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Features

3 Lights for Professional Photographers We Really Liked

Chris Gampat
No Comments
06/22/2022
4 Mins read
Brittany Smith The Phoblographer Profoto B10x Plus Product Image4167

If there is anything that I have fun reviewing, it’s lights! We’re always excited about the creative possibilities that lights give vs something like a lens. And what’s more, our entire reviews staff is trained on how to make the most of lights. If you’re in the market for some good strobes, take a look. There are lots of affordable lights for professional photographers on the market. But then again, there are also some that are just well worth the investment.

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How We Chose These Lights for Professional Photographers

There are lots of great lights out there. But here’s how we chose these lights for professional photographers:

  • All the images in this roundup were shot by our staff. Our ethics and policies don’t allow us to talk about products we haven’t handled, but we’ve conducted full reviews on all these products.
  • Sure, there are tons of affordable lights out there. But these lights for professional photographers are also capable of doing some special and innovative things.
  • We’re only choosing strobes and flashes. The reason why is because they tend to help photographers be more creative in-camera rather than in post-production.
  • In many cases, we still use these lights today.

Profoto B10X

Pros

  • Portable, yet powerful
  • Easy to use
  • Large rear display
  • Powerful modeling light with temperature adjustment
  • 250 Ws of power creates a lot of versatility
  • Better battery life than the B10X Plus
  • Remote access with the Profotro Control app

Cons

  • Power needs to be lowered for consistency in high-speed bursts
  • I wish the Profoto Air Remote displayed more information.
  • High price point

In our review, we state:

“While the light is powerful and versatile, bursts are best with reduced power. Otherwise, the lighting can be inconsistent from shot to shot. I also wish the Profoto Air remote displayed what was on the back of the light itself. But, other than that, the only other thing there is to complain about is that high price point. You can get twice the power for $300 more with the B10X Plus: a big difference in specs for a fifteen percent difference in price.”

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Elinchrom One

Pros

  • Small
  • Powerful when you’re using a fast lens
  • Can do HSS
  • Transmitter firmware is easy to update
  • I love the design.
  • Great light without needing a modifier on location
  • Good for indoors and low light
  • Simple enough interface
  • Touchscreen
  • Compatible with most Profoto Light shapers
  • Attached diffusion dome

Cons

  • It’s kind of like the Profoto a1x in the body of the B10
  • Not super powerful with something like the Canon RF 24-105mm f4 L IS USM
  • Very slow flash duration of 1/7000. Doesn’t do well to overpower the sun. And you’ll need to tell the TTL system to step it up by adding in extra power.
  • They need a USB c trigger, not only school USB.
  • Typical old Canon ETTL and you need to add in one extra stop of light.

In our review, we state:

“Like most modern lights, you can automatically go into high-speed sync with no issues. I don’t turn exposure preview on. Instead, I just have it as a constant setting. With that said, I expose by reading the light meter. When I do that, the Canon cameras are typically reading the ambient light. So when I photographed portraits on locations, the Elinchrom One jwouldn’t always give out enough juice. Then I started to add more power, and suddenly the system was making magic. The Elinchrom One told me it was also giving off a faster flash duration. For the record, I haven’t had to do this since the Canon 5D Mk II and the lights that came out around then. However, it’s far more reliable than Profoto’s TTL.”

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Profoto B10x Plus

Pros

  • Portable design
  • Fast recycling time
  • Consistency
  • HS with designated trigger
  • Variable Modeling Lamp temperature
  • Power output

Cons

  • Battery life should be better
  • It’s $2,295 and that doesn’t include extra batteries or an air remote.

In our review, we state:

“The Profoto B10x Plus is a premium monolight with continuous light functionality. Its HS capability will freeze action when it matters most. It will also blend naturally with sunlight when shooting outdoors to provide subtle specular highlights for an organic feel. The light is fast, reliable, and consistent.”

Buy Now

The Phoblographer’s various product round-up features are done in-house. Our philosophy is simple: you wouldn’t get a Wagyu beef steak review from a lifelong vegetarian. And you wouldn’t get photography advice from someone who doesn’t touch the product. We only recommend gear we’ve fully reviewed. If you’re wondering why your favorite product didn’t make the cut, there’s a chance it’s on another list. If we haven’t reviewed it, we won’t recommend it. This method keeps our lists packed with industry-leading knowledge. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

elinchrom Elinchrom One flashes lights lights for professional photographers profoto Profoto B10X profoto b10x plus review strobes
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Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
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