Archives for March 2020

Wedn: ASUS Zenfone and 29″ Monitor, Tiffen VND (72 to 82mm), Dr. Bag, SteadiCam, Panasonic HomeHawk, Etc

It’s ASUS day at the B&H daily deals for Wednesday 3/25/20, good until 11:59pm ET (or earlier if sold out):

+ ASUS ZenFone 5Z ZS620KL Dual-SIM 64GB Smartphone (Unlocked) for $279
+ because not everything revolves around iPhones and Galaxies
+ okay, scientifically yes to the Galaxies 😉

+ ASUS MX299Q Ultra-Wide Cinematic Monitor (29″, Silver and Black) for $199
+ 21:9 2560 x 1080, 0.8mm Bezel Thickness,16.4mm at Thinnest Point, etc

+ Tiffen Variable Neutral Density Filters, 72mm, 77mm, 82mm, $50 to $70 each AFTER a $20 mail-in rebate

+ SteadiCam AIR 25 Monopod for $199

+ ARCO Video Dr. Bag 20 for $69
+ also useful for your Grey’s Anatomy cosplays?

+ Panasonic HomeHawk SHELF 1080p Home Monitoring Camera with Night Vision for $60
+ NOT micro four thirds 🙂

+ flashdeal: Pelican 7060 Gen 5 Rechargeable LED Flashlight for $70
+ next: JOBY GripTight POV Kit (price before sale $19)

Panasonic GH5 body only for $1398 w/FREE Next Day Shipping

IF of all the M43rds and other assorted mirrorless cameras out there it is the new condition Panasonic GH5 body only the one you want, you can get it for $1398 with free next day shipping in the USA. Offer ends 3/28/20. As usual, you can triple the original 1-year warranty by filing with Panasonic (PDF with the details is at the aforelinked B&H product page)…

Optionally, when you click on the “Build Bundle” button, you are presented with various combined purchase offers. One of them is a lens, the Panasonic Leica 10-25mm f1.7 and getting them together gets you a $200 off combined purchase discount. The other options include software, camera bags, and a $150 off combined purchase discount on the Panasonic DMW-BGGH5 battery grip…

Sony a7r III with 24-105mm for $3896 with FREE Next Day Shipping

Anxious to get started quickly on your new full frame photographic adventures? Good until 3/29/20, B&H Photo is offering the new condition Sony a7R III with the 24-105mm lens for $3896 with free next day shipping in the USA. Of course the Corona situation may (or may not) impact delivery times, so always keep that in mind until things get sorted out…

Sigma 105mm f2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro for $469 [C/N]

And a macro and a prime and stabilized! Photographers of the Canon and Nikon SLR systems can part with $469 and for that you can get the new condition Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro lens with B&H including a free Tiffen UV filter as well. With the extra down time, it is a good time to photograph the spring in your backyard and all the little things you (re)discover [and sell on eBay?] while getting an early start on spring cleaning inside the home/apartment/etc…

Offer ends on 3/31/20 or earlier if it sells out…

20% off Reconditioned products w/GetOlympus coupon [ends Tue 11:59pm ET]

Good until Tuesday 3/24/20 at 11:59pm eastern time, coupon code SPRING20 gets you 20% off on certified reconditioned products at the Get Olympus website. New condition products are not eligible for the coupon. The usual restrictions/limitations apply…

Tuesday: Adobe Photoshop Elements 2020 for $60

The headliner Amazon Gold Box deal of the day for Tuesday 3/24/20 is the Adobe Photoshop Elements 2020 going for $60 in your choice of digital download or Disc delivered by mail…

In other daily action, the Adorama daily deal (changes Wedn 10am ET) is the new condition Polar Pro Mavic 2 Pro Cinema Series Gradient Filter Collection (with ND8GR, ND164 & ND328) going for $50 with free US shipping…

Tuesday: Zeiss Batis 40/2 CF (E) for $949, Wooden Camera, DraCast, SmallHD, Etc

Hooray, we have another lens day, Tuesday 3/24/20 is the second in a row at the B&H daily deals good until 11:59pm ET (or earlier if sold out):

+ Zeiss Batis 40mm f2 CF for $949 in Sony E only (full frame of course)
+ CF = close focusing, not carried forward

+ Wooden Camera Unified BMPCC4K/BMPCC6K Camera Cage (Rubber Handle) for $169
+ “Wooden Camera” is the company’s name, you will not receive an actually wooden camera 🙂
+ add this to the company/product naming faux-pas 🙂

+ DraCast BoltRay LED600 Plus Daylight LED Light for $139

+ SmallHD FOCUS OLED SDI Monitor Gimbal Kit for $299

+ also NetGear NightHawk and Denon Audio Commander
+ very impressive sounding names 🙂

Meanwhile the headliner of the Tuesday Best Buy dailies is the Microsoft Surface PRO 7 tablet going for $900 after you add it to the shopping cart (12.3″, i5, 8GB, 256GB SSD, latest model). Keyboard and Pen are NOT included…

USED 128GB Lexar Professional 3500x CFast 2.0 for $129

The new condition 128GB Lexar Professional 3500x CFast 2.0 memory card is currently on sale for $226 at various retailers (eg B&H Photo) but if you are comfortable with USED memory cards, Adorama has a few USED units in “Excellent Minus condition” going for $129 plus shipping. A price difference of almost $100 is certainly no small change 🙂

As usual, used supplies are limited, so it may be gone by the time you are reading this…

Dracast LED500 Plus Series Bi-Color LED Light for $287

On the lighting front, B&H Photo is having a limited time offer (longer than a daily deal though) on the new condition Dracast LED500 Plus Series Bi-Color LED Light going for $287~ with free US shipping. No coupon, no rebate, just add to cart and proceed to purchase…

PS: speaking of B&H, if you are working from home and need related hardware and/or upgrades to existing equipment, B&H has launched a Work from Home portal

Amazon prioritizing deliveries during Corona Days

Amazon is prioritizing and reprioritizing deliveries and delivery dates based on the current CoronaVirus situation, with some items deemed lower priority and not high demand getting long shipment estimates even though they are in-stock and you may be a Prime member. The shipping estimate on the product page and in the shopping cart, especially when you are logged on to your Amazon account, should give you an idea what to expect, but of course we are in uncharted territory and things develop all the time, so keep that in mind…

More on this via Techmeme

Samyang 85mm f1.4 AutoFocus for $599 [Sony E] {ends Tue 10am ET}

Prime time at the latest Adorama daily deal (changes 10am ET daily), it is the new condition Samyang 85mm f1.4 Auto Focus lens for the Sony E system going for $599 with free US shipping. This is only available in the Sony E system and unlike the other mounts, this is an actual autofocus lens…

YMMV eBay Bucks: 5% (no minimum amount) [ends Wedn PM]

IF you are participating in the eBay rewards program {it’s free to join anytime}, AND you have been invited by eBay via email or their eBay messages to participate, and you have clicked to activate the promotion for your account {you must click to activate before you earn the bonus}, you have until Wedn 3/25/20 at 11:59pm to earn 5% on eligible purchases. This particular offer does not have a minimum purchase amount (hooray!)…

As usual, maximum rewards you can earn are $100 per transaction and $500 for the duration of this promotion. Terms, conditions and restrictions and exclusions apply as always…

For ideas on what to buy, check the latest eBay Deals and the latest Trending Deals

Monday (Free to Watch starting at 12pm ET): Pets and People Photography

The Monday 3/23/30 rotation of free-to-stream classes starting at 12pm eastern time at CreativeLIVE On-AIR is headlined by the “Pets and People Photography” class by Vicki Tauper, 42 lessons running 13.5 hours. Given the #CoronaSituation2020, CL is mixing in a variety of other interest in their daily freebies, and today we have making your own tote bag (can also be useful for DIY promotional material for your home studio/photography freelancing), songwriting, watercolors and ganache (or is it gouache) paints and “What Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast” (spoiler alert: most of them have rich parents 😉

Looking at the new schedule here are some other potentially interesting classes coming this week:

  • Tuesday: Animal Photography
  • Wednesday: Business of Fashion Photography, Build a successful blog, become a working artist, songwriting class
  • Thursday: Typography fundamentals, turn personal projects into a career
  • Friday: Wedding Photojournalism, Color for designers
  • Saturday: commercial fashion photography, color techniques for drawing, story telling techniques
  • Sunday: advanced Photoshop layer tips, color fundamentals, sound design 101, screen printing
  • Monday 3/30: Pricing, Pitching Clients
  • Tuesday 3/31: Start-n-Grow your Photography business, Illustrator CC, Art Journaling, Command the Fees you Deserve

Monday: 2pk 32GB Sandisk Ultra microSD for $11 after coupon

If you need 32GB microSD cards, or you have older devices that don’t work with higher capacities, good until Monday 3/23/20 at 11:59pm central time (or earlier if sold out) Woot is offering a new condition 2pk of 32GB Sandisk Ultra microSD cards (A1, U1, Class 10, up to 98MB/sec transfer read) for $11 after using coupon code SANDISK in their shopping cart. It comes out to $5.50 per 32GB card after the coupon. The price before the coupon is $16. They come with the Sandisk Limited Warranty. Limit one offer per customer.

PS: another use, if you have higher capacity memory cards in devices that end up not using them, you can swap out the higher capacity cards and put the 32GB cards in them. You may think you’re gonna fill up the tablet’s 128GB microSD card but when you look six months later, it uses up just 12GB 🙂 Not that I’ve done this, this is purely an example for example purposes. Really! 🙂

Monday: Rokinon 14mm f2.8 for $249 [C/E] or $269 [N w/AE]; Sony CFast 2.0, Adobe, Etc

Hooray, it’s LENS DAY at the Monday 3/23/20 B&H daily deals running until 11:59pm ET or earlier for any that manages to sellout ahead of the designated expiration time…

+ 2pk 64GB Sony CFAST 2.0 G series memory card and Card Reader for $200

+ Rokinon 14mm f2.8 IF ED UMC for $249 in Canon EF or Sony E manual focus and $269 for Nikon with AE chip
+ ED is Extra-low Dispersion (does not need blue pills to function)

+ Adobe Premiere Elements 2020 for $60 in your choice of DVD or digital download

+ Impact Panel Frame Reflector Kit – Zebra Gold / Zebra Silver (43 x 67″) for $200

+ Ruggard Electronics dry cabinets, 8 options, $70 to $1000
+ consult with your gurus whether these work for cigars and/or puerh teas 🙂

+ Alesis Elevate 3 MKII – 20W 3″ Two-Way Active Desktop Studio Monitors (Pair) for $59
+ that’s a pretty good value per pound, they weigh 6.3 lbs (shipping weight 8.6 lbs) ~ if we were buying speakers like groceries 🙂

Best Buy launches Curbside PickUp (and other social distancing measures)

If you would like to purchase or pickup something from your local Best Buy stores, starting today they have introduced Curbside Pickup. You have to select this option in the shopping cart (where available/possible). Once you receive an order confirmation with pickup instructions, go to the designated place (with photo-ID and credit-card of payment) and open your car’s trunk for contactless delivery 🙂

As far as at home deliveries and installations, Best Buy employees will not enter your home no matter what. So installations and setups are being cancelled. Deliveries of items (even if heavy and hard to move) will be at your doorstep, not inside the house.

Patience is a virtue until all this is behind us…

… in the meantime, this is a great opportunity to start on all those resolution charts and lens calibration tests you had been postponing 🙂

Zhiyun Crane V2 3-Axis Brushless Handheld Gimbal Stabilizer for $326 [ends Mon 10am ET]

The latest Adorama Daily Deal (expires 10am ET Monday or earlier if sold out) is the new condition Zhiyun Crane V2 3-Axis Brushless Handheld Gimbal Stabilizer going for $326 with free US shipping…

And an update from Adorama’s shipping, the same-day shipping cut-off point for orders, whether they are regular or rush, will be 11:30am eastern time on Monday through Thursday and 10:30am ET on Friday.

REI Members: 20% off One Full Price and One Outlet Item

Outdoorsy photographers your time has come if you are a member of the REI Commune! A one-time $20 membership fee made you (or makes you if you sign up now) a lifetime member (no annual subscriptions, just a one-time fee!). And one of the perks of membership in the commune is discounts!

Coupon code MEMPERKS2020 until 4/6/20 gets you 20% off a single full price item [you won’t earn a dividend since it’s not full price], while the same coupon code gets you an additional 20% off on a single REI Outlet item (formerly REI Garage)…

Last but not least, you get 25% off on all REI branded products (except for bicycles). This one appears to be open to all, not just members. Expires 3/26/20…

Sunday (Free to Watch at 12pm ET): The Art of Wildlife Photography

The headliner of the free-to-watch online streaming classes at Creative LIVE On-AIR on Sunday 3/22/20 is the “The Art of Wildlife Photography” class by Tom Mangelsen. It has 24 lessons and runs for 10.5 hours.

The classes stream for 24 hours, so you can watch whenever it is convenient. Of course some may find it more helpful if they watch a class from start to end. Every day the new classes start at 9am pacific time. In the meantime, the classes from the previous day continue to stream. So in a way, if you wake up early or are in the eastern time zone, you can watch yesterday’s and today’s classes in marathon binge 🙂

Sunday: Tamrac Nagano, SpiderPRO, Xcellon USB Hub, Vanguard VEO2, Etc

Every day is like Sunday during the Corona Days but we have some excitement, six new B&H daily deals good until 11:59pm ET (or earlier for any that sells out ahead of its designated time):

+ Tamrac Nagano 12L Camera Backpack for $50 in two color options

+ SpiderPro Hand Strap for $29

+ XCeLLon 7-Port USB 3.0 Hub² with Intelligent Charging for $30
+ five data ports, two charging ports, full size Type A all
+ NOTE: the 2 superscript appears to be part of the model name? Not sure 🙂 Just like the final “s”, these type of potentially confusing things are best avoided in product names 🙂

+ JarvisMobile Dual-Port USB Type-C PD + QC 3.0 Wall & Car Charger Kit for $20

+ also NetGear router and AKG wireless mic set ~ both with automatic add-to-cart discounts

MEANWHILE at the Adorama Daily Deal (changes daily 10am ET) they are offering the new condition Vanguard VEO 2 235CB 5-Section Carbon Fiber Travel Tripod for $110 with free US shippings…

UPDATE: reading is fun-da-mental at the Amazon Gold Box where the headliner deal of the day is a sale on 98 Kindle eBooks from a various of genres, fiction and non-fiction…

At the Best Buy dailies, there’s a refurbished Epson Workforce ES-50 sheetfed [memo to self: be careful with typos here!] scanner going for $70… and a 27″ Acer Predator XB272 LED G-Sync FHD computer monitor going for $350. Pretty soon, all communication will happen with TLAs! (Three Letter Acronyms]…

Pre-order the new iPad PROs and the new Magically Magical and Amazingly Wonderful Keyboards

Leave it to Apple to launch a tablet keyboard that costs more than most non-Apple tablets in the market today. If that hasn’t scared you away, keep on reading 🙂

Apple has just revealed the new generation of iPad PROs along with new MacBook Airs and Mac Minis! But the star of the show are the Magic Keyboards. They are really magic. The iPad levitate on the keyboard platform (well, except for the part of the iPad that is actually attached to the keyboard platform). The Magic Keyboard for the 11-inch goes for $299, while the Magic for the 12.9-inch goes for $349. iOS updates are coming for some of the older iPad PROs to be able to use this new magically magical and amazingly wonderful device 🙂

The new iPad PROs are available for pre-ordering at B&H Photo with the 11-inch starting at $799 (128GB) an the 12.9-inch starting at $999 (128GB). The storage jump from 128GB to 256GB is +$100, but the other two jumps (256 to 512, 512 to 1TB) are +$200 each, with the 1TB options being +$500 of the base option for each screen size. The LTE options is +$150. Finally the days of the 16GB and 32GB and 64GB are over 🙂

Did I mention these new iPad PROs use USB-C? At Last, At Last, At Last 🙂

Fuji GFX50R Medium Format Body Only for $3500 [or $2800 USED]

If you are tempted by the Fuji medium format mirrorless system or you want another camera body to add to your arsenal, B&H Photo is offering the new condition Fuji GFX50R Medium Format Body Only for $3500 with free US shipping…

Or if you prefer to go the way of THE USED [no, not the whiny emo music group], you can get it in USED – Condition 9 for $2800…

In-Stock NOW: Google Pixel 3a for $299, 3a XL for $379

Per the Deals Fairness Doctrine (TM), since we’ve been posting iOS/Apple deals left and right, we must needs post something Android as well, and as fate would have it, Google’s brand new Pixel 3a models are now in-stock and shipping at B&H Photo! The Pixel 3a standard model goes for $299 while the XL model goes for $379.

Unlike the iPhones, the only option here is on the body color. The “3a” has a modest 5.6″ 18.5:9 OLED with Snapdragon 670, 4GB RAM, 64GB storage, Bluetooth 5.0, Android 9 and *GASP* a headphone jack 🙂 The “3a XL” [they really need to work on the naming-numbering scheme] has a 6-inch screen. Free unlimited storage on Google Photos is included along with three years of OS and security updates.

UPDATE: per the “Post Saving Doctrine”, to save up on having an additional short post, B&H is also having a sale on various computer monitors as more and more people are working from home and may need more or better monitors…

The silver lining of the Corona-mandated “work from home” is an opportunity for many companies and individuals and cities and states to study work from home ideas and programs to further reduce traffic and congestion in places where it’s impossible not to be in a traffic jam always and forever and ever!

13.3″ MacBook Air (mid 2019) for $899 [128GB] or $999 [256GB]

If the barrage of new Apple products (the Early 2020 Generation) does not tempt you, B&H Photo is having a sale on the mid-2019 13.3″ MacBook Airs. The 128GB version goes for $899 while the 256GB version goes for $999. These are 13.3″ 2560 x 1600 Retina IPS Display with 8th generation Core i5 dual cores…

But if you are tempted by the new 2020 13-inch MacBook Air models, B&H Photo is accepting pre-orders for the early 2020 model starting at $999 (i3, 8GB RAM, 256GB)…

And if you are a Mac Mini aficionado, they are accepting pre-orders on the early 2020 models starting at $799 (i3 Quad, 8GB, 256GB)…

72-Hour NewEgg sale

If you are trying to make a digital omelette, it is time to get some new eggs! NewEgg is having a 72 Hour Sale with their usual assortment of technology products. The sale ends on Friday at 11:50pm pacific. Items that have promo code offers mention so on the individual product pages and require an email in order to use the promo code.

Not sure why this practice, because you have to use an email anyone if you are going to buy them product. But what do I know? 🙂

B&H Launches Work from Home Hub

With the CoronaViri shutting many of us inside drinking Coronas Working From Home, B&H Photo has launched a Work From Home hub featuring a variety of products you may need to make your home-office more productive or at least usable 🙂 While the physical B&H store is closed for customers, B&H is available through Live Chat, E-Mail and Telephones to answer any and all of your (reasonable) questions on what you’d need for a pleasant stay at La Maison Office 🙂

FREE to Watch: Wellness and Health Classes from C-LIVE

To help us all cope with the current Corona-Not-The-Beer situation, CreativeLIVE has put together a dozen Health and Wellness classes that are free to stream 24 hours a day throughout the Corona Crisis 2020. Six are wellness (stress, happiness, meditation, etc), six are health related (yoga, etc).

Continuing as usual are the free to watch ON-AIR schedule classes at CreativeLive, with all kinds of subjects, an opportunity to pick up a new hobby or rekindle an old one (crafts, music, design, arts, etc) in addition to photography and such…

And on the FREEbies front, good until 3/20/20 at 11:59pm ET, giving them your email can get you the full-size scifi ebook “RedShirts” by John Scalzi (not a sampler, you get all 300-some pages of it {yes, RedShirts, that’s the Star Trek term}) from the Torbooks website. This is without DRM, and you can download in ePUB (for many devices and apps) and/or .mobi (for Amazon devices). If you are of the ePUB persuasion, since it is DRM-free, you don’t have to use Adobe’s vile ebook DRM abomination 🙂

Rotolight Anova PRO 2 BiC, Celestron, RucPac, Etc (ends Sat PM)

And here we are again, a new round of B&H daily deals, as usual on Fridays good until 11:59pm ET on Saturday (but orders not accepted Fri PM to Sat PM {check their website for exact times}):

+ RotoLight Anova Pro 2 Bi-Color Standard LED Light for $800

+ PapaGO GoSafe 220 Dash Camera for $40

+ RucPac Professional Tech Headlamp for $25

+ XerOX B205 Multifunction Printer for $125

+ flash deal: CelesTron AstroMaster 70AZ 70mm f/13 Alt-Az Refractor Telescope, Apollo 11 50th Anniversary Bundle for $90; because the real stars are in the sky, not on the television 😉

Of the Best Buy dailies, somewhere in the middle of the Friday lot, they have the GOPRO Karma (not Chameleon) Grip stabilizer for $150 with free US shipping and store pickup/etc…

At the Friday Woot website they have refurbished former flagship Android smartphones starting at $60 in “Electronics”, and a $100 refurb 11.6″ HP Chromebook in “Computers”…

And at the Adorama dailies (changes 10am ET daily) you get the new condition Pelican 95QT Elite Cooler for $515. This is bear-certified, though not certified against stock market bears 😉

And if you are a Prime Member, for a limited time, you can get the new condition 2019 model year Fire TV Stick for $23 instead of its non-Prime-member price of $35…

Thursday: Pelican, Velbon Sherpa Tripods w/BH, ZOOM H4n PRO, TorchLED, Etc

Thursday is here with a new set of B&H daily deals until 11:59pm ET (or earlier for anything that sells-out ahead of its designated expiration). We also have the return of the flash deals…

+ CoreSWX TorchLED Bolt 250W On-Camera Light for $149
+ with additional battery and charger for $189

+ Pelican IM Storm Case, without foam, two options, $100 to $120
+ actual pelicans (the birds) NOT included 🙂

+ Velbon Sherpa Aluminum Tripods with Ball Head, three options, $40 to $60

+ ZOOM H4n Pro 4-Input / 4-Track Portable Handy Recorder with Onboard X/Y Mic Capsule for $170

+ flash deal: ZOOM Venture 30 Power Pack and Nomad 7 Plus Solar Kit for $130
+ no teaser (as of time of writing) for next flash deal

Meanwhile the Adorama daily deal (changes Thur 10am ET) is the Litra LitraTorch 2.0 Filter Set Limited Edition going for $95 with free US shipping…

10% off many Cameras and Lenses, 20% off Accessories with KEH Camera Coupon [ends Friday PM]

Good until Friday 3/20/20 at 11:59pm ET, KEH Camera is having a new promotion! Coupon code SALE3A gets you a discount depending on the product category, as determined by their shopping cart (which you can test without login/signup):

+ 10% off Cameras and Lenses

+ 20% off Accessories

+ EXCLUDED are NEW and “Used – Like New” products
+ EXCLUDED are Leica, Fuji X, Sony E branded products
+ EXCLUDED are Digital Starter Kits, Breakthrough Photography, Camera Film, Extended Warranties, Memory Cards, Lenses & Converters.