DIY Photography

Your one stop shop for everything photo-video

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

Profoto AirX lets you shoot your iPhone with the Profoto B10 at up to 1/25,000 of a second

Jul 8, 2020 by John Aldred Add Comment

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Profoto has today announced AirX, a new update for the Profoto App which lets your iPhone communicate with the Profoto B10 series strobes. It synchronizes over Bluetooth and Profoto says it’ll let you “sync the full power of the flash tube” all the way up to 1/25,000th of a second.

At the moment, the feature only appears to be available for the iPhone. Whether or not that will change in the future is currently unknown.

The idea of using strobes with a smartphone still seems a little weird, although not quite as silly as it initially sounded a couple of years ago when Godox released their A1 Bluetooth trigger for use with their lights on the iPhone and some Android devices.

And while still you’re probably not going to be doing a whole shoot using just your phone and thousands of dollars worth of lights, it can be a very handy feature for getting better behind the scenes photos with just the room ambient – especially if your lights are already set up anyway. Although, the results from the iPhone with the Profoto B10 and AirX do look pretty good.

I don’t think anybody’s going to expect somebody to go out and buy a Profoto B10 just for use with their iPhone, but if you’ve already got a B10, then it’s a neat free upgrade that offers you a little extra versatility. And it’s not just good for in the studio, either. Being able to sync up to 1/25,000th of a second means you can freeze action and overpower the bright outdoors, too.


There’s that quote I put in the opening paragraph, though. Exactly what Profoto means by “sync the full power of the flash tube” at 1/25,000th of a second I’m not sure, because at full power, the flash duration on the B10 and B10 Plus is around 1/1300th of a second at full power. So, 1/25,000th of a second isn’t going to capture all that light.

Update: Profoto has been in touch with DIYP to suggest that this is just bad wording from their marketing department and that the iPhone works in exactly the same way with high-speed sync as a regular camera with an electronic shutter.

But, if you’re a B10 or B10 Plus owner and want to experiment for yourself, the only thing you need to do to get the new AirX feature and use it with your Profoto B10 or B10 Plus it is to download the latest Profoto app which is available from the App Store. As mentioned, right now it’s iPhone only. There’s been no word on whether this will come to Android or in the event that it does, which devices might receive it.

Update: Profoto has confirmed to DIYP that an Android version is in the works. They cannot promise a release date nor a list of supported devices, but say they are working very hard to get an Android app ready and supporting as many high-end Android smartphones as possible.

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

Profoto’s new B10 Plus doubles the power of the B10 to 500Ws with a 25% price increase Profoto brings AirX Smart-TTL flash functionality to Android Profoto launches the new small and portable B10 250 AirTTL strobe This battery powered strobe lets you shoot up to 1/8000th of a second without losing power

Filed Under: news Tagged With: AirX, iPhone, profoto, Profoto B10, Profoto B10 Plus

John Aldred: from diyphotography.net

About John Aldred

John Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

« The CamFi ZF is a remote controlled zoom and focus unit for timelapse and macro focus stacking
Leaked Canon EOS R6 photos show no top LCD and confirm the joystick »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Learn photography

Recent Posts

  • Sony unveils three wireless microphones for content creators
  • This is why you should stop shooting music videos
  • First look at the Laowa Proteus Flex interchangeable flare optics
  • The Fotodiox RhinoCam Vertex shoots medium format images on L mount cameras
  • San Francisco filmmaker tracks stolen camera gear, police do nothing

Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.netUdi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.netAlex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

David Williams: from diyphotography.netDave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred: from diyphotography.netJohn Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.netDunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy