Archives for November 2017

(ENDED) CreativeLIVE classes for $15 each includes Lightroom 101, Home Studio, SR Portraits, Etc

This sale ended…

I am trying to have a mix of all kinds of deals since it’s raining from all directions, so now time for some learnings! Ending Sunday night, CreativeLIVE has a 15 Classes for $15 each sale which includes “Lightroom 101” with Jared Platt, the “Inside the Home Studio” class, Senior (school, not age) Portraits, lighting, and more.

(ENDED) BenQ ZOWIE 27-inch 144Hz eSports Gaming Monitor for $424

This lightning deal expired…

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(ENDED) CRAPHY Portrait Studio Kit for $43 w/free S&H

These lightning deals expired…

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(ENDED) LimoStudio LED Ring Light 5600K for $80

This lightning deal expired…

One of the Gold Box lightning deals is generating some traction, it is 14% claimed 12 minutes into it, it is the new condition LimoStudio LED Ring Light 5600K Dimmable, 1/4 Screw Nut Camera Mount Adapter, Light Diffuser Installed, Light Stand Tripod, Photo Studio going for $80~ with free shipping (fulfilled by Amazon), running until 6:54pm ET or earlier if sold out. The price before the sale was $110 last night when I posted the lightning deals schedule which looks a lot more compact with the current/old WordPress theme 🙂

The Trending Five: KEH, YI 42.5/1.8, Pana G85, Etc

Handy if you are pressed for time and don’t want to go through our ever-growing Black Friday Situation Room, we have a new nightly feature for you during the holiday shopping season, “The Trending Five”, a quick round-up of five trending deals from the last few hours/days.

+ purchases of used gear automatically get a 365-day warranty (instead of 180) until 12/31/17 at KEH Camera (no coupon needed)
+ the coupon expired: + KEH Camera: 15% off USED Gear, 25% off Featured USED Gear with coupon PBF17A until Saturday 4pm ET

+ Panasonic G85 with 12-60 and 45-200 for $998 at Amazon by Amazon itself and B&H Photo and Adorama

+ 1-Year Dropbox Plus Subscription + $25 Promo eGift Card for $60 at Dell

+ YI 42.5mm F1.8 Lens with Macro Mode [m43] by YI fulfilled by Amazon for $100

+ Motorola Moto G5 Plus (2GB RAM, 32GB storage, All Carriers, No Contract, No Prime Ads, USA warranty) for $170

Saturday: Powerextra, Usual Camera/Photo accessories, Etc

There are over 35 items listed in the Camera & Photo lightning deals of the Amazon Gold Box.

For the latest Black Friday related action, check the Situation Room (on-going summary of deals) and also our “digest”/round-up of the Black Friday Ads.

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Refurbished DJI Mavic PRO with 1-YR warranty for $749

The new condition DJI Mavic PRO quadcopter is in the Black Friday Ads for $900 in new condition, but if you want to save some, to the eBayLandia we go…

… where the Drone Superstore (99.2%, New York) is offering it in manufacturer refurbished condition for $749 with free shipping and a 1-year DJI warranty. Up to three units per customer at the sale price. Nearly 500 units have been sold so far from this listing.

The same store is also offering the manufacturer refurbished condition DJI Phantom 3 Standard Quadcopter for $379 with free shipping and a 1-year DJI warranty. Up to three units per customer at the sale price. Over 500 units have been sold so far from this listing.

While there, the official GoPRO eBay store is offering the manufacturer refurbished GoPRO HERO4 Black with a 1-YR Warranty and for $200 with free shipping. Previously it was going for $220 with a $20 gift card.

Speaking of eBay, the following promotions are also running:
+ YMMV $10 off $50+ PayPal coupon – unique coupon per customer by email
+ 25% off select items from 120 sellers (max discount $50; sends Monday AM)

Fuji GFX-50S body with GF 63mm f2.8 for $7000 [or other options]

And now it is time for our weekly medium format post 🙂 The new condition Fuji GFX-50S medium format body only goes for $6500 but if you want a “take pictures with” kit, thanks to Fuji’s current round of instant savings, you can get it with the GF 63mm f2.8 together for $7000 at Amazon by Amazon itself.

Amazon appears to have “solved” their combined purchase discount problem of the old days where you had to manually add things to cart and such. Now they are pre-creating listings with the eligible items. Screenshot example below:

Cameraphone Deals: Note 8 for $908, Essential back to $450, Moto G5 Plus (2/32) for $170

The cameras in smartphones keep getting better and better, they are no longer an afterthought or a marketing gimmick to lure consumers in with a bigger than the competitor megapixel number. Newer models are climbing all over each other in the DxoMark rankings. (as usual, it should go without saying, the Dxomark measurement are only one part of the equation, benchmarks are never the whole answer).

