The Extremely Useful FRIO

I like lighting.  It's one my my "things".  One of the challenges I have had with hotshoe flash is having them stay where I put them.  I used to own a bunch of Metz 58 units, great flashes all, but very suicidal, they kept jumping off where I put them.  Fortunately they are also Panzer tough and served me well despite their tendency to validate the equations for acceleration due to gravity. Face it, those screw down rings don't always screw down properly.  I had resorted to my other good friend, Mr. Gaffer Tape to be sure and then at the recommendation of Joe McNally's former lead assistant Drew Gurion (I wish you huge success my friend!) I discovered the Frio.  Drew mentioned these things to me at the last Photoshop World, and then I forgot, and then they were out of stock whenever I looked.  Suffice to say, I finally got some and they are as brilliantly simple as they are advertised to be.

Frio is not sold in stores, you order them online from EnlightPhotoPro.  Click here to go to their website.  Ordering is easy and the shipping is both fast and economical because they have shipping centres in different parts of the world,  Being in Canada, shipping here is usually an adventure in pocket-picking but these guys were awesome!

The Frio is a blue clip that you slide your hot foot encumbered device into.  It is a spring type clip lock.  Your device comes off the Frio when you decide it does and at no other time.  The Frio has a ¼-20 standard thread socket on the bottom so you can attach it to, you guessed it, anything with a ¼-20 post.  Like a light stand, (go figure), or a Gorillapod, or one of those Manfrotto Doc Ock style arm thingys, or a tripod, or even a freaking ¼-20 bolt that you've poked through something because you needed a cold shoe there.

Enlight Photo Pro also sells ¼-20 posts so if you have a clamp that takes a ¼-20 post like oh say a Justin clamp or whatever Manfrotto calls their version, you can mount your flash securely to the clamp.

I ordered a 5 pack and a couple of posts.  They showed up at my door in a couple of days, no hassle, no fuss.  As easy as buying from Amazon and that is a compliment in my book.  A Five Pack is $50.

But wait you say!  I need the ability to attach my Frio to a ⅜-16 post!  Whatever shall I do?  Simply unscrew the ¼-20 socket from the Frio revealing the not so hidden and not very secret ⅜-16 socket.

You need these things.  You know you do.  Click the link and order some.  The Frio images used in this post are courtesy of Enlight Photo Pro.  I didn't take these images on my camera, I took them from the vendor's website