Where is Spacelight located?
41a Frost Ave, Braamfontein (next to AFDA Film School & Atlas Studios), Johannesburg.

Do you offer insurance on your packs?
A surcharge of 10% of the rental value of all the equipment is added to each invoice. An excess of 10% of the replacement value or R 5000 is levied in the event of theft, loss or damage. Please check our terms and conditions for details.

Do you offer Delivery and collection?
Spacelight offers deliver and collection of goods, however

How can I Get power on a location shoot?

What are your trading hours?
The opening times are Monday - Friday 8.30am - 5pm

How many packs can be run from a HONDA 5KVA generator?
You can run 2 x Pro 7 1200 studio packs or 1 x Pro 7 2400 studio pack. The Progas transformer must be used with each pack to avoid damage to the packs.

What is the difference between a Pocket Wizard Set and a Transceiver?
The Pocket Wizard Set has two separate components. This comprises of the Transmitter and the Receiver. The Transceiver is one component and can be set to be either a Transmitter or a Receiver. Please be aware that the U.S. Pocket Wizard version is not compatible in EU countries and South Africa.

Rent or buy?
Most big cities have good rental studios that come complete with lights, backgrounds, and often assistants. This is the way to go if you have a big budget and know exactly when you want to shoot. Having your own studio, especially at home, is great for spontaneous work and also because you can take some of your equipment on location.

Do I need a Flash Metre?
Only a handful of cameras, e.g., certain Rolleis and Contaxes, have been manufactured with the capability of metering flash exposure with a through-the-lens in-camera meter. The standard practice of studio photographers is to use a handheld flash meter, a device that measures ambient light, light ratios, and calculates how many pops of a lower-powered studio strobe system you'll need to shoot at f/64 with your view camera. Even in the digital world where instant previews are available at no cost, a handheld meter is useful for determining whether or not the image is too contrasty to print easily.

Profoto:

What is the best way to charge a new Pro 7B battery?
A new battery must never be run down to empty on the first usage. The ideal scenario is to drop the battery to half by shooting 100 flashes and then recharge to full capacity. Then shoot another 75 flashes and recharge to full capacity. Now your battery is at optimum performance. If you shoot your battery to empty on the first usage, then your battery life has been reduced to 15% of its true capacity.

How many flashes can one get from a fully charged Pro 7B battery?
On full power the maximum amount of flashes that you can attain is 250. During the course of the battery life the flash amount will reduce. Once a battery is shooting below 100 flashes the battery inner needs to be replaced. Contact us for spares.

Is using the Slave button on the Pro packs an efficient way to synchronise packs?
Yes, the packs must have line of sight with no obstructions between packs. Each pack must have the slave button activated in order for synchronising to take place.

Is there any difference between a Pro 7B pack and a Pro B2 pack?
The Pro B2 is much faster than the Pro 7B. The full f-stop range is 8 instead of 7 with the Pro 7B. The flash duration with max. 1/2200 is shorter than the 1/1400 of the Pro 7B.

Can I use battery generators as studio packs?
All Profoto battery generators can operate as normal studio generators when connected to AC, even while charging are fully compatible with the entire range of Profoto Light Shaping Tools

Do you offer a repair service for Profoto equipment?
Spacelight does not offer repair services but The Sunshine Company As the exclusive distributor in South Africa offer a local repair service for Profoto equipment.

About battery lifetime and how to prolong it:
The Pro-B generator is equipped with one of the best long-life batteries with special characteristics to support very short recycling times. This battery type does not suffer from so called memory effects known from old cellular phones. In fact, the battery is negatively affected by complete discharge and recharge cycles. On the other hand, frequent charges have a positive effect. The battery life can vary from two hundred recharges up to several thousand. With optimal care the battery can last up to 3.5 years. With normal usage, it will last 1–3 years. Nevertheless, if the battery is fully discharged every time it is used, it will still keep its capacity for 250–350 recharges.

How long does it take to fully charge a Pro 7B battery?
Once your battery has been completely drained, the recharge time will be 4-5 hours. The Profoto multivoltage charger must be used for charging.

Factors that will shorten battery life:
The battery is left fully discharged for long periods. High battery temperature. Usage of non-Profoto chargers.
Profoto Pro-7b
- Up to 250 full power flashes from a single battery cassette
- Fast recycling: 0.09–2.8 sec
- Motion-freezing flash durations: 1/1400–1/3000 sec
- Full 7 f-stop range in 1/6 step adjustments
- Asymmetrical or symmetrical power distribution
- 100 W modeling lamp

Factors that will prolong the battery life:
Charge the battery as often as possible. This is valid using either a Pro-B Multi Charger a Pro-B 12–24 V Car Charger or Pro-B Universal Power Adapter. If the battery is to be stored for periods longer than 30 days, make sure to recharge the battery completely prior to storage. The life is doubled if less than 50 % of the batteries capacity is used before recharge. If only 25 % of the batteries capacity is used before recharge, the lifetime increases 8 times, i.e. make sure to charge the battery as often as you can. Only use Profoto intelligent chargers.

Ask a question »