[Review] Profoto OCF Color Gel Filter Holder

I tested the new Profoto OCF Color Gel Starter Kit last week and it is finally really easy to use them on the Profoto B1 and B2.

With this small and lightweight solution, I don’t need to fiddle with clamps or duct tape to attach color correction or other gels to my battery flashes any more.

Read my short review to see more of what is in the package and what you can use it for.

The standard rim light with color

This is probably what the new OCF Color Gel Filter Holder is designed for, adding some color on its own, with or without a grid.

But you can use it together with other lighting modifiers in the Off Camera Flash family, for example softboxes.

The OCF Color Gel Starter Kit

This is the kit that contains the actual gel holder, with 10 gels in different colors. You can buy additional packs for color correction or effects if you want to broaden your palette.

Or, if you want, you can buy standard gels on sheet or a roll and but them to fit the holder. Might be a cheaper solution if you for example use CTO or CTB a lot.

Inside the box you will find a small bag for the grid holder, very good for transporting it inside your camera bag. And an even smaller case for the grids, all marked with the color name and number of f-stops they reduce the light. Good to know.

The holder is three parts that you put together and fit the filter gel in-between. All parts are made of plastic, not the most brittle construction but I would recommend not walking on them.

When you have attached all the parts and the gel, it looks like this, you can also fit in a grid inside the holder for more control over the light beam of you would want that.

As for using the gel holder with different lighting modifiers, you can do that, with one exception.

If you are using a Profoto B1, the holder will work together with the OCF speedring and softboxes as well as umbrellas. The Profoto B2 will not be able to have a gel holder and umbrella at the same time because of the placement of the hole for the umbrella rod.

This is how small it is, compared to a Profoto B1, putting it beside a B2 it looks a bit bigger.

One thing that might make a difference when you use the gel holder with softboxes or umbrellas is the inch or so it is protruding from the flash. I haven’t tested how much it restricts the light, but with the built in reflectors on the B1 and B2, it probably narrows the light beam a bit as it adds something like a small snoot outside the front glass.

White balance for daylight, approx. 5500 Kelvin.

More blue with orange

I haven’t done this a lot before, mainly because of the hassle with taping and fitting gels to my flashes, but it is an easy way of making grey weather more interesting, and blue.

White balance for tungsten, approx. 3000 Kelvin

Using a one light setup with white balance set to tungsten but no filter attached to the OCF Beauty Dish.

Here is the setup, just one Profoto B2 with a OCF Beauty Dish and a Color Gel Holder attached inside right in front of the speedring and a full CTO color correction filter gel.

Here is how the final portrait with the “right” balance looks like, the background is blue instead of pale grey and the model looks like he should do regarding skin color (more or less).

Of course, you can use colors any way you like, for instance to make everything a blueish green.

Here is the full list of color gels included in the packs:

Profoto OCF Color Gel Starter Kit ($99)

1x Full CTO, 1x Half CTO, 1x Quarter CTO, 1x Quarter CTB, 1x Half Plus Green, 1x Rose Pink, 1x Light Lavender, 1x Just Blue, 1x Peacock Blue, 1x Yellow

Profoto OCF Color Correction Gel Pack ($59)

3x Full CTO, 3x Half CTO, 3x Quarter CTO, 2x Eighth CTO, 1x Half CTB, 1x Quarter CTB , 1x Eighth CTB, 2x Plus Green , 2x Half Plus Green , 2x Quarter Plus Green

Profoto OCF Color Effects Gel Pack ($59)

2x Rose Pink, 2x Gold Amber, 2x Light Lavender, 2x Just Blue, 2x Deep Straw, 2x Chrome Orange, 2x Scarlet, 2x Peacock Blue, 2x Magenta, 2x Yellow

Will I buy it?

Yes, it beats duct tape and feels very easy to use. Of course, if there was a version made of metal, maybe with the grid holder as a separate part, I would rather buy that. But this will make my work simpler and quicker compared to how I do things now.

I will probably buy two Starter Kits, and maybe one Color Correction pack, later on, when I get the feel of what will be needed (and used up) first, I might cut my own from a sheet.