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Upgrade to eithe Profoto B4 or Boncolor Move

Photosultan

New member
Hi. Input would be appreciated. I recently have invested into Profoto Acute 1200 with pocketwizard, 3 acute heads, acute ring flash, 3 foot octa, 2 strips, magnum and beauty dish. It has been great for the last 6 months. I shot a lot of dance In the studio and on location, so a nice battery pack with quick flashes etc is the next logical move.

If I go Profoto B4, not of my heads are compatible, which is very disappointing. My modifiers would be ok. That's fine, I can use the lights as fill or on a second station.

So I can either afford the Move para kit. Can the para 88 be used for full body? How do the power packs compare? I'm liking the broncolor heads. Smaller? Led? I can probably only afford one head for now.
 
Hi,
I have the Move Para 88 kit. It's great. I did have an issue with the Battery. I got one of the first packs out and the battery didn't work. So I just got a replacement, it took over a month to get the replacement... But I think that was because they only did a certain amount in the initial production run and now they are continuously making them.

The Para 88 can work for full body. But you can't stand between the Para and the subject, like you can with the larger Para's.

You really might want to consider either 1 or two acuteB's with the Acute twin head. That will give you the shorter flash durations and also give you the freedom to use all of your other acute heads. You would need to do a spec comparison to see how the flash durations match up. You can get a profoto adapter for the Para 88. I did a test with the Para 88 and the acuteb head and the Mobiled head and they were basically identical in terms of f-stop. Which was surprising because the Move is 1200 w/s and the Acuteb is 600. But I think it's because the dome/flashtube on the acute head is larger that the Mobiled head.

I haven't used the B4, but I'm sure it's top notch. The only issue for me is that it is really heavy compared to the other two options. So if you shooting on location without an assistant, etc. I think it could get a little cumbersome. But the Move and the B4 both have full remote control of power, which the acuteB's don't have.

Another option is a D1 Air head and then you get the Vagabond mini lithium to power it. But I personally would prefer the battery pack and head option over that. Hope this helps!
 

Photosultan

New member
I have the acute 1200 and three of those heads. It doesn't have the mobility and flash duration for dance. The b4 is advertised as 30 for which is obviously faster than the camera. I know it's not at full
Power. Just want to compare the move kit. Btw where did you get the kit?
 

Photosultan

New member
Also how big is the para 88 folded. So I can do a full person just need to place it a position that I don't get in the way?
 
I got it from Capture Integration. Dave McRitchie used to be the Bron Rep and works at CI now. Email me and I'll put you in contact with him. josh(at)joshmerwin(dot)com

i assume you meant 30 FPS? The amount of flashes in can continuously do and the flash duration are two separate things. You can get the shorter flash duration with the twin head, but it obviously won't speed up the recycling time...
 

aztwang

Member
I have the Pro B4 and am in total amazement. I sold off all my acute heads and a D4pack and bought the Pro B4 and 2 heads. Shop around. I saved over 1000.00. I actually know a guy selling a Pro B4 and 2 heads cuz his wife is having a baby. Bron also makes a Profoto adapter for the Para88. I can't speak for the Move but as I said, the Pro B4 is crazy good. I can shoot wide open with my 85 1.4g iso 200(not 100)in studio cuz the pak goes down to 1ws and I have a perfect exposed shot @ 1.4 . No more having to use naturally light to shoot @ 1.4 . Projects where you need to stop anything...Done! Switch to freeze mode and get up to 1/25000 flash duration. Battery charges in 40 minutes. I supplement with some D1's as needed. The only thing I don't like is I want another one...lol
BTW..Dave McRitchie over at Capture Integration was amazed by the Pro B4!
 
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Re: Upgrade to the Profoto B4 or Boncolor Move

Ok,
I have the chance to use my Move now. It is very impressive. I think that the video was a tiny bit slanted towards Bron. But was pretty accurate overall. Matching it with the Para 88 is a dream. I went from NY to Tx to LA with the Para 88 and Move kit. I packed the Move pack and battery in the Para 88 travel case and checked it through. It's just over 50 lbs. But you can take the tilt adapter out and that will lighten the load. I don't have to pay for overweight bags, so it wasn't an issue for me. I did take the MobiLed head as carry on for safety. It's so compact it fit in my backpack and light! Just make sure you tell them that the Para 88 case is NOT oversize. It's a little taller than my normal suitcase, but narrower. They checked it oversize on the way to TX and it didn't arrive. But they delivered it to my hotel that evening. I made sure to explain that it wasn't oversize on the way to LA and back to NY and it arrived without any problems. It's really the perfect travel/location kit. The only thing they screwed up on is the "trolley case" that the Move kit comes in is too big to carry on... and there is no way to charge the pack while it's in the protective shoulder case. I will be doing some video tests with the MobiLed vs the Kobold 200 HMI in the next 2 weeks. I stopped by Red Studios in LA and was surprised that they recommend shooting everything at 800 ISO with their cameras. I definitely need to understand more of the video settings than I currently do. Gonna take some research... If you have any specific questions or test requests, feel free to let me know. I'll will try to accommodate. I actually have two Move packs now. REally only using 1 and the extra battery with the second. I may only keep 1 though if I end up buying the Kobold gear...The wife just saw the credit card statement! :eek:

Here are a couple lighting test images with the Para as a main fill light. The backlit on the one image is from a AcuteB. (I know it's a little cheesy, but was just playing around)
 
If anyone is interested in the 2nd Move pack I have, let me know. I'm only using the first pack right now and since they are so hard to find, I'd rather someone else be getting use out of the 2nd pack, rather than have it sitting around. I haven't even used the 2nd battery because the battery lasts so long. I'd sell the new condition 2nd pack, new MobiLed head and new RFS 2 transmitter. Message me if you are interested. Would prefer someone in NY so we could meet in person.
 
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