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Author Topic: Elinchrom ELC Pro HD 1000 vs Profoto D1 1000  (Read 28824 times)

Christoph B.

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Elinchrom ELC Pro HD 1000 vs Profoto D1 1000
« on: March 15, 2016, 06:13:08 am »


Hello there!

I've been thinking of switching to Profoto and adapting most of my current Elinchrom light modifiers so I can keep using them, I still have a Ranger-Set for location shoots that I'm very happy with, but my monoheads are slowly dying. I was a bit disappointed with the build quality of the RX Style series and there were sometimes issues with changing color temperatures - small but noticeable.

I've heard good things about the Profoto D1 series, the 500 and 1000 are very common and often used - however I've seen that Elinchrom has a new-ish product line called ELC Pro HD which promises rather short flash durations and supposedly has a better build-quality.

Has anyone of you tried the new Pro HD-line? What are your thoughts - especially on the stability of color temperature?
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Ellis Vener

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Re: Elinchrom ELC Pro HD 1000 vs Profoto D1 1000
« Reply #1 on: March 15, 2016, 04:44:29 pm »

I have used the 500 w-s versions of both. No question in my mind: I would choose the Elinchrom ELC Pro HD if those were the only two options.
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Christoph B.

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Re: Elinchrom ELC Pro HD 1000 vs Profoto D1 1000
« Reply #2 on: March 16, 2016, 05:03:51 am »

@ Ellis: What are your reasons for choosing the Elinchom head?

@Raul: That's exactly what I've heard from other users, it seems like the ProFoto heads are extremely durable. How happy are you with the consistency of the color temperature of the D1? (flash duration isn't that big of a deal for me)
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Christoph B.

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Re: Elinchrom ELC Pro HD 1000 vs Profoto D1 1000
« Reply #3 on: March 16, 2016, 01:40:05 pm »

This helps a lot, thank you! I was thinking of using the frosted dome anyway to get a more even look on all (or rather most) modifiers, especially the ones from Elinchrom which I want to keep on using.

One question though; do you use a beautydish? I could only find a 50cm from ProFoto but I like the look of the 75cm ones..
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UlfKrentz

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Re: Elinchrom ELC Pro HD 1000 vs Profoto D1 1000
« Reply #4 on: March 16, 2016, 01:57:16 pm »

If build quality and constant CT (also flash duration) is important to you: Did you ever consider the broncolor siros?

Christoph B.

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Re: Elinchrom ELC Pro HD 1000 vs Profoto D1 1000
« Reply #5 on: March 16, 2016, 03:14:22 pm »

Well..not really..

Broncolor isn't as widely spread and there's only one dealer here in the whole country (who doesn't even have a webshop to check for prices etc).
So if I ever need something ASAP that won't be easy - especially . Besides I often need 1000Ws and they only go to 800.

Right now I'm leaning towards a D1 1000 - but perhaps Ellis Vener has a good reason for choosing the Elinchrom over the Profoto? Would be very interesting.
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UlfKrentz

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Re: Elinchrom ELC Pro HD 1000 vs Profoto D1 1000
« Reply #6 on: March 16, 2016, 04:50:14 pm »

Well..not really..

Broncolor isn't as widely spread and there's only one dealer here in the whole country (who doesn't even have a webshop to check for prices etc).
So if I ever need something ASAP that won't be easy - especially . Besides I often need 1000Ws and they only go to 800.

Right now I'm leaning towards a D1 1000 - but perhaps Ellis Vener has a good reason for choosing the Elinchrom over the Profoto? Would be very interesting.

Well, from 800 to 1000Ws is just 1/4stop, not sure if that really matters. Having bad access to a dealer is another story. Where are you located? I thought broncolor is everywhere.
The siros is the most advanced compact head that I know of and surprisingly it is priced very comparative, I´d spend a thought on it. If you´re leaning towards the D1, check if you like the flat light output surface. A lot of modifiers are not optimized for this characteristic. (We recently added a profoto D2, so this is personal experience).

Cheers
Ulf

Christoph B.