The Orchid Gray version of the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is now down to $908~ at Amazon by Amazon itself. That’s the lowest I’ve seen it there for the US warranty, US unlocked version.

Meanwhile the Essential Phone by Android’s Andy Rubin is down to $450 again in either color scheme.

Cutting the price even further, you can get the new condition Motorola Moto G5 Plus in the 2/32 configuration (2GB RAM, 32GB storage) for $170 at Costco (members only) and by Amazon itself (limit 3 per customer). This creates an oddball situation at Amazon where the model with Prime Ads actually costs more 🙂

Note that the 64GB version of the Moto G5 Plus has 4GB of RAM (instead of 2GB), that’s part of the price difference, sale or no sale. As with previous generations, these are “all carrier” phones, they work on all four major US carriers.

Action Cameras Under $50: YI 1080p, ActiveON CX

There are a couple of action cameras on sale for under $50, so this is a good opportunity to round them up!

Active ON! Apply directly to the forehead. Okay, not directly – you probably need a head strap or a helmet mount for that 🙂 The new condition ACTIVEON CX Action Camera with 1080p and Wifi is on sale for $40 at Stacksocial and Walmart itself.

Next up, the new condition YI 1080p action camera with Wifi and bluetooth, in the black color scheme, is on sale for $48 with free shipping by YI, with the orders fulfilled by Amazon (Prime eligible).

But that’s not all, you also get a FREE YI Action Camera Battery. Simply add both in the shopping cart and proceed to checkout. Both must be sold by YI. If you don’t see the discount at the top right corner of the Amazon checkout page, it means something’s wrong, you won’t get the discount if you don’t see it. No coupon is needed.

Speaking of YI, their new condition YI 42.5mm F1.8 Lens with Macro Mode Micro Four Thirds lens in the silver color scheme continues to be on sale for $100 fulfilled by Amazon.

Refurbished Olympus 60mm f2.8 macro for $320 [m43]

The new condition Olympus 60mm f2.8 macro M434ds lens at authorized dealers goes for $500 such as Amazon itself and B&H Photo and Adorama.

But if you want to save a nice chuck, to the Olympus outlet store we go where they offering this lens in manufacturer refurbished condition for $320 with free shipping and a 90-day Olympus USA warranty.

There are lots of M43rds deals in progress at the moment, look for them under the Mirrorless and Lenses categories at the Black Friday Situation Room or use the various categories and tags here.

Canon PIXMA TS6020 Compact Wireless All-in-One for $39 w/free S&H

Back to eBayLandia, the new condition Canon PIXMA TS6020 Compact Wireless All-in-One is an eBay doorbuster for $39 with free shipping by the BuyDig eBay store. Limit one per customer. You have to do the “add to cart” thing to see the price. Over 800 units have been sold so far.

Manfrotto BeFree Live Video Kit with Tripod and Fluid Head for $129 after $60 MIR

If you are not afraid of mail-in rebates, Adorama is offering the new condition Manfrotto BeFree Live Video Kit with Tripod and Fluid Head (includes Case) for $129~ after a $60 mail-in rebate (MIR).

CORRECTION: I am failing math, it is a $60 mail-in rebate 🙂

PS: I forgot to mention, we are just one week away from Black Friday, and if the past is any indication, the madness will be in full force before the day is done today 🙂

Friday: Fujifilm INSTAX SHARE SP-2 Smart Phone Printer with 20pk Mono exposures for $127

One benefit of the old theme is that it makes our daily Lightning Deals posts a lot more compact. Speaking of which, one of the Gold Box deals of the day at Amazon is the new condition Fujifilm INSTAX SHARE SP-2 Smart Phone Printer bundled with 20 Monochrome Film & Shiny Star Film exposures for $127~ with free shipping. The printer is available in gold or silver. Limit up to three printers per color per customer. The bundles with the film cost less than the printer-only because the printer-only is not a lightning deal, only the bundle. The sale ends on Saturday at 3am ET or earlier if sold out.

