Saturday: 12-month Adobe Creative Cloud for $40/mo [with $10 one time bonus gift card]

Saturday at the Amazon USA Gold Box has a couple of potentially interesting offers:

+ 12-month Adobe Creative Cloud subscription (all the software, not just the photographer) for $40 per month with a bonus $10 Amazon gift card
+ gift card is one time only, not every month!
+ you agree to a 12-month term, but you pay monthly, you don’t prepay the full year right away

+ $50 Applebees gift card for $40
+ given the COVID siutation, of interest if you live in a state where gift card balances never expire (eg California)
+ per the reviews, a number of buyers in 2018 were receiving gift cards un-activated or without balance
+ personally I never had a problem with gift cards purchased from Amazon (I did not buy Applebees gift cards as far as I can recall)
+ speaking of Amazon reviews, there’s always the Smart Alec review 🙂

November 21, 2020 Filed Under: apps and software, daily deals Tagged With: ,

DJI Osmos are current Adorama Daily Deal

The current round of Adorama daily deals (changes Saturday at 10am ET) includes a trio of products:

+ DJI Osmo Pocket 3-Axis Gimbal Stabilized Handheld Camera With DJI Expansion Kit for $349

+ DJI Osmo Action 4K HDR Camera – Bundle With Froggi Extreme Accessory Set, and 32GB Memory Card for $199

+ Polar Pro Cinema Series Circular Polarizer Filter for DJI Osmo Action for $15

Meanwhile at Woot Plus, good until 11/22/20 at 11:59pm central time they have an assortment of refurbished Chromebooks and a Chromebox, ranging from $100 to $190… Check the Google support page to check your model(s) of interest end of OS auto-updates dates… [Google had recently extended the dates for some models, so you may want to check again if you hadn’t in recent weeks]

November 20, 2020 Filed Under: other cameras Tagged With: ,

Manfrotto, Kingston, GoalZero, Genaray, Krane, Etc (ends Sat PM)

Good until Saturday at 11:59pm ET [with the customary closure between Fri PM and Sat PM – check their website for exact hours] is this set of B&H Photo daily deals:

+ MAnfrotto Advanced II Shoulder Bag (Large) for $40

+ GenAray Beacon LED Wand-Style Light for $139 with FREE Barndoors and FREE Battery included automatically by B&H while the promotion is running

+ Krane AMG250 Convertible Hand Truck/Platform Cart for $120

+ Agloves touchscreen gloves, eight options, $13 to $20

+ Goal Zero Nomad 7 Solar Panel for $50
+ enjoy truly unlimited sun while it’s free!
+ wait until cellular executives take possession of the sun ~ then you’ll have unlimited like you have “unlimited” cellphone plans 🙂

+ MilSpec 16-AWG Extension Cord (Green, 50′) for $13
+ yes, that’s 50 feet, not 50 inches

+ 64GB Kingston Datatraveler DT50 USB 3.0 Flash Drive for $6.49
+ 5pk for $32, 10pk for $63

+ flash deal: Manfrotto Carbon Fiber Twin Leg Video Tripod Legs with Ground Spreader (100/75mm Bowl) for $400
+ next flash deal: no teaser as of the time of writing

November 19, 2020 Filed Under: daily deals

Canon 24mm f2.8 STM EF-S with FREEbies for $119

If you are part of the Canon EF-S ecosystem [or using the appropriate adapters], Adorama is offering the new condition Canon 24mm f2.8 STM EF-S lens for $119 with free US shipping and some freebies too included by Adorama: 52mm filter kit (three filters and filter case), cleaning kit and lens cap tether…

The same price is also available at B&H Photo but without the extra freebies…

November 19, 2020 Filed Under: canon, dslr deals Tagged With: , ,

Refurbished Nikon Coolpix P1000 super-superzoom for $627

Zoom-zoom to the Adorama daily deals until Friday at 10am ET [or earlier if sold out] for the following deals du jour:

+ manufacturer refurbished Nikon Coolpix P1000 super-superzoom (125X optical up to 3000mm eq) with 90-day Nikon USA warranty for $627

+ 128GB Lexar Professional CