On The Powerful Profoto Pro 11 and Its Laughable Price Tag
Should you buy a Profoto Pro 11, or should you buy a car that can carry your other lighting gear?
Profoto has been making pretty great flashes and strobes for a long time now. Their reputation for making high build quality lighting gear with great output precedes them. However, this means Profoto lights are significantly more expensive than similar lights from the likes of Westcott, Flashpoint, and Godox. The new flagship Profoto Pro 11 takes the companies pricing to new heights. This light pack is crazy powerful, but you’ll want to sit down before we reveal the specs and price after the break.
The new Profoto Pro 11 is the most durable and rugged Profoto package yet, which has been tested to extremes. Well, that’s what the press release says. We have no doubt about this; Profoto has always created tough, quality lights. The Profoto Pro 11 is a pack light system with flash headers and is designed for studio use only. So, if you had visions of being able to lug this around easily from venue to venue, forget it. Can you take it with you? Sure, will it become the bane of your existence? Yes. This system is designed to sit in a studio and not move.
The Profoto Pro 11 – Specs and Price
The Profoto Pro 11 has been designed for pros who absolutely demand the very tippy-top best for lighting. This pack light system will provide you with 2400ws of power. It can also fire off 50 flashes per second. This kind of performance means that you can get flash duration down to 1/80,000s. Wow. That’s impressive. Here’s a quick look at more of the specs:
- Built-in Profoto AirX. The Bluetooth enabled 3rd generation of wireless Profoto connectivity. AirX supports all legacy Air & AirTTL functionality and also adds dedicated AirX functionality with AirX enabled Profoto apps and devices
- Captures the action with super quick bursts up to 50 flashes per second
- Freezes the moment with extremely short flash duration down to 1/80,000s
- Compatible with multiple different flash heads and 120+ Profoto Light Shaping Tools
- Delivers 2400Ws with precision and control over an 11 f-stop power range in 1/10 f-stop increment on two individual outlets
- Durable and built to shoot at high volumes with incredible consistency and reliability
- Simple, intuitive user interface with large, high-resolution display
As you can see, the Profoto Pro 11 isn’t really a setup for the average photographer. If, however, you do work that requires ultra-consistent output from your lighting gear, this might be for you. All you need to do is drop $16,995 plus tax if you already own some Profoto flash heads. If you’re buying into the system from scratch, you’ll need to add those too (at the cost of $3,990 each).
You’d Be Better Off Renting
Unless you’re part of the 1% of photographers who genuinely need a flash system like the Profoto Pro 11, you’re better off going a different route. Most photographers will be able to do just fine with less expensive pack systems. Unless you need this much power (which most don’t), you could just use battery-powered strobes. These systems can easily be used in multiple locations. We’ve reviewed a bunch of them, too, including the Profoto B10, so check out our lighting reviews section. Even if you do need a system like the Profoto Pro 11 from time to time, you’d probably be better of renting. An investment like this might take a long time to pay you back.
What do you think about the new flagship light from Profoto? Could you ever see yourself spending close to $17,000 on a lighting pack system? Let us know in the comment section below. If you’d like more information about the Profoto Pro 11, head to Profoto’s official website.