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Re: Elinchrom ELC Pro HD 1000 vs Profoto D1 1000
« Reply #7 on: March 16, 2016, 05:05:48 pm »

I'm located in Austria, we only have http://www.slach.at and the page is confusing as hell. I can't tell whether they are selling them or just blogging about them.
Any I can't find a shop to rent them either, so if I need more or one goes down I'd be in quite some trouble.

I've worked with D1s before, the 'flat' surface never bothered me and in a softbox I didn't see any issues with that anyway. But I could imagine with harder reflectors it might be visible or even a problem.

Sorry for my ignorance - but what's a D2? I know there's a B2, but D2?
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UlfKrentz

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Re: Elinchrom ELC Pro HD 1000 vs Profoto D1 1000
« Reply #8 on: March 16, 2016, 05:29:23 pm »

I'm located in Austria, we only have http://www.slach.at and the page is confusing as hell. I can't tell whether they are selling them or just blogging about them.
Any I can't find a shop to rent them either, so if I need more or one goes down I'd be in quite some trouble.

I've worked with D1s before, the 'flat' surface never bothered me and in a softbox I didn't see any issues with that anyway. But I could imagine with harder reflectors it might be visible or even a problem.

Sorry for my ignorance - but what's a D2? I know there's a B2, but D2?

Sorry I mistyped, I was indeed talking about the Profoto B2, which has the flat surface as well. You probably won´t go wrong with any of them it´s probably more a matter of taste, just wanted to point to a high developed option. Cheers!

UlfKrentz

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Re: Elinchrom ELC Pro HD 1000 vs Profoto D1 1000
« Reply #9 on: March 16, 2016, 05:32:05 pm »

I do use the Profoto beauty dish from time to time (I don't do a lot of fashion these days) But I can see that a bigger one would be better to create a more pleasant fall-off.
The D1 flat surface is the reason why I recommended the frosted dome, the beauty dish is unusable without it. Profoto recently added a foldable beauty dish to the list of modifiers, but I don't know what size it is.

The Para88 is a great beauty light, not sure about the flat flash head though…

Christoph B.

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Re: Elinchrom ELC Pro HD 1000 vs Profoto D1 1000
« Reply #10 on: March 16, 2016, 07:01:44 pm »

I don't know, it's very pricey and from what I've seen it's just as good as any BD - maybe even worse when you consider that you can't put a deflector on it. You'd have to mount the flash head to shoot indirectly but just about all mono-heads are too big for that IMHO.

If money was no consideration I'd go with a generator and a few heads anyway, but as it is I'm on a budget.
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David Eichler

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Re: Elinchrom ELC Pro HD 1000 vs Profoto D1 1000
« Reply #11 on: March 17, 2016, 02:00:41 am »

You do need the Profoto frosted dome if you're planning on using large softboxes or octas, or even the beauty dish.

Could some kind of flexible diffusion material placed over the front of the strobe simulate using the frosted dome?
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Conner999

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Re: Elinchrom ELC Pro HD 1000 vs Profoto D1 1000
« Reply #12 on: March 17, 2016, 10:28:45 am »

We moved to Profoto years ago and would never go back to 'below' them or say Bron. The build quality, reliability, consistency, strong light mount and stand mounts, etc - all the usual superlatives you hear about higher-end lights.

We have some B1s and D1s among our gear and their great units, but do p/u domes. They make a diff in large soft boxes, and in BDs.

Also consider Acute packs. We have 3 and love them. Due to the B1, the price had fallen out of the bottom of the AcuteB series in the aftermarket and 1200 packs are no longer sexy.

The pack and head system, regardless if Profoto or Bron, really opens up the ease of use with many mods, like any future paras and makes for safer booming. In addition, the Acute and Pro heads have the umbrella holes alongside the tube, so would can turn any Para or octa into a BD using an Eli defector kit - or Eli rod with a Mola perforated deflector.
« Last Edit: March 17, 2016, 10:40:42 am by Conner999 »
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Christoph B.

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Re: Elinchrom ELC Pro HD 1000 vs Profoto D1 1000
« Reply #13 on: March 17, 2016, 12:51:47 pm »

Thank you for your feedback! :)

I don't think an Acute pack is going to be feasible right now, especially when I have to move my equipment I'd rather have one or two monoheads than a huge generator with one or two additional small heads.

Besides even the used ones are pretty expensive and if the pack should fail or break I'd be pretty screwed.
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Ellis Vener

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Re: Elinchrom ELC Pro HD 1000 vs Profoto D1 1000
« Reply #14 on: March 17, 2016, 09:50:40 pm »

@ Ellis: What are your reasons for choosing the Elinchom head?

Over the D1? better (shorter)  flash duration, and more advanced electronics.

@Raul: That's exactly what I've heard from other users, it seems like the ProFoto heads are extremely durable. How happy are you with the consistency of the color temperature of the D1? (flash duration isn't that big of a deal for me)
« Last Edit: March 18, 2016, 03:56:42 pm by Ellis Vener »
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yashima

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Re: Elinchrom ELC Pro HD 1000 vs Profoto D1 1000
« Reply #15 on: March 18, 2016, 12:18:42 am »

I like Elinchrom however its disappointing they have abandoned the pack system development completely. The new monohead is quite advanced, however the head design is, for me, quite outdated.

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gazwas

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Re: Elinchrom ELC Pro HD 1000 vs Profoto D1 1000
« Reply #16 on: March 21, 2016, 03:31:19 pm »

Another vote for the bron Siros here - they are one hell of a lot of light for the money using the same tech as bron's ultra expensive Scoro pack. Being a bron user makes me bias but changing system, (so not tied in by modifiers) buying a D1 over a Siros is madness IMO. 
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Christoph B.

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Re: Elinchrom ELC Pro HD 1000 vs Profoto D1 1000
« Reply #17 on: March 22, 2016, 03:31:38 am »

Well as I said before - I don't even have a dealer for Broncolor in Austria. Not a real one, anyway, I can't see any prices or various products on his page, it's more like a blog - completely useless.
It's the same for Germany. How on earth are you supposed to make a decision when you can't even find a pricetag on their product? How they're able to survive as a company is beyond me.


edit: by the way: why would buying a D1 over a Siros be madness?
« Last Edit: March 22, 2016, 03:35:13 am by C+B »
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gazwas

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Re: Elinchrom ELC Pro HD 1000 vs Profoto D1 1000
« Reply #18 on: March 22, 2016, 01:01:27 pm »

by the way: why would buying a D1 over a Siros be madness?

Don't get me wrong the Profoto is a great reliable light and many people love them but IMO you are paying for the brand name more then anything else.

Why buy a Siros....... flash duration, colour stability, 9 fstop power range, HSS (option), WIFI, exposed flash tube are but a few, however if non of this matters in a premium product then why bother changing from the cheaper Elinchrom which is a great system?

Where to buy bron in you area however is not something I can help you with sorry.
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Christoph B.

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Re: Elinchrom ELC Pro HD 1000 vs Profoto D1 1000
« Reply #19 on: March 22, 2016, 04:01:21 pm »

I would be perfectly happy to stay with Elinchrom IF the colour stability was much better (±200) and the build quality was better as well.

Every Elinchrom mono-head ended up with a broken umbrella/deflector-shaft. They were either too tight or too lose right from the beginning, so I had to send them in for repair - and then after a few years they'd just break and fall out.
Right now I have both my RX 1200 and RX 600 with a broken umbrella-shaft and I'm fed up with having to send it in for repairs. Besides I've no warranty and I don't think I have the nerve to spend any more money and time on it. It just has to work.

As far as I know Elinchrom has not changed the general design of the shaft and I' rather spend more money for better colour and build quality than be stuck with that.

Right now the only system that has a better build and colour quality and is available for a decent price is the ProFoto - I'd got for Bron but as I said I can't see any prices and for all intents and purposes it's just not available in my region.
« Last Edit: March 22, 2016, 04:06:37 pm by C+B »
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