The SMDV Flash Wave III is a wireless system for triggering flashguns and studio lights, as well as for tripping a camera's shutter.

The system comprises a transmitter and receiver: for flash use the former sits on the camera's hotshoe, while the latter either connects to studio lights or accepts a flashgun inside its built-in hotshoe.

For remote shooting, the receiver simply plugs into a camera's remote port, leaving you free to operate the transmitter from wherever is necessary.

The system supports 16 channels, which are selectable via four small switches on the side of both units; these are painfully small and can only really be moved with the protrusion from the battery cover, as suggested. Both units have LEDs to indicate power and status, although once a flashgun is mounted on the receiver it obscures the power LCD.

The models promise a greater range than previous versions, and working on radio frequencies means that they don't require line of sight to communicate. Indeed, the two work just as well through a series of walls and on different floors as they do when right next to each other.

The SMDV Flash Wave III's receiver has a hotshoe on one side and a tripod thread on the other, meaning that it can be mounted securely when used in conjunction with a flash.

The size of the unit means that it can happily support a flashgun even without a tripod, although on some surfaces it can be easily knocked over - small rubber feet on the opposite side would be welcome for this reason.

While the pair work as well as expected, the one thing which may put some off is the lack of TTL metering support. For this, you would need an alternative set up such as some of the more recent PocketWizard models.

Verdict

Still, if you're on a budget and you don't require TTL compatibility, the SMDV Flash Wave III is a perfectly capable choice.

The Canon Selphy CP800 is a compact dye-sub 6x4 printer, offering the basic functionality we'd expect for its £80 price tag. This includes a 2.5-inch LCD screen and a range of card slots, as well as a USB port for flash drives and another for connecting a computer.

It's possible to process images with Canon's My Colors option, while a Smooth Skin mode and red-eye correction are on hand to improve portrait photos. There's also an Image Optimize feature, which includes noise reduction and face detection. You may also choose for your images to be printed with or without borders.

The printer is a little noisy starting up, although it's ready for action within a few seconds. Printing times vary, but on average it takes 65-70 seconds for prints to fully emerge from the unit, with an extra 15 seconds or so when the Image Optimize feature is employed. Thanks to the application of a final overcoat, prints are dry straight out of the printer, and no fingerprints could be seen on any of the prints handled during the test.

Detail and sharpness are good, while colour reproduction is largely accurate, with faithful hues and just the right amount of saturation. The only issues came with the slightly inaccurate reproduction of purples and magentas, and a slight warmth applied to certain images.

Both the red-eye correction and Image Optimize features work well, the latter typically lifting exposure in darker images, although its noise reduction didn't seem to affect the high-ISO images printed. The Skin Soften mode also does well to remove wrinkles and blemishes, although its effect may be considered overzealous, and there's no control over its intensity.

Verdict

The Canon Selphy CP800 is a good choice for those who want to make the occasional few prints with minimal fuss. Packs containing a cartridge and 108 sheets of paper retail at around £35-40, although some can be found under £30, so it's best to shop around.

Gossen Digisky Meter: Overview

The Gossen Digisky marries a standard lightmeter with current technological trappings, promising to be the first of a new generation of compact and lightweight multi-function exposure meters .

In place of the usual numerical LCD, for example, is a 2.2in monitor, which displays graphics and menus in colour, while a USB port on the underside not only allows the meter's firmware to be updated as it becomes available, but also charges the internal battery while connected.

The device supports up to four flash groups over eight radio frequencies, and three presets may be defined at a time in addition to a single preset menu for movie settings, which includes options for frame rates and shutter angle in addition to more standard exposure-orientated controls.

At the top of the unit is a retractable diffuser head which is encircled by a ring; turning this serves the dual purpose of moving the head in and out for incident and reflective light metering and also powering the device up and down.

Underneath the LCD screen a measurement key is joined by menu and data buttons and a control ring for navigating the menus, while a flash sync socket at the unit's base allows the unit to be connected to external lighting sources.

It'd be unreasonable to expect the Digisky to boast the same build quality and durability of a magnesium-bodied SLR, although those shelling out £330 for one may nevertheless feel a little short-changed by its build. The body is constructed from a matte-finish plastic, only differing with its glossier front fascia; the two could easily be found on a budget compact camera.

There's less to complain about with handling, though. The M button used for taking readings is large and presses firmly into the body, and it's positioned so that the thumb naturally falls onto it when handled.

Measurements themselves are carried out within the second, which is on a par with similar exposure meters. Aside from the ring around the diffuser head all functions may be accessed using just the thumb, making speedy one-handed operation is a doddle, although the diffuser head ring itself can be a little awkward to operate with precision.

All preset menus and options are segregated with tabs within a simple menu system, and repeated presses of all the camera's controls show it to be generally responsive and with little lagging when moving from one screen to the other.

The main screen presents all its details clearly, and changing shutter speed or aperture is easily done with repeated presses of the control ring. It'd be helpful for these to keep changing as the control is being held down, though, as this would make moving through the values even more effortless.

