I recently purchased the Profoto B1 flash to replace my battery pack Profoto B600 and reviewed it on my blog. Here is a brief summary.
The flash is typical Profoto quality, it is excellent with great fit and finish and thoughtful ergonomics. I found the adjustment knob for tilt large enough for my big mitts, the same with the knob to lock the head to a stand, and the rear controls set far enough apart for easy access. The only complaint I have so far is that the LCD readout is not in typical power output, e.g. 1/32, 1/16, 1/8 etc. To me this is a more intuitive way to measure power output rather than 1 through 10 numbers with small increments. Color output is consistent as you would expect for a strobe at this price.
The weight of all mono lights is considerably more than heads used with power packs and the Profoto B1 is slightly heavier yet due to the onboard lithium battery, but the difference is but a few ounces. The B1 uses most light modifiers offered by Profoto. As I had a couple of Profoto soft boxes this was a nice benefit.
The B1 is an expensive flash, weighing in at just under two grand a head. What makes it worth this lofty price, and this is the main reason for buying it, is the TTL integration with the camera. Think of this as a larger, powerful, off camera version of your speed light with automatic exposure functions controlled by the camera. The module also allows full manual control of light output from the camera and if multiple heads are used you can vary light ratios from camera position as well. As of this writing the E-TTL control is available only for Canon, but shipment of a Nikon module is scheduled for mid-September.
Several manufacturers claim that their products are designed by photographers. If this is the case at Profoto, they should teach them how to write as well. I find the manuals to be a bit obtuse and had to revisit them several times and check out some you tube videos to get some functions to work. That said, once I got a grip on them, I found the flash units easy to use.
If you care to read it, my review is posted at www.foto-gizmo.blogspot.com
