Profoto Has a New All-in-One Photo Station That You Operate With an iPad
Profoto announced the Eclipse II, the second-generation all-in-one product photography station that comes from what was formerly known as StyleShoots, a brand Profoto acquired in 2022.
StyleShoots made hardware and software solutions that were designed to eliminate a camera crew and, perhaps, even the need for a skilled product photographer for brands regularly updating their e-commerce websites. When Profoto acquired the brand in 2022, it said that it chose to acquire StyleShopots due to the increase in consumer online shopping and the subsequent demand for fast digitalization of images in high volume.
“It’s different from our core business of creative work — it’s the opposite side,” Profoto CEO Anders Hedebark told PetaPixel at the time. “The market is going in two directions: both high-quality work and high-productivity work. A business has to choose, and now Profoto has the ability to do both.”
The Eclipse II is part of Profoto’s support of the latter “high-productivity” work and is the second-generation system designed for photographing high-quality videos and stills of shoes and accessories. It includes Profoto’s high-CRI LED panels, built-in Canon EOS R8 camera with a 24-105mm f/4 L-series lens, and iPad-controlled interface that makes what many photographers call “turn and burn” photography a fast, simple, consistent process that takes basically no photographic knowledge from a user.
“With Eclipse II, we are taking another step in transforming how e-commerce content is created. It’s not just about taking pictures; it’s about crafting a visual experience that entices customers and drives sales,” Tobias Lindbäck, Vice President of Studio Solutions at Profoto, says. “This all-in-one solution delivers consistent, professional results with efficiency that e-commerce content creation studios will find invaluable.”
The brains of the operation are managed via an included Mac mini desktop computer to “accelerate content production” and the aforementioned iPad runs Profoto’s workflow management software ProStudio which the company says guides users through a streamlined workflow process, from composition to export.
The company says that this second-generation machine is brighter, faster, and smarter. The Eclise II has more powerful LED panels that are color-accurate and useful for both photos and videos. The Mac mini at its core is where the “faster” comes into play and it pairs with the ProStudio app. Profoto is tying the “smarter” claim to the 24-105 RF L lens, saying that the “nano USM focus delivers premium sharpness to highlight even the most intricate details of your products.”
Profoto doesn’t say how much the Eclipse II costs — which is par for the course when it comes to any of the workstations from what was previously known as StyleShoots — but it’s unlikely to be “cheap.” The goal of the system is not to cost less than a skilled photographer for the first or even the first 100 shoots, but is meant to be a long-term investment that makes its value known over time; expect it to cost tens of thousands of dollars.
Image credits: Profoto
