Profoto Lighting Modifiers?

Grug

Grug

Well-known member
Hi Guys,

I just bought my first 'big' light. A Profoto 1.2k ProDaylight HMI (a bug light very similar in concept and execution to the K5600 Joker Bugs). But I'm not familiar with Profoto's light modifier range, and was wondering if anyone could share their suggestions?

I've also bought the Profoto Cinereflector, which turns the light into a traditional, zoomable PAR (complete with lenses, scrims and barndoors) but I'm wondering if there's good use to be found from things like Profoto's beauty dish or magnum reflector or other modifiers?

If you've worked with Profoto gear before (stills or video) I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Cheers
 
Greg,

My background is fashion/celebrity photography & I'm a huge fan of Profoto's gear. I've mostly used their strobe equipment, but on several occasions worked with their old style 1.2k HMI.

If I remember correctly there is a fan in the head on the old style, & imagine there is on the new version too. If so I'd check that it won't cause sound issues, especially when paired with either of the (excellent) reflectors you mentioned.

Best,
Bern
 
Hey Grug - I'm curious about your impressions of the Profoto - they can be pretty affordable for 1.2's. I've always thought of them as soft/frosted sources, and only used them in that config (Chimera used to make a bag light & skirt for 'em). Can they really work as a hard & punchy par kind of source? And are there frosted and clear covers available for the bulbs?

Profoto makes a nice grid reflector, somewhere in the 12 - 15" range, similar to Speedotron's. I've used that for video, but grids are a little tough for video, sometimes you really see the "spots" in motion.
 
I worked for a photographer in London who only had Profoto stills lights and generators..... My thoughts : Way overpriced end expensive to repair.
Atleast in the stills department.

And the accessoris in the stills department is overpriced as well. You could make just ad pretty pictures with something like Bowens for a fraction of the price.
 
Profoto's popularity (for some packs) comes from its fast recycle rates and short flash durations - kinda hard to shoot fashion with speedotron. They tend to be more rental units (at least in my market) - I don't know a lot of guys who own them. Depending on the model, you can get very good recycle rates with a lot of kick - and their battery powered packs are really popular for locations.

Are they worth twice what speedo costs? I dunno, I shot fashion for years with Speedo, big packs at low power and it worked well - as long as you had a 20amp circuit for the "fast" setting. But I had big packs from view camera product shooting, nowadays people want much smaller gear.

But back to the thread - I'm wondering how viable the profoto HMIs are for video work - I know they can do soft, wondering about a par-like harder quality (where you squeeze every ounce out of 'em - HMI fresnels seem to be a step down from pars in power - IE a 1.2 fresnel seems about the same as a 575 par). I know the Profotos make great space lights and softbox units, curious as to how "joker-like" they can be.
 
I worked with Broncolor/Profoto/Speedotron lighting systems in the 80's and 90's shooting large format stills work. Speedotron was always the bargain of these three systems, but Broncolor and Profoto put out almost twice the amount of light for the same power rating as Speedotron did.

The pluses for Broncolor and Profoto were high-power, accurate color balance, and very even light from their light modifiers.

The Profoto ProDaylight Air HMI lights look like their were made for still shooters who were transitioning to shooting video, so everything you knew about lighting with strobes would still apply for video.

Profoto gear is expensive and not as physically robust as traditional cine gear, but might be easier to work with if you come from a still photo background.

Profoto's Intro Video for Their ProDaylight Gear
 
& Dingo, there's a fair amount of first-gen Profoto HMI on the used market in 575 and 1.2 flavors. Seems like it would be fantastic gear for someone doing enough softbox/interview stuff to make it a value & cut off a rental hassle. Adorama was dumping some rental stock of 1.2's for well under $2k, electronic ballasts, etc.

They were robust enough for the rental shops in my market to carry 'em, might be a good deal for a lot of soft light - even better if the hard quality is there.

For stills, I'm a speedo guy though. I have 30 year old packs that just go and go. And the 805's are killer for locations (if you can find 'em!)
 
Michael Carter said:
And the 805's are killer for locations (if you can find 'em!)
Click to expand...

I owned two 2403s and a 1205 for about 15 years. I was kind of pissed when the 805 came out because it was 7 lbs versus the 15 lbs my 1205 pack weighed, so it was a lot easier to throw into a case for quick location work.

I see a lot of used speedotron gear on Craigs-List here in Toronto, but it's almost always the bigger packs. ( i.e. 2401, 2403, 4803 )
 
Michael Carter said:
Hey Grug - I'm curious about your impressions of the Profoto - they can be pretty affordable for 1.2's. I've always thought of them as soft/frosted sources, and only used them in that config (Chimera used to make a bag light & skirt for 'em). Can they really work as a hard & punchy par kind of source? And are there frosted and clear covers available for the bulbs?

Profoto makes a nice grid reflector, somewhere in the 12 - 15" range, similar to Speedotron's. I've used that for video, but grids are a little tough for video, sometimes you really see the "spots" in motion.
Click to expand...

Well I had it out on it's first run on Monday, we were shooting a night exterior by the edge of the beach, with the cinereflector on I was able to punch out the light a good 90-100 odd feet (give or take) over the water, to give the waves some shape and presence (they would have been simply pitch black otherwise).

This is at ISO 800, T/2.1:


R1SeMZg.jpg


It's about as much as I could hope for from a 1.2k source, and I have to say I'm pretty chuffed with the result - it's precisely these sorts of scenarios (getting some ambient illumination on otherwise pitch black night exteriors, whilst still being able to run off household power or small portable gennies) that I've been wanting a 1.2k for.

I'll have to do some proper testing with the different lenses in the kit to figure out which lens is best suited for what, but my only real gripe with the light at this stage is the rear-positioned stand mount (which puts all of the weight of the unit + reflector to one side of the stand). It's really nice to use such a comparatively lightweight 1.2k HMI too. You can actually get this one up and going just by yourself (a thing not so easily done with a lot of the alternatives).

The ballast does make a plainly audible hum, but I find that with the distances I place 1.2k sources from my subjects when shooting with a modern 800 ISO camera, it's not really an issue. On a less sensitive camera where you had to place it closer to the subject, it could become an issue though.
 
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Grug,

Due to it's deep design Profoto's Magnum reflector is well suited to their HMI, & puts out a narrower beam then the standard reflector.

Their Beauty Dishes come with silver or white interiors & best used very close to the subject. Typically I use 1/4 silk, or thicker, sock diffusion, & place the dish within 2' of the subject.

When it's used this close it's best to feather the dish.

-B
 
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