Aperture Anecdotes: Orbis® and Frio®: A review

OK. I know that I usually take outdoor nature photos but sometimes I like to play with some creative indoor photography techniques. Recently Enlight Photo sent me a couple products to try out. I had a photo exhibit to prepare for and classes to teach so I didn’t have a spare minute to try them out until the last few days. What a fun few days I have had.

Frio® attaches flash to tripod

The first item I used was the frioTM cold shoe. This handy gadget allows you to attach your flash to any tripod or any stand with a standard 1/4-20 thread. I used it to mount my flash on my little Joby tripod which I positioned to light the underside of a glass dish that contained oil and water. This classic macro technique produces wonderful abstract images. I really loved the ease and simplicity of the frioTM. It is small and light and allowed me to place my flash exactly where I needed it for the job.

Oil & Water Study

Enlight Photo’s signature product is the

Orbis® set up

orbis®, an accessory that turns your detachable SLR flash into a ring flash. At first glance the orbis® , seemed a bit bulky compared to the compact macro ring flashes I'm used to but, I soon found that to be a good thing. Its size allows it to diffuse light beautifully, eliminating ugly, harsh shadows. It simply fits over your flash gun allowing for TTL operation of your flash.

Along with it, they included the orbis® arm which attaches to the tripod mount on the bottom of your camera and holds the flash and orbis® in place around your lens. I found that the arm added unnecessary weight and bulk to the whole setup. In fact it was difficult for me to hold the camera up with one hand with the flash, arm and orbis® attached for more than a minute or two at a time. To be fair, I was starting out with a Canon 5D MKII with a 70-300mm lens attached. Combined they weigh almost 4 pounds and I am a petite female. Once I removed the arm, the problem was solved and I could easily hold the unit in my right hand while I adjusted focus and such with my left. While the orbis® is designed to be used with support for the flash, it held my flash tightly enough so it could hang down from the bottom when I needed to let go for a moment to make adjustments with my left hand. The arm or hand held support would be necessary for larger, heavier flash units. The weight was not a problem when I mounted the unit on a tripod.

Birds Nest

For some time I have been wanting to photograph a bird’s nest I found last winter so I decided to use it as the subject for my first test of the orbis® I set up my ‘stage’ by placing a black hinged science board on a black tablecloth. I mounted my camera on my tripod and linked the flash to the camera with a flash cord. It took me a few tries with various adjustments to the flash strength to get some great images. I am very pleased with the soft light produced by the orbis® and that I was able to achieve the look I wanted by isolating my subject from the background. At half the price of an electronic ring flash, the orbis® is a great product and a fantastic money saver. And, while this test was done indoors, I plan to take both the frioTM and the orbis® outdoors next so, stay tuned...