With Photokina happening at the moment, there have been a lot of announcements from camera and accessory vendors. Here are a few announcements that caught my eye.



Phottix released their fantastic Odin TTL Flash Trigger late last year, initially only for Canon. (Read my review of the Odin here.) A Nikon version of the Odin was made available earlier this year, and now Phottix have announced the Sony version of the Odin.

Phottix Odin for Sony

The Phottix Odin provides reliable triggering for multiple off-camera flashes, with three groups that can be configured in either TTL mode or manual mode, allowing all settings, including flash power levels, flash exposure compensation and flash zoom, to be configured from the Odin's transmitter. The Odin also supports high-speed sync and second curtain sync, and is backward compatible with the original Strato, Strato II and Atlas II triggers.

Phottix have indicated that the Odin for Sony will start shipping next week, and is now available for purchase in Phottix's online store.



At Photokina, Phottix have announced their newest flash trigger, the Phottix Strato TTL. The Strato TTL is a brand-new trigger in the Strato series, and provides a cheaper solution to photographers wanting reliable and easy-to-use wireless TTL flash triggering. As with all of Phottix's more recent triggers, the Strato TTL trigger uses 2.4GHz. It supports a maximum shutter speed of 1/8000 seconds in high-speed sync mode, and also supports second curtain sync.

The Strato TTL is compatible with the original Strato, Strato II and Atlas II triggers.

Versions of the Strato TTL trigger for Canon, Nikon and Sony will be released in Q4 2012 and Q1 2013.

Phottix Strato TTL transmitter and receiver

rear of the Phottix Strato TTL transmitter and receiver

While the details in Phottix's press release are pretty thin, it looks like the Strato TTL is a cheaper and smaller version alternative to the Phottix Odin, but without support for multiple groups of flashes.

No information is available about compatibility with the Phottix Odin, but it would be nice if the Odin and Strato TTL were compatible.

Pricing information for the Strato TTL isn't yet available, but it should provide photographers wanting TTL flash triggers a cheaper alternative.



Phottix have also announced a TTL flash, called the Mitros. The Mitros will be available for Canon, Nikon and Sony, and has been under development for more than two years.

Functionality includes ETTL, manual and multi modes, high-speed sync, rear curtain sync, auto and manual flash head zooming, and built-in IR master/slave triggering. The Mitros takes 4 AA batteries, and has a socket for connecting an external battery pack. With a guide number of 58, the Mitros flash output is likely to be comparable in power to a Canon 580EX.

front of the Phottix Mitros TTL flash

rear of the Phottix Mitros TTL flash

Something not seen on many other flash units, the Mitros has a USB port, to allow the firmware to be upgraded. This will allow Phottix to add compatibility for new camera models in the future.

The Mitros will be available for Canon, Nikon and Sony in Q4 2012 and Q1 2013.

Update: The Mitros flash for Canon is now available in the Phottix online store, and is priced at USD$349.99.



The Ares is a new wireless flash trigger from Phottix, and was announced on 20 September 2012. The Ares is designed as a no-frills non-TTL flash trigger that is easy to use, and provides reliable triggering, at an affordable price.

One of the key features of the Ares is the rotating transmitter mount. It allows photographers to use the transmitter in an upright position, for easy access to the controls, or folded down to make it more compact.

Phottix Ares flash trigger

Use of 2.4GHz for communication ensures the Ares has a range of over 200m, and a total of 8 channels are provided. The transmitter allows either a single channel to be triggered, or all channels at once.

The Phottix Ares is due for release in October 2012, and will replace several of the older Phottix flash triggers, including the Tetra, Aster, and the original Strato.

The Phottix Odin can trigger the original Strato, but no information about compatibility between the Odin and the Ares trigger was available at the time of writing.



Also at Photokina, Canon has announced the new Canon EOS 6D DSLR camera body. The 6D is a smaller-bodied full-frame camera, with a new 20.2 megapixel sensor, and is set to be released in December 2012, with an estimated price of approx USD$2100.

Canon say the 6D is the lightest full-frame DSLR, and it has built-in wifi and GPS functionality.

front of the Phottix Mitros TTL flash

rear of the Phottix Mitros TTL flash

The Canon 6D fits into Canon's DSLR lineup between the 7D and the 5D mark III, providing a cheaper option for people wanting a full-frame DSLR, without the higher cost (and additional features) of the 5D mark III.

The maximum flash sync speed of the Canon 6D is 1/180 seconds, compared to the 5D's 1/200 seconds, and the 50D/60D/7D's 1/250 seconds. The slower flash sync speed could be a big issue for any strobist photographers wanting to use flashes outdoors.

