Last Updated: February 14th, 2020
When the Profoto A1 was released in 2017, it received critical acclaim for its quality and ease of use. Not long after coming out, we found ourselves ordering one for ourselves with the hope of making shooting weddings with on camera flash simpler than working with other speedlights we’ve previously used.
As we expected, the Profoto A1 flash worked exactly how we wanted it to – and caused us to retire our older Yongnuo and Canon flashes for good. We since bought another one – and have been using them at every shoot of ours that requires a flash.
Now it’s 2019, and the Profoto A1X has just been released. Keeping in true Profoto-form as they do with many of their product lines, they have released a “new” product that is extremely similar but upgraded to have increased performance.
In this post, we’re going to be comparing the Profoto A1 and the Profoto A1X.
We’ll check out what they both offer, and let you know which we feel is the most worth your money!
Quick Summary – Profoto A1 vs. Profoto A1X
We understand that some people won’t want to read a full length post comparing the A1 and A1X – so this is for you:
If you are thinking about buying one of these flash units, we recommend the original Profoto A1 as our preferred choice.
The updates that the Profoto A1X bring to the table are so inconsequential that we wonder why the company would even bother with creating it in the first place. Resources could have been better spent developing totally new products – or a real second generation A1.
The only exception to this feeling is if you are shooting on a Sony camera – the original A1 is only compatible with Canon and Nikon devices, while the A1X works with Sony cameras. In that case, if the value of a Profoto A1 would appeal to you as a Sony user – the A1X is the best (and only) choice.
Profoto A1 Flash – Original and One-of-a-Kind
The Profoto A1 is an amazing piece of camera equipment.
When we decided to make the serious investment into the A1, we did so with the expectation that having this flash would help us streamline and simplify our workflow.
When photographing weddings and other events, having a flash that is easy to use, reliable, and creates consistently great results is very important. There are so many moments that occur that cannot be missed or recreated. It’s in this type of environment that the A1 shows it’s true colors and becomes incredibly valuable to a photographer.
That’s not to say the Profoto A1 isn’t beneficial to other types of photography. For sure, it’s a great option for studio portrait photography – and can be easily paired with another A1 (or any other Profoto flash) to create more engaging images by utilizing directional lighting. In this type of context, we’ve used it in conjunction with our second A1, as well as the Profoto B1X monolight – a high powered off camera flash option.
While it’s not a perfect machine, and some reviewers will even critique it for things like it being less powerful than other more traditional and less expensive speedlights, this hasn’t been something that has impacted our work. At least for our use case, we’d have to say it would seem that other flashes are probably over-powered for how they will actually be used.
Profoto A1 Flash (Original) – Features
The features of the Profoto A1 are exactly what we needed for our photography. Below is a list of all the highlights:
- Round head with soft and smooth light falloff
- AirTTL (Automatic Flash mode)
- High Speed Sync (HSS) mode for illuminating the subject and capturing ambient light
- Smart magnetic click-on mount for A1 Light Shaping Tools
- Some dedicated A1 Light Shaping Tools included
- LED modeling light
- Air Remote built-in
- Rechargeable and exchangeable Li-Ion battery
- 1.2s recycling time
- TTL/MAN switch
- Built in motor-zoom with hand control
- Auto focus (AF) assist
- Large Hi-Res display
- Battery performance up to 350 full power flashes
- Battery charges in 80 minutes
Profoto A1 Flash (Original) – Pros, Cons, and Our Thoughts
We covered the original Profoto A1 flash in our extensive review, but our opinions really boiled down to look like this:
The Profoto A1 is an exceptional on camera flash unit.
We use this professionally to photograph weddings and portraits, and as early adopters we’ve had the opportunity to use it in a large range of applications.
Our #1 reason for wanting this flash was the ease of use. It is night and day to compare this with virtually any other speedlight on the market. Going through our Yongnuo flash menu system, we get a headache instantly. On the A1, we know exactly where things are, and it’s not hidden by some weird hieroglyphics.
We could rant for a while about all the good attributes of the original A1 we own and use – but you get the idea by this point.
Speaking to some downsides, the price is definitely a tough pill to swallow. We had purchased this originally for 995$ + tax – so a thousand dollar investment. It was worth the price for the value it has provided us – but no doubt we had to think it over quite a bit before finalizing our order.
This has been alleviated somewhat since the Profoto A1X was released, and came paired with a $200 price drop on the original model. Now really is a great time to get in on the Profoto A1X train.