Gossen Digisky Meter: Specifications

Measuring sensor
Incident, reflected

Reflected light measuring angle
20 degrees

Incident light reading diffuser characteristics
Adjustable to flat or spherical (180 degrees)

Shutter speeds
1/8000 – 30min.

Flash sync speed
1/1000 – 1sec.

Aperture range (flash)
f/1.0 to f/90

Aperture range (ambient)
f/1.0 to f/128

EV correction range
EV -9.9 to +9.9

Battery
Rechargeable lithium ion battery

Operating temperature range
-10C to 50C

Dimensions
Approx. 139 x 66 x 15 mm
Weight Approx. 100 g (incl. rechargeable battery)

Gossen Digisky Meter: Verdict

The Digisky is already catering to a small market, but a sky-high price tag and a mediocre build quality risks narrowing that further. True, it does what it sets out to do well, and its colour LCD is both pleasing to use and brings with it a practical benefit, but if its build quality was as futureproof as the promised software updates photographers may be more likely to view this as a worthwhile investment.

We liked

Simplicity coupled with some neat technology makes for a winning combination, and the addition of movie presets brings it in line with current camera technology.

We disliked

Basic build quality coupled with a dear asking price. If you can live without the colour display you can save yourself a lot of money by opting for one of the many cheaper lightermeters around.

Verdict

There are upsides to the Digisky, but ultimately it just doesn't feel like the luxury price you're paying gets you a luxury item.

For the hardcore adventurers among you, the Seattle Solo from Camera Armor could be the ultimate in all-weather, all-terrain protection.

Whether you're kayaking the Zambezi or avoiding sandstorms in the Sahara, the waterproof inner casing will protect your precious DSLR from the brutal elements.

It is, however, somewhat curious that the 'convenient external accessory storage pouch for memory cards' is outside the dry, protected compartment. Duh.

In other words, ensure your memory cards are inside the main compartment with your DSLR. Otherwise, this is a mighty fine bag.

A well-worn Billingham slung over the shoulder is seen by many as the sign of a discerning photographer. A photographer whose eye for style is combined with a need for a functional, well-made product.

With the release of the 07 series, Billingham continues with this tradition.

The series has evolved after careful research from their successful PressTop bags and, from first impressions, they look rather similar.

However, tweaks to the interior design and front tabs make the bag more efficient and practical.

The bags are constructed from Billingham's FibreNyte material; it doesn't look as nice as the traditional canvas, but it does have more robust characteristics and is available in three sizes in black or khaki.

One of the more exciting announcements from the otherwise slightly drab keynote at Macworld Expo in January was that iPhoto '09 would support geotagging. This is the practice of embedding the coordinates of where a photo was taken, invisibly in its metadata.

The problem is that few cameras record this information automatically, and adding it by hand is laborious. This little add-on, however, adds GPS to any camera with a hot shoe (realistically, this means very high-end compact cameras and essentially all DSLRs) and will add location information to all your photos automatically. Well, semi-automatically; read on.

The photoGPS itself needs to be charged, though it never ran out of juice in our days of testing. Location information isn't embedded directly into your files as you shoot. Instead, triggering the shutter sends a pulse to the photoGPS telling it that you've taken a photo, and it then notes where you were when that happened. (It was good at getting a pretty instant satellite lock – impressive given the shocking GPS-locking performance of the Nikon Coolpix P6000) It claims 10m accuracy, though in our tests it was at least twice as good as this outside.

When you then hook up your memory card and photoGPS to your Mac, the software looks at the date stamps in the photos, and matches these with the data for the GPS locations. We love that it doesn't just embed the coordinates in the files, but looks them up online and writes the proper longhand location – down to the street – into the relevant IPTC fields.

It also matches points of interest, something iPhoto can do itself. But, much of this information is also added as keywords, which can't be switched off. It's embedded into JPEGs, or added as an XMP sidecar for raw files; it worked a treat with our Canon EOS 400D.

The Mac software is sluggish, however, and not that friendly, and the unit itself falls out of the hot shoe too easily; a tightening screw would be welcome.

There's a wealth of portable photo storage solutions on the market, but the specifications (and price) of the Epson P-7000 place it near the top of the pile.

It features a clear and bright 4-inch LCD that offers VGA resolution, remarkably accurate colour and contrast and a generous 160GB of space. The similar P-6000 weighs in at £90 less, but only has half the capacity.

Lightning quick

The outstanding feature here is speed. In our tests, using SanDisk Extreme III cards, it took 1 minute 50 seconds to transfer 1GB of data from a CF card, and 2 minutes 15 seconds from an SDHC card.

It's capable of viewing JPEGs of up to 30Mp in size and most RAW formats are supported, with some even allowing for basic editing on the fly. Useful, but even with MP3 and MPEG support thrown in, it's hard to justify the P-7000's cost.