Phottix recently announced the Atlas II wireless flash trigger. The Atlas II is a transceiver, where each unit can be configured to operate in either transmitter mode or receiver mode, and can be used to trigger cameras, flashes and studio strobes. The Atlas II has a range of upto 350m, with one tester reporting successful triggering at distances of upto 600m (90% success rate at that distance).

The Atlas II is compatible with Phottix Strato and Odin series TTL triggers, where an Odin TCU can trigger Atlas II transceivers, Strato and Strato II Multi transmitters can trigger Atlas II transceivers, and an Atlas II can trigger Strato receivers.
Note that an Atlas II can not trigger Strato II Multi receivers or Odin receivers.

It is important to note that the Atlas II is not compatible with the original Atlas. This is because the Atlas II uses 2.4GHz for communication, while the original Atlas used 433MHz. This allowed the original Atlas to be compatible with some of the PocketWizard products, but had a limited range.

The use of 2.4GHz in the Atlas II provides a much better range than the original Atlas, ensures it can be sold world-wide, and introduces compatibility with other Phottix triggers.



Some photo galleries to inspire you:

• Absolutely amazing macro photography by Lee Peiling
• Pencil vs Camera
• 4x5 Kodachromes from 1940-1943 in WWII
• Five Year Photo
• Hilarious Portraits of Faces Being Blasted by Air (there's a related video available here)

Here is a short selection of creative photography projects to try:

• Make Photo Mosaics for your Fridge
• Mini Key Chain Photo Album
• Create Wonderful Sliced Fruit Images

Earlier this year I read an interesting post on The Online Photographer blog about doing a photo print each day as an exercise in improving your post-processing skills specifically in relation to achieving good photo prints.

It is something that appealed to me, but I put it off at the time, as I had been travelling for work, and have been very busy. However, as I have a few weeks holidays at the moment, I thought I would give it a try during my break from work.



I am using a Canon Pixma iP4300 inkjet printer that is a few years old, with genuine Canon ink on 6x4" Canon glossy photo paper.

Previous experience has shown the colour rendition of my printer is very close to that of my calibrated monitors, so the complexities of printer calibration is something I don't have to concern myself with.



Rather than printing photos I have previously spent time post-processing, I am selecting a variety of photos from my archives that I have never post-processed, interspersing landscapes, macro and portraits.

Only photos that particularly appeal to me are being chosen. Some photos were taken a while ago, and I haven't got around to post-processing them. Others photos are more recent - with today's print being a photo that I took earlier today.



I started last week Saturday, so today is day six, and I have six prints hanging on the cupboard door in my home office, as shown in the photo above.

In a couple of weeks I'll post a followup on this print a day project, with some comments on what worked for me, what didn't work, and what I learnt from the project.



Today's print is one of the photos I took earlier today. As I'm currently on holidays from work, I was able to attend an excursion with the year three class that my 8 year old son is in. We spent the morning at Cohuna Wildlife Park, and the afternoon at the Armadale Reptile and Wildlife Centre.

Both locations provided a very hands-on experience for the kids, with a wide variety of animals. It was a great day, and I managed to get some great photos of the animals, the kids, and the kids interacting with the animals.

Three Lizards

top: unknown; middle: Pygmy Spiny Tailed Skink; bottom: Western Bearded Dragon

Armadale Reptile and Wildlife Centre, Armadale, Western Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 24-70mm f/2.8L @70mm, 1/25 sec, f/4.5, ISO1000

Late last month Phottix announced an updated version of firmware for the fantastic Phottix Odin for Canon wireless TTL flash trigger.

The most notable inclusion in firmware version 1.20 is support for 1/3 stop adjustments in manual mode. While the lack of 1/3 stop adjustments in manual mode hasn't been a big issue for me (I typically use the Odin in TTL mode, and you can get 1/3 stops with the flashes in manual mode by using the camera's flash exposure compensation), many people have been clamouring for 1/3 stops.

The Nikon version of the Phottix Odin has had support for 1/3 stop adjustments in manual mode from its initial released version, and now the Canon version also supports this feature.



Due to limitations of the display on the Odin TCU for Canon, the Phottix team have taken a creative approach to display the 1/3 stop adjustments. With previous versions of firmware, when adjusting the power output of a flash group on the TCU, the TCU's display would flash the power level, as shown in photo 1 below.

With firmware version 1.20 installed, the "+" and "-" buttons now adjust the power output of a flash group in manual mode in 1/3 stop increments. The flashing display now alternates between the base power level (ie, 1/128) and the 1/3 stop adjustment, as shown in photos 2 and 3 below.

photo 1: setting group 1 output in manual mode, power level set to 1/128 (same display as previous firmware)

photo 2: setting group 1 output in manual mode, power level set to 1/128 + 0.3