Profoto B1 Is World's First Studio Off-Camera Flash with TTL

It surely is a busy week and after we admired the highly expected Nikon Df full frame camera, we are once again blown away by Swedish lighting manufacturer, Profoto, that announced the first ever studio grade cordless flash that also comes with TTL capabilities.

Profoto B1 has a cordless design making it unique in front of other professional studio flashes. The B1 is neither a speedlight nor a moonlight, managing to blend together the best parts of studio strobes with the flexibility of a speedlight.

The biggest feature of the B1 is by far the patent pending AirTTL technology that allows you to get a perfect exposure in any conditions. The Profoto B1 is powered by an integrated exchangeable, high-capacity battery making it highly portable and ready to deploy in any location.

Göran Marén, product manager at Profoto, said that “We wanted to make it as easy as possible to use an off-camera flash, but we wanted to do so without compromising the quality and versatility that photographers have come to expect from us. All the features of the B1 and the Air Remote TTL can be traced back to this single idea.”

The Air Remote TTL is an innovative hot shoe-mounted device that helps the camera communicate with up to 3 individual groups of B1 lights, supporting manual and TTL control.

The new Profoto B1 off-camera flash is now available for pre-order at a price of $1,995 / €1,476, along with a wide range of accessories, and can be expected to ship during December this year.

Here are the most important features of the Profoto B1 off-camera flash: Max energy: 500Ws Energy range: 9f-stops (2-500Ws) Energy control increments: 1/10 or full f-stops Recycling time: 0.1-1.9 (Quick burst up to 20 flashes/second) Guide number @2 m, 100 ISO with Magnum Reflector: 45 2/10 Input power supply: Exchangeable Lithium-Ion Battery 14.4V/3Ah Battery capacity: Up to 220 full power flashes Radio sync & control: Yes, Built in AirTTL supporting wireless sync, control and TTL Radio sync range: Up to 300m (1000ft) Weight: 3kg (6.6lbs) including batteries