Friday 24 August, 2012   David A. Selby   Packs, Profoto, Unreleased   5 Comments

Profoto tease Pro-B4 1000 Air for Photokina launch

The Swedish lighting manufacturer Profoto have started a countdown to the launch of a new battery pack, the Pro-B4 1000 Air, at the Photokina trade fair in Cologne. The company published a teaser image, shown below, hinting at its appearance. No details have been released other than the tag line “A Revolution On Location”.

Profoto Pro-B4 1000 Air teaser image

From the name, the Pro-B4 is the presumed successor to the Pro-B3 1200 AirS — a portable lithium-ion battery pack with two outputs for Pro-B and ProHead series lamp heads. The Pro-B3 has a wide eight-stop power range that is remotely adjustable using Profoto Air wireless remotes. The B3 costs over £4,000 so we can expect the upcoming model to be the same or more — not exactly an impulse buy but the photographers (and rental houses) who need such a bit of kit know who they are.

The B4 will be launched and unveiled on 10th September 2012, so look out for full specifications, pricing and availability then. What improvements do you think we’ll see in the replacement? Take your best shot in the comments below.

  • hpefoto

    From what I´ve found out on various german websites this battery generator will have:

    * short recycling time (0.03 – 0.99)
    * extremely short flash duration (t0.5: 1/25.000 – 1/2.200)
    * 11 f/stop range
    * very short recharge time (45 min).
    * Using a Li-Ion battery
    * Pro Head series
    * Air controlled

    I also found a german site indicating a price tag of €7.500 for the battery generator only

    This looks extremely promising and I really look forward to the official launch

    • Lawliet

      Two points to be seen: will we get decent continuous pilot lights and will the channels be independently asymmetric?
      Flash duration is actually not that much different then in the Pro8/B3, just less power – i.e. going strobist would get you similar results.
      But outdoor recycle times that beat many mains powered flashes sounds nice… :)

      • hpefoto

        The press release says it will be fully asymmetric

    • http://masonartphotography.com Brian

      Just one correction regarding the battery chemistry being used in the Profoto B3 airS Life and now the Pro B4 packs.

      Not Lithium Ion, but the much safer (will never explode even in a fire.), faster charging, deeper discharging…..Green Cousin,
      ** Lithium Iron Phosphate, or “LifePo” **

      For my money I would still get another Hensel Li Porty 1200, same specs as the B3 airS, super quality and the added bonus of wireless controls and syncing with the Profoto Air system, oh, one more thing 1/2 the price!

  • brec

    find some specs on this site: http://www.dinkel-foto.de/dinkelprofishop/aktuelles.html

    I hope the price isn’t the usual premium profoto pricing. It’s quite a gap from the acute b to the B3

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