocket Wizard Plus II, III and Flex TT5.  I have to say that I have always been left wanting more.  The amount of miss fires was beyond frustrating, especially when documenting first accents.  Sometimes on routes or in terrain that will not allow for a reshoot.  Working with the Air TTL-C system has been incredible.  Very intuitive and simple on screen adjustments can be made and I have yet to have a miss fire from anything other than a rapid fire or user error.

In the above two images of husband and wife duo, James and Caroline are shown climbing the same route.  I used one B2 as fill/edge light to make the image pop a bit more as seen spraying across their backs.  I had the generator set to full power with a Zoom attached to the head.  I am beyond satisfied with the results of the flash in this situation.   The shot was taken in the late afternoon/early evening.  We were in a cave, but at the lip and there was ample ambient light to work with.  That said, I would like to use the B1 in a similar situation to see what 500w will produce.

These next images show what shooting on a full battery with two heads and a cord extension does to the power output.  I would say that it is pretty common knowledge that when you add an extension cord to a lighting system the output diminishes.  I have read that with the B2 output drop is about 2/3 of a stop with an extension cord in use.  Not much, but while using TTL it will automatically adjust for the lost power.  These photos have not been adjusted in any way and are shown as shot.  One thing that I did notice was a slight color tone change in the images when shooting a fast sport sequence.  The images seemed to cool off as the strobe became weaker.  The basic setup is two heads, one with a Zoom and the other a Seven Inch.  The zoom is at 9.2 and the Seven Inch at 7.4.  The frames were shot in hypersync mode with camera setting of 1/300 f 5.6 iso 250.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Studio and Portraits

While I don’t often shoot in a studio environment, I did recently with the B2s.  In the image below I used two heads on one generator with an extension cord attached to one head.  The key light was set to 8.9 and the edge light was set to 7.0 power. Key light has a 2’x3′ softbox and the edge light has a Zoom attached.  Shot with 1DX and Canon 70-200mm f2.8 @ 1/200 f8 iso125.

 

 

This image was shot on my recent trip to France.  I used two strobes, one inside the van with no light shaper attached and one outside with a Zoom attached at 7.5 power and one strobe outside to fill at 9.1.

 

As I said, I do not shoot much in a studio, I’d rather be outside as much as possible.  On a recent shoot on the Alta Via 1 through the Dolomites I shot a quick portrait of one of my models.  I wanted to test the light in harsh overhead light.  While the B2 preformed well I have to say that if you want more options in terms of location of you subject in this environment you may want the B1.  For this shot I was using a wide 17-40mm f4 lens at 17mm and the strobe’s power was set to 100%.  The strobe was 1 meter from the model and I was 1.5 meters away.  Each timeI moved the strobe, about 1-1.5m each time, the fall off seemed to increase about 50%.

Conclusion:

Overall, I am pleased with the construction and durability of Profoto’s equipment.  I can say the same for the consistency of the light while using the Air TTL-C.  No missed shots due to gear failure always leads to a positive gear review for me.  Although the B2 still doesn’t perform as well as I’d hoped it would in harsh midday light, I’m hopeful the B1 can produce the power I need for stronger sun fill situations.

The size and weight alone are enough reason to consider this package.  The generator weighs in at 3.5 pounds while each head at 1.5.  This is heaver than a basic speedlite setup, but the effectiveness and consistency of the B2 surpasses that of any speedlite in my opinion.  For anyone carrying their gear to locations near and far on your back, you will know first hand what I’m getting at.  The B1 weights in at 6.6 pounds, battery attached.  That said there is a new line of light weight light modifiers released for these systems.  The OCF, or Off-Camera Flash, soft boxes are nice and weigh considerably less than their predecessors.  I’ll be honest, I’m still using the original Zoom and Seven Inch due to my shooting situations and needs.

If you are in the market for a new, reliable light weight lighting system I highly recommend the Profoto B2 Location Setup.  I guarantee you will not regret the $2700.00 plus accessories.  You will make up the cost by eliminating lost shots due to gear mishaps.  Your clients will definitely appreciate improved authenticity in your work.

 

www.eddiegianelloni.com

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 3rd, 2015 at 11:01 am. It is filed under Bouldering, Camera Gear, climbing, Photography, Review, travel and tagged with adventure, b1, b2, bouldering, camera, canon, Climbing, equipment, fstop, hirayama, japanese, mountains, nature, peak design, photography, portrait, profoto, rock, softbox, sport, strobes, travel, yama, yuji. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.