Profoto has announced the Pro-D3 monolight. The industry heavyweight has developed a model hyped to be a “relentless work horse”, stated to cater to the power-intensive and durability needs of high-volume shooting.
The new model features a redesigned enclosure and offers two versions: the 750Ws and 1250Ws, a 50% increase in power from their 500Ws and 1000Ws D2 predecessors, and is stated to promise an impressive 11 f-stop flash power adjustment range, using 0.1 f-stop precision.
The Pro-D3 introduces three distinct flash modes to ensure increased performance over the product’s lifetime, as well as provide options for specific cases. ECO (Normal) mode is the default mode, BOOST mode adds an extra boost of power, while FREEZE delivers the shortest flash duration for action photography. As someone who has used a variety of brands across multiple sets, I am most excited to try out the Pro-D3’s FREEZE mode. During my formative years, Profoto was not yet known to have great flash duration, but I am happy to comment that since then the brand has evolved to offer better flash duration, with the shortest possible duration being 1/75,000 on the 750Ws and 1/62,000 on the 1250Ws at t0.5 using FREEZE mode, which is truly incredible.
As with most recent Profoto units, Profoto AirX is included, which allows for wireless connectivity at 2.4GHz frequencies. The Pro-D3 supports sync, TTL, HSS, and remote control functions through Air 1 and Air 2. One can use up to 100 channels and 6 groups to ensure maximum stability shooting wirelessly, with groups A, B, C being the only ones that support TTL as per usual. Wireless operating range with remotes reaches up to 100m, and 30m with bluetooth devices.
The first thing to notice with Profoto’s new monolight is the design. This high-tier unit has strayed away from the older design that the B1, B1X, D1, D2, and D2 Industrial share – the “traditional” strobe tube length, with multiple dials and buttons on the rear for managing settings and controlling power. Instead, one could almost consider this a beefier unit on the B10X Plus line up, with the detachable stand, smaller knob, and rear display. Even the power/test button and knobs are the relatively the same – it’s quite clear that this is the direction Profoto is going in in terms of user interface and simplicity. It’s user-friendly and works, so why not? And to add to the convenience, if the unit is upside down, the power output display auto-rotates with the unit’s orientation. Gone are the days of bending over sideways to try to read the screen correctly…
My immediate concern was modifier weight support, as the B10X series is notorious for having a weak knob that leads to weight creep. In fact, the promotional videos discuss that the detachable stand is meant to be easily replaceable, seemingly highlighting that their solution was to facilitate modular repairs (like the also-user removable flash tube) to minimize overall downtime. That said, in an Instagram live with Chris Fain from Profoto, I asked about the knob’s durability and he insisted that it is newer and much, much better than the B10X series knobs, and that he has used the largest modifiers he could find with the Pro-D3 and did not experience any modifier creep. Only time will tell for this kind of concern, but he seemed confident in its ability to take RFi modifiers. In fact, it seems that Profoto is so confident in this new design that Chris also confirmed that the previous D2 and D2 Industrial models are to be phased out. Either way, the Pro-D3 design is here to stay.
*Edit: Profoto posted an Instagram reel addressing the weight, describing the new knob as a “redesigned light stand adapter [that] utilizes a rosette in place of the traditional caulk used to tighten the flash head”.
Profoto has multiple monolight “lines” that cater to a wide variety of photographers. The A series (A10, A2) allow for incredibly compact and portable flash photography, and is likely an affordable entry into the world of Profoto and flash. The B series (B1X, B10X, B10X Plus) allow for battery-operated location shooting, and in my subjectivity is the most versatile of the units, and the D series (D1, D2, D2 Industrial and now Pro-D3) caters to high-volume, high-powered work that requires a consistent connection to power. Beyond this lies the Pro-11 power pack, the whopping $23,895 CAD studio behemoth that delivers 2400Ws of pure power. Oddly enough, my impression is that the Pro-D3 is somewhere in between – almost like a bridge between the D series and the Pro-11. Does this signal the slow phasing out of power packs? I’d wager that the answer would be “no” – there will always be a use for power packs. However, the Pro-D3 and its higher power output makes it an enticing alternative to the Pro-11, especially for e-commerce, product photography and fashion. In fact, I was eyeing the D2 already for a down the line upgrade, so unless I can find them on the used market later on, the natural direction will be the Pro-D3 for any future studio work (conveniently, the potential for high-speed action photography makes for great justification as I work with a lot of high-speed movement…)
…And then there is the C1 and C1 Plus, the small, puck-sized continuous light.
The unit weighs 4.1 kg (9.04 lbs), a whole 1.5 lbs more than the 1000Ws D2, but still within an expected weight for a heavy-duty monolight, while its length is at 34.5 cm (13.58 in), slightly longer than the 31 cm (12.2 in) D2. The series most certainly isn’t meant to be moved around on location, but in the event of a location shoot with external power available, the Pro-D3 can lower its power usage to accommodate a lower power input – a great feature to have if location work is a rare occurrence and your studio does not have a spare B1X or B10X laying around.
In terms of ports, there is a 3.5 mm sync port and a USB-C connector for any firmware updates throughout its life cycle. The unit also allows for classic IR-slave for any mixed-brand shooters.
There is also the update to the modeling light – while there seems to be a growing opinion towards hybrid lighting that facilitates both photo and video, Profoto continues to focus on quality light in flash. Nevertheless, the Pro-D3 has a new 56W LED flicker-free modeling light that allows for better pre-visualization for photography. The continuous light stated to shine brighter than a 400-Watt halogen lamp with only 15% of the power consumption should suffice for relatively simple video settings as evidenced by the strength of the B10X and B10X Plus modeling lights. Those models offered bi-color lighting at a maximum of 3250 lumens, while the Pro-D3 offers up to 6300 lumens, but does not allow for temperature adjustment, with a fixed daylight balanced temperature.
While the fixed color temperature may raise a few eyebrows, the constant seems to allow for better overall quality. Could this be a hint towards the Profoto’s future as they explore the potential for cinema lighting?
What I like:
New updated UI fits in with current models
Power! Unlimited power!
Auto-rotate display
What I don’t like:
That knob still stresses me out
The Profoto Pro-D3 750Ws is available now at $2995 USD / $3999 CAD and the 1250Ws at $3995 USD / $5349 CAD.