Profoto’s New D30 Studio Flash Is Built for Demanding Pro Photographers

Oct 29, 2024

Zack Morrison

A black Profoto B10 studio light is mounted on a stand. The background features blurred green plants and white hanging pots, creating a soft, natural setting.

Profoto’s new D30 Studio Flash is a mains-powered monolight with bi-color LEDs. The light is built to cater to a diverse range of professional photography needs.

Profoto‘s new D30 Studio Flash is a highly versatile light that continues the design philosophy of Profoto’s previous, higher-class light, the Pro D3. However, the new D30 brings more than plenty of power to a photoshoot. The D30 has a 500 watt-second output across an 11 f-stop power range, and like its predecessor, it offers three specific flash modes: Eco for power saving that maintains color consistency, Boost for extra brightness, and Freeze for high speed shooting to eliminate motion blur.

According to Profoto, the D30 has a 0.01-second recycle time, so it should be quite hard to outrun this flash. Like with other Profoto flashes, the D30 comes with some handy quality of life tools as well, like a replaceable flashtube, ability to control the light via Profoto Air Sync, TTL, and HHS; as well as a bright bi-color modeling light. It can provide 35 watts of power for output up to 3,800 lumens, which is bright enough to help photographers preview the shadows their subjects will cast with a variable color temperature range of 2,800 to 7,000K.

A close-up of a studio light in focus, with a digital display reading 3.0. In the blurred background, a person holds a camera, suggesting a photography shoot in progress. The setting includes various studio equipment and a red wall.

In its announcement video, Profoto states it designed this light to provide just what you need for a shoot, “no more, no less.” As such, it’s small and compact for the kind of output it provides, yet sturdy enough to pop it up in most situations. One potential limiting factor is that it’s mains power-only, however the internal circuitry supports a range of voltage that should allow for use anywhere in the world with an outlet.

A man adjusts a professional camera light on a stand. He is wearing a black shirt and has short hair and a beard. The background is teal with some plants visible.

The D30 utilizes an 11 f-stop power range, which can be dialed into 0.1 units for precision control. Out of the box it can fire a 66-degree beam angle and 111 field angle. The light also is compatible with a wide array of lighting modifiers like soft boxes and reflectors thanks to its 100mm front mount.

A smiling man with short hair and a beard adjusts a bright studio light mounted on a tripod. He is wearing a black shirt and bracelet, standing in a room with blurred background details.