Dell Refurbished coupons: 45% off most laptops and desktops, 40% off most monitors or servers

While our IT department (still me) is busy looking into the WordPress theme, the deals are not stopping, so onwards we go! Dell Refurbished is back with their weekly Friday AM to Monday PM coupons. As usual, free US shipping, coupons do not work on clearance items and cannot be combined with other offers:

+ 45% off any Dell Laptop or Desktop (exclude E5440 models) using Coupon Code: WINTER45DEAL

+ 40% off any Dell Monitor using Coupon Code: SEEMORE40DEAL

+ 40% off any Dell Server using Coupon Code: POWER40DEAL

Blog Update: WordPress Theme Issues

Of all the times in the year, WordPress decided to go bonkers a week before Black Friday. There are issues with the current WordPress theme, so I switched back to the old one until they get sorted out! That will teach me not to update to a new version of a theme or WordPress the moment it appears 🙂

If you have any problems accessing the website, please leave a comment here or use the online contact form.

As a backup, you can use the Feedburner RSS feed which is not dependent on the theme and it is hosted separately by Feedburner.

You can also check the latest deals summary at the Black Friday 2017 Situation Room – this is a separate WordPress installation with a different web hosting company. It’s the poor blogger equivalent of a fault tolerant system 🙂

PRO WORDPRESS TIP: always have at least one backup WordPress theme in cases like this. Preferably a theme from a different company, so if, for example, the WordPress default themes go down in flames, you can go back to something that doesn’t depend on them, in our case it’s a Genesis theme.

KEH offers 365-day warranty on USED purchases made by 12/31/17

This is huge for used camera gear purchases. For used camera gear purchases made until 12/31/17, KEH Camera is offering a 365 Day Warranty instead of their usual 180 Day Warranty. The details are at the aforelinked page. Items that are covered by this range from “BGN” (Bargain condition) all the way up to “LN” (Like New). Items below “BGN” such as “AS IS” are not eligible for the warranty as usual. No coupon is needed for this offer, it happens automatically on purchases made until 12/31/17.

This brings their current limited time used coupon to new light: running until Saturday 4pm ET, coupon code PBF17A gets you 15% off most used camera gear and 25% off 700+ featured used camera gear at the KEH Camera Pre BF sale. Coupon only works on used camera gear.

Given that most cameras come with a 1-year manufacturer warranty anyway, you are getting the same duration as KEH, and some, depending on their experience dealing with manufacturer warranties (just read some of the Samsung never-ending warranty stories), would argue that they’ll get better warranty service from KEH than the manufacturer.

(ENDED) Sunday: Axler Handheld Gimbal for Mirrorless Cameras for $299

These expired but for more action, check the B&H Featured Sales

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(ENDED) KEH coupon: 15% off USED Gear, 25% off Featured Used Gear

This 40-hour coupon expired…

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Friday: Usual Camera/Photo accessories, Etc

There are over 35 items listed in the Camera & Photo lightning deals of the Amazon Gold Box.

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Tamron SP 45mm f1.8 Di VC USD with Hoya 67mm UV NXT HMC Filter and $16 rewards for $399 [C/N]

It’s Tamron time! The new condition Tamron SP 45mm f/1.8 Di VC USD is on sale for $399 with free expedited shipping at B&H Photo in the Canon and Nikon DSLR systems and it gets a FREE Hoya 67mm UV Haze NXT HMC Filter ($38 value), along with 4% promotional rewards (around $16 to be spent in the future B&H). The Sony A version is backordered and cannot be ordered at this time.

Adorama has all three options in-stock and orderable for $399 with $16 promotional rewards but no free Hoya lens filter.

Amazon has them for $399 as well but no promotional rewards. However, if you pay with the Prime VISA credit card, you get 5% cashback (around $20 in your statement).

Rokinon 12mm f2 for $284 [X, m43, E]

Prime time now, the Rokinon 12mm F/2.0 Ultra Wide lens is on sale for $284 with free shipping in the Fuji X system, Micro Four Thirds and Sony E in the silver color scheme at Adorama (with 2% rewards) and at Amazon.

We’ve been posting a lot more, if you don’t want to go through the blog archives, you can also check our running Black Friday Deals summary.

Fujifilm Instax Mini 26 + Rainbow Film Bundle for $55

The Fujifilm Instax Mini 26 with the Rainbow Film Bundle is on sale for $55 with free shipping at Amazon by Amazon itself with a limit up of to three per customer. This is available in the White and White/Blue color schemes. It averages 4.5 out of 5 based on 420+ customer reviews and has 50+ answered questions.

Mac Black Friday Bundle for $39 includes Roxio, Art Text, Etc

MacOS user bundle up time. Stacksocial is offering their Black Friday Mac Bundle for $39 with digital delivery (not boxes by mail). A total of eight titles are included: Roxio Toast 16 Titanium, Art Text 3, PDF Expert 2.2, Default Folder X 5, WALTR 2 for Mac, Flux 7, Stylizer 7, and MacReviver.

As always, Stacksocial has various Pay What You Want offers, along with a variety of Photography and Adobe related classes and offers.

Speaking of Stacksocial, they are offering a Pure VPN Lifetime Subscription for $70. You pay once, and you have lifetime access to the service. You can connect up to five devices at the same time. It seems to average 4 out of 5 based on 4280 star ratings over there. They don’t have detailed star breakdowns like Amazon.

More updates to the Black Friday Ads Digest

More updates we did to the Black Friday Ads Digest, with new ads coming out from DJI, Gamestop, Groupon, and more! The DJI store will be offering additional free accessories with purchase. I do not know if retailers / authorized dealers are planning to match or beat them with their own freebies. We will find out soon enough, Black Friday is eight days away 🙂

Photo Accessories sale including Tenba Cooper 15 Bag for $170

The Tenba Cooper name reminds me of “Tad Cooper” from Galavant 🙂 Which brings us to the new condition Tenba Cooper 15 Bag for DSLR Camera with 3-4 Lenses and Accessories (Gray Canvas/Black Leather) on sale for $170 with free shipping at Adorama as one of their latest pre Black Friday sales.

Another one of those is the Glow 8×8′ Portable Butterfly Light Modifier Collapsible Kit going for $320 plus shipping which starts at $50 because this is a big and heavy item. That’s 8 feet, not 8 inches 🙂

Adorama is also running a Photo Accessories sales that includes B+W lens filters, Manfortto, Benro, Feisol, 3 Legged, and MEFoto tripods, and an assortment of other photo type of accessories.

PS: for budget camera bags, check towards the bottom of the Black Friday 2017 Situation Room under the “Camera Bags” section.

Staples B&M Rewards Members: Recycle Old Gear, Get $10 off $30+ coupon

If you have old cameras, printers, camcorders or any other electronics that have a very low resale value or would take forever to sell in the used market, and if you are a fan of the Staples B&M stores, and a member of their Rewards program, for the week of November 12-18 (Saturday night) in 2017, at their B&M stores, if you recycle old electronics, they will give you a coupon for $10 off a future purchase of $30+. A complete list of what recyclable electronics they accept can be found on their Recycling Promotional page (includes modems, cordless phones, fax machines, dvd players, calculators, keyboards, mice, etc).

PRO TIP: if you have more than one item to recycle, and want more than one coupon, you can always go there on different days/times and recycle them one by one or in smaller quantities 🙂 A list of items they don’t accept is also listed (TVs, floor speakers, lamps, bulbs, large servers, kitchen electronics, etc).

Their Rewards program is free to join and participate.

Canon PIXMA PRO 100 Printer with 50pk SG-201 paper for $60 after $250 MIR (prepaid AMEX Gift Card)

Down goes Frazier! In this case, the after-rebate price is now $60 instead of $80!

If you are not afraid of mail-in rebates and prepaid AMEX gift cards, for a limited time, B&H Photo is offering the new condition Canon PIXMA PRO 100 Printer with the 50pk Canon SG-201 13×19 inch photo paper for $60 after a $250 mail-in rebate (prepaid AMEX gift card). This is a limited time offer.

You pay $310 at checkout, receive the order, make sure all is well, file the mail-in rebates following instructions and deadlines, and if all goes well, a few weeks later you receive a $250 prepaid American Express gift card by mail.

Pixel 2, Note 8: Buy 1 Get 1 Half-Off at VZW

Two of the top tier smartphones camera-wise are participating in an Android promotion at Verizon Wireless. It is a “Buy One, Get One for Half Off’ for the Pixel 2 or 2 XL, the Galaxy Note 8 or Samsung S8 or S8+, the Moto Z2 Force, the ASUS Zenfone AR, and more.

The Pixel 2 and 2 XL phones have a trade-in promotion on them as well, up to 50% off with qualifying trade.

As usual with cellphone carrier offers, make sure you read and understand all the terms, conditions and restrictions of their service. They have a long way to go to make their websites consumer-friendly.

Epson XP-830 Wireless Color Printer for $90

The Epson XP-830 Wireless Color Printer is on sale for $90 with free shipping at Amazon by Amazon itself where it averages 3.6 out of 5 based on nearly 800 customer reviews and has nearly 300 answered questions. Happy reading if interested 🙂