The only other significant con we came across was the battery performance. Early marketing materials suggested that you could use a single battery to photograph an entire wedding. That is, simply, false. While it’s certainly less batteries to lug around than using a traditional speedlight, you will still need to have a couple extra spare Li-Ion batteries on hand. We get through a full wedding day (8-10 hours of shooting) with about 3-4 batteries.
Profoto A1X Flash – Lightly Enhanced Edition
The new Profoto A1X is considered to be the next generation A1.
In a lot of ways, it’s extremely similar to how gaming consoles like the PS4 included a “mid-generation” upgrade in the PS4 Pro. If that analogy makes any sense to you, then you should already know what to expect here.
Honestly, the Profoto A1X was never a product that was all that needed. In our books, the original A1 already performed well enough for us to be happy with the results.
To be honest, the Profoto A1X release has been met with little fanfare or interest. It checks the boxes, but doesn’t do anything that was all that necessary. In short: it’s really quite boring. The original A1 was already a good enough product, and the changes here are pretty minimal at best.
- Is the Profoto A1X good? Yes
- Did anyone really want the Profoto A1X? No
Profoto A1X Flash – Features
The features of the Profoto A1X flash are pretty much the same as the original – with the only major enhancements coming to the recycling time and battery performance.
- Round head with soft and smooth light falloff
- AirTTL (Automatic Flash mode)
- High Speed Sync (HSS) mode for illuminating the subject and capturing ambient light
- Smart magnetic click-on mount for A1 Light Shaping Tools
- Some dedicated A1 Light Shaping Tools included
- LED modeling light
- Air Remote built-in
- Rechargeable and exchangeable Li-Ion battery
- 1.0s recycling time
- TTL/MAN switch
- Built in motor-zoom with hand control
- Auto focus (AF) assist
- Large Hi-Res display
- Battery performance up to 450 full power flashes
- Battery charges in 80 minutes
What makes these changes so insignificant is that they don’t really alter a photographers workflow at all.
Reducing recycling time by .2 seconds amounts to basically nothing. After shooting around 30 weddings with the original A1, recycling time has never been something we had an issue with. We get a good kick out of this change, though.
In the area of battery performance, this upgrade allows for up to 100 full power flashes more than the original A1. This change at least feels a little more tangible. However, the change also seems to miss the mark of what photographers actually need.
In our experience, the Profoto A1 (or any on camera flash/speedlight) is really going to be used by just a few different types of people.
You will have wedding and event photographers (like ourselves) who shoot for hours on end. By the time we get home and review our images, we take roughly 2,000 – 3,000 pictures – at least half of which are incorporating flash. Doing the math, we’re still going to end up needing to use 3-4 batteries regardless of whether we use the A1 or the updated A1X.
On the other end of things, you will find portrait and product photographers who benefit from using a flash – but they are normally working in much more controlled environments. They will not be rattling off hundred or thousands of photos. 1-2 batteries should be more than enough for them – especially given they can just throw one that has died on a charger and have it refreshed in a little over an hour.
Profoto A1X Flash – Pros, Cons, and Our Thoughts
This comparison article almost feels unnecessary because the Profoto A1X flash is really just a minor upgrade of the same product we already love. Yet – if your a consumer wanting to know the difference and how the two products compare…and if you should spend more money on the A1X vs. the A1…then our answer is pretty simple…
If anything should be clear, it’s this: the Profoto A1X is a good product – but it’s not worth the additional 200$ just for the ability to save .2 seconds in refresh time between shots and to take 100 more full powered flash photos. The best thing to come from this product’s release is that the original A1 has dropped in price – making it more accessible for those already interested.
As we mentioned in our introductory summary of this post, the only way we could really recommend the Profoto A1X is for Sony camera users. Being able to utilize the power of this on camera flash is great across any camera.
Profoto A1 Flash VS Profoto A1X Flash – Our Verdict
The Profoto A1X is a better flash unit – but by the smallest fraction possible.
The reason why we name the Profoto A1 the winner of this comparison, though, is because it performs really well for what it is – and is now the (significantly) cheaper option.
In all of our years of using the original Profoto A1, we’ve had no significant issues. We’ve put it through the hoops as we’ve photographed wedding after wedding, event after event, and have experimented with it during portraits and for more commercial photography projects.
We state it again and again – but the Profoto A1 outputs beautiful light (especially when paired with a diffuser that comes included), and it’s incredibly easy to actually achieve the look you want thanks to it’s really simple menu system.
We’re comfortable paying for the convenience and quality, and would recommend the A1 to anyone looking for an on camera flash unit that is reliable, creates stunning images, and is just easy.