Archives for 2017

(ENDED) Used Panasonic FZ50 superzoom for $88

As of 11/27/17 recheck, all used units sold out…

You can relive the superzoom history thanks to used sales! The Panasonic FZ50 superzoom (12x optical) is available in “Used – Very Good” condition with a detailed description and a couple of pictures of the actual item at Amazon Warehouse Deals. It is eligible for the 20% off in-cart discount which drops its price from $110~ to $88~, sold and shipped by Amazon Warehouse Deals itself (3rd-party sellers are not eligible for the in-cart discount).

(ENDED) Lightning Deals Round-Up: $80 Studio Kit, Etc

These offers expired… For the latest Lightning Deals, check the Gold Box blog-tag or the first page of the website….

[Read more…]

(ENDED) Sunday’s Amazon Daily Deals: Syma, HP computers, printers, Etc

These expired but for all lightning deal related matters, follow the Yellow Brick Road of GOLD BOX tagged posts 🙂 A link to them is in the Sidebar for your convenience.

[Read more…]

(OLDER POST) Rokinon 135mm f2 ED UMC

This is an older post… A separate deal alert got posted after this went live…

[Read more…]

(ENDED) Lightning Deals Round-Up: Nat Pho Book, D-Rebel T7i Book, Etc

This 4-hour block ended… For future action, check the Gold Box tag here and of course the Amazon Gold Box itself…

[Read more…]

Fuji X-T1 Body for $649, X-T1 Graphite Body for $749

The Fuji X-T1 body with a free 35mm f2 WR lens offer for $800 has not returned for Black Friday, but Fuji has discounts on both X-T1 body options! The X-T1 body only goes for $649 with free accessories at B&H Photo, while the X-T1 Graphite body goes for $749 at B&H Photo (with 4% promotional rewards) and Amazon itself.

Adorama does not have them on sale, while Amazon is out of the X-T1 kits.

Panasonic FZ2500 SuperZoom for $1000 with FREE $100 GC or Shure VP83F LensHopper Mic

The Panasonic FZ-2500, a 1-inch RAWzoomer with a 20x superzoom lens, something our 2007 themselves might have considered a unicorn, remains at $998 but it gains a freebie. You have a choice, at B&H Photo you get a $100 B&H e-gift card. At Adorama, you sure get a freebie [sorry, I couldn’t resist), the Shure VP83F LensHopper Microphone which goes for $300 on its own!

Panasonic GH4 Body with Choice of Freebie for $898

The Panasonic GH5 body only is holding steady at $2000, but the imported/grey-market prices have been dropping steadily, currently going for $1500 grey market as one of the eBay Black Friday features.

But the Panasonic GH4 is not only going for $898 but you have choices on which freebie to pick at B&H Photo: FREE Rode Mic or mayhaps V-LOG Activation Kit or 4% promotional rewards ($36~ in future purchases)… Amazon has it for $900, but no freeebies…

Canon 1D X II drops to $5500

A $200 discount is a pretty nice amount, except when the price of the camera is $5700. Still, $5500 is better than $5700, $200 can get you more memory cards or extra batteries or camera bags 🙂 The 1D X II is now going for $5500 with free accessories at Adorama and 2% promotional rewards (that’s a nice sum of $110 to spend in the future) at B&H Photo.

No freebies at Amazon but that 5% statement credit if you pay with a Prime VISA or Prime Store credit card is $275! Note that the Discover Q4 5% Cashback is limited to $1500 per credit card, so you’ll only get 5% back on the first $1500 of this price.

Ricoh GR II BSP drops to $549

It’s a small drop for the good old Ricoh GR II, it is now going for the very specific price of $549.06 at Amazon by Amazon itself where it is in-stock and ready to ship, and at B&H Photo where it is backordered. Adorama remains at $560. This is a Big Sensor Prime (BSP) camera, still alive and kicking 🙂

Nikon D500 Body + FREE MB-D17 Battery Grip for $1800

The Nikon D500 dropped $100 since our previous check, but not only that, it gained a new friend, the Nikon MB-D17 battery grip for FREE! So $1800 gets you the D7200 body only with said MB-D17 battery grip and freebies that vary by retailer. This time Amazon is offering freebies (128GB Samsung EVO green microSD, bag), along with Adorama and B&H Photo offering their own sets of freebies.

The same promotion is also available for the D500 with 16-80mm kit which goes for $2400. It is interlinked in the listings of all the above retailers.

Nikon D7200 body only drops to $797

The Nikon D7500 body only remains at $1250, but having the previous generation model around gave Nikon the flexibility to create a discount since their prices were artificially too close to begin with. To cut a long story short, the Nikon D7200 body only dropped from $1000 to $800 since ten days ago. The other kits get parallel discounts. I don’t mention them all because it would take forever to do these posts.

So the $800 price, or $797 to be more specific, is available by Amazon itself (5% back with Prime VISA, or Discover Q4 cashback; I won’t repeat these in every post because it will take forever to post anything!) and Adorama (with freebies) and B&H Photo (with freebies).

Canon 77D body drops to $750

Ten days ago when I did a price-check round the Canon 77D body only increased from $800 to $850, but right now, as part of the Black Friday festivities, the 77D body only is down to $750, the 70D with 18-55 for $900 and with 18-135 for $1149. You also get some free accessories that vary by retailer at B&H Photo and Adorama and Amazon itself (no freebies).

PS: we already mentioned the Canon 80D discounts both the new condition and the manufacturer refurbished, so obviously I am not going to create another post for them.

Sigma SD1 with 18-200 DC OS HSM for $2000

Sigma has a Foveon DSLR deal even! The price of the SD1 body only remains $1800, but they have dropped the price of the SD1 with 18-200mm f3.5-6.3 II DC OS HSM to $2000, so for $200 more you are getting a stabilized zoom with it. This is a special order so they won’t ship immediately at both Adorama and B&H Photo.

Pentax K-3 II Body drops to $830 or $846 with BG-5 Battery Grip

And now, the moment you have all been waiting for! I am beginning a full price check of all cameras tracked in the Camera Price Charts. This will basically cover almost all of the DSLRs and mirrorless cameras, along with the serious fixed lens cameras with RAW (above 1/2.x” sensor size). Hide your wallets!

We start in K-landia where the Pentax K-3 II body only has dripped down to $830 with free shipping at Amazon by Amazon itself with a up to three units per customer.

But if you want the official Pentax battery grip to go with it, the BG-5, you can get them together as a bundle for $847 with free shipping at B&H Photo.

“Nikon Df: The Expanded Guide” for $12 [paperback]

Back to the Gold Box we go where Nikon Df fans (or Df-curious photographers) can get the paperback edition of the “Nikon Df (Expanded Guides)” by Jon Snow (oops, Jon Sparks) for $12.29, with free Prime shipping or with a $25+ order.

This has 240 pages, and it has “Look Inside” activated, so when you click on the main picture in the gallery, it will take you on a wild ride inside the book. This is handy because you can jump all over the book, it can give you a much better feel for the book than just the first few pages that we get with the Kindle sample.

Offer ends on Saturday at 2:45am ET or earlier if sold out.

Print Magazine Sale: Outdoor Pho $4.15/yr, Digital Photo PRO $4.75/yr, Etc

Ooops, forgot about the magazines! The DiscountMags Black Friday sale is in progress with 300+ magazines featured at low prices. Of photo interest there are four printed magazines (US addresses) as follows:

+ Outdoor Photographer for $4.15/year
+ Digital Photo for $4.15/year
+ Digital Photo PRO for $4.75/year
+ Videomaker for $6.49/year
+ no autorenewal
+ see them all at the BF Magazine Sale page

The Shutterbug you see there is a digital subscription (Zinio) for $15/year, nowhere near as good of a price as the others. Zinio defaults you to auto-renewal so make sure you turn off auto-renewal or yell at them for a refund.

The usual assortment of “six degrees of separation” from photography subjects are included, fashion, sports, weddings, nature, tech, and so forth.

Refurbished Canons: 38+ DSLR kits and 97+ Lenses

There are so many refurbished sales at Canon I can’t process/post them all individually right now, so here is are the overview listing. I don’t know why they create so many listings, and I don’t know if there is complete or partial overlap between the categories. It is situations like these where it would really help if I was IBM’s Watson and could start 200 background process to sort it out!

+ 38 refurbished DSLR kits
+ 21 refurbished DSLR kit
+ nine refurbished DSLR kits

+ 97 refurbished lenses and flashes and such
+ 11 refurbished lenses
+ 7 refurbished lenses (some are EF-M)
+ 6 refurbished lenses
+ 3 refurbished lenses

Refurbished Canon Elph 360 HS w/1-YR W for $100

The Canon Elph 360 HS dropped from $130 to $100 in manufacturer refurbished condition at the official Canon store in silver or black [purple sold out] with a 1-year Canon USA warranty. The new condition price dropped from $200 to $180.

Refurbished Canon SX420 IS superzoom (42x) for $130

The new condition Canon SX420 IS (42x superzoom) goes for $230 in new condition at authorized dealers but you can shave $100 off that price by getting it for $130 with free shipping and a 1-year warranty in manufacturer refurbished condition at the Canon USA outlet. As the “IS” hints, this has a CCD sensor. It is in-stock as of the time of writing. That was smart, the zoom ratio is in part of the mode name 🙂

Web Hosting Deals for Black Friday

And now some web hosting deals, because having websites as a working photographer is no longer not an option.

+ discounted web hosting at Host Gator with prices as low as $3.48/month for dedicated WordPress hosting. The lowest price is with a prepaid plan for the longest available plan. Prices increase with shorter prepaid durations and increase more if month to month. We use Hostgator for the main blog.

+ hosting and domain registration specials Name Cheap. We use NameCheap for domain registrations.

+ Bluehost Hosting Special for $2.65 peer month on a prepaid 36 month term on their Basic plan, plus a free domain. BlueHost is based in Utah so probably not a good match if you are planning to host adult or other controversial subject matter. Which becomes a plus if you prefer a web hosting service that does not host subject matter of that nature.

+ GoDaddy domain registration offers as low as $0.99 for the first year (future renewals will be at full price)

The Trending Five: KEH, Dell, Seagate, CreativeLIVE, Canon

So many deals, so little time, so time for a “Trending Five” post, a spotlight of some of the deals that are generating some traction:

+ KEH Camera Black Friday coupon, 10% on cameras/lenses, 25% on accessories, AND 25% off on Featured Black Friday deals

+ up to 50% off on ALL classes at Creative LIVE – you make your own deal!

+ Seagate external and internal hard drives as one of the Gold Box deals of the day – follow the Amazon Lighting Trail using the Gold Box Blog Tag (Bookmark it or look for it in the Sidebar as well)

+ 60% off select items at Dell Refurbished (ends Friday 11:59pm Central)

+ a boatload of Canon refurbished, new condition, and with printer/PIXMA and other bundles are in progress

Refurbished Canon 16-35mm f/2.8L II w/1-YR W for $900

The latest model is the Canon EF 16–35mm f/2.8L III lens that goes with an “L flagship” price of $1999 in new condition at authorized Canon dealers like Amazon and such. The previous generation is the “II” and it goes for $1300 in new condition at authorized dealers such as Adorama.

But if you want to save even more, you can get the second generation model, the EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II as manufacturer refurbished for $900 at the Canon USA store with a 1-year Canon warranty. It is in-stock as of this post.

Refurbished Canon 35mm f2 IS USM w/1-YR W for $380

The new condition Canon EF 35mm f/2 IS USM lens goes for $499 at authorized Canon USA dealers such as Adorama and Adorama and Amazon. But if you are comfortable with refurbished…

… then to the Canon USA outlet store we go where you can get this lens in manufacturer refurbished condition for $380 with free shipping and a 1-year Canon USA warranty. It is in-stock as of this post.

Refurbished Canon 80D w/18-135 & 1-YR W for $949

The new condition Canon 80D with the 18-135mm IS STM lens goes for $1300 but you can zoom in with it for significantly less by getting the manufacturer refurbished condition from the official Canon USA outlet with a 1-year warranty for $949 with free shipping. A “latest generation” with a versatile lens!

Refurbished Canon 70-300/4-5.6 IS USM w/1-YR W for $230

The latest model is the Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS II USM, going for $500 in new condition at authorized Canon USA dealers such as B&H Photo and Adorama. The first generation goes for $450 in new condition. Given the $50 price different, if you are gonna get the first generation…

… then you might as well get it in manufacturer refurbished condition with a 1-year Canon USA warranty for $230 with free shipping from the official Canon USA store. That’s almost half the price! Zoom-zoom!

Refurbished Canon SX530 HS (50x) w/1-YR W for $140

The Canon SX530 superzoom (50x optical) dropped $50 to $230 new condition at authorized dealers with some free accessories such as B&H Photo and Adorama and Amazon, but if you want to save more, keep on reading…

… the Canon USA outlet store is offering it in manufacturer refurbished condition for $140 with free shipping and a 1-year warranty. You can buy three refurbished for the price of two new condition, and still have $40 to spare!

It is in-stock as of the time of writing. I am writing this because some of the refurbished Canons go out of stock and can be hard to spot because only a tiny bit changes on their product page. Zooming Temptation!

Given the price, you are paying $2.80 per zoom ratio 😉

Refurbished Canon D-Rebel T6 w/18-55 & 75-300 for $250

The D-Rebel T6 in gray looks nice, but if you are looking for an entry-level entry-point into the Canon DSLR system without breaking the bank, the Canon USA outlet store is offering the standard black color scheme of this manufacturer refurbished Canon D-Rebel T6 two-lens kit for $250 with free shipping and a 1-year warranty. The lenses are the 18-55 and 75-300, the standard two-lens kit. No need to fight the crowds at Fry’s 🙂 It is in-stock as of the time of writing!

Now shipping: Canon D-Rebel T6 in Gray (with 18-55 IS STM)

For collectors and completists mayhaps, of fans of all things gray, the official Canon USA store now has in-stock the Canon D-Rebel T6 in a Gray color scheme bundled with the standard 18-55 IS STM lens for $400. This is an available alert of a limited edition color, not a deal!

It kinda looks nice:

Canon SL1 with 18-55 and refurb 55-250 for $500

If of all the Canon APS-C DSLRs out there it is the Canon SL1 the one you want, in the black color scheme (not the Stormtrooper), the Canon USA outlet store created a Black Friday Bundle for it for $500. You get the new condition Canon SL1 with 18-55 IS STM plus the refurbished 55-250mm f4-5.6 IS STM along with a bag and 8GB SD card. One year warranty with new or refurbished items purchased there. It is in-stock as of the time of writing.

I think we found their theme here, just like the 70D black friday bundle, they took a new previous-generation DSLR kit and bundled it with a refurbished item. Interesting development 🙂