Profoto announces B1 off-camera flash with TTL

 

 

Profoto has unveiled its new B1, an off-camera wireless flash that's capable of TTL metering through Canon and Nikon cameras, as well as some impressive feats of both brightness and speed.

The B1 is a totally off-camera and cordless device. It's powered by an exchangeable high-capacity flash that packs 220 shots into a single charge. The B1 has a guide number of 45 2/10 at ISO 100, and is capable of tweaking its output by 1/10 of a step across 9 f-stops, and is rated for 500Ws of light. It can fire off a full brightness blast every two seconds, but at reduced strength can be cranked up to 20 flashes per second, with a flash duration up to 1/19,000s.

However, you need to pair the B1 with the Air Remote TTL trigger in order to use it with TTL on your camera of choice. The Canon specific Air Remote TTL-C with E-TTL II support will be immediately available, and the Nikon version will launch in 2014. With those remotes, you can use TTL metering to have the B1 controlled automatically from your camera. It's also rated for 300m (approximately 1,000 feet), which should give you more than enough distance for even your most complex of strobe setups.

As you might expect, this technology doesn't come cheap. Reports indicate the B1 is pegged to retail for $2,000, with the Air Remote TTL going for another $400 on top of that. So we're guessing Santa won't be bringing one of these in your stocking this year.