Profoto A2 Review
Profoto A2 review by an experienced flash shooter. That would be me, Angela Cappetta.
Profoto A2 Review. The time had come. I don't want to retire my Lumedyne packs, but I need to. The pack system is outdated, the cord sync system is ridiculous. The customer service, since the company was sold, is abysmal. The folksy, no free shipping, costing-a-fortune every year to re-cel, unbend, re-cord. I'm done with all of it.
So, naturally, I walked over to Adorama, prepared to give them all my money.
I wasn't sure what I was looking for. However, I knew what I didn't want: more chiropractic bills. I needed smaller, more versatile, lighter and equally powerful. I wanted a once-in-a-lifetime bulb. A nice dome to diffuse and spread the light just a touch. But I needed that light to be hard, and somewhat sexy. And it had to be able to fit in my bag, and come with extra batteries. I didn't want something flimsy and high maintenance. Nor did I want ultra high tech. I needed a workhorse. Dependable, and easy. See, not a lot to ask.
The answer was simple: the Profoto A2 called.
My first trip to Adorama on this mission was exploratory. The salesperson was very helpful. She showed me several models and ran through prices with me. I knew I had to come back with my kit to make sure the alchemy was there. Flash photography is a series of circuits which all depend on each other. If they don't connect correctly the whole things doesn't work. So, on the second visit, the sales person helped me work out the kinks on the issue. I knew I wanted the smaller transmitter. He tried to sell me the larger one. I knew I didn't want it. Then, after an hour of testing the larger one, it failed to consistently fire. The flash and the transmitter were too close to each other on my bracket. I knew this immediately. He, however, wasn't convinced. So, after melting my brain slowly for 90 minutes listening to him mansplain how this "isn't supposed to happen", he finally moved the set up to the smaller transmitter. Boom. it worked. Just like I predicted. Furthermore, Profoto was running a special, the transmitter was free that week. Sold. Upon it's arrival, I tested it, and all went according to plan.
However...
It does not work with an analog film kit. As in, not at all. So, in conclusion, great for DSLR. But if you shoot film, you're on your own. For this I'll have to keep using my Lumy kit. A life free of back and shoulder fatigue is clearly not in my future. Enjoy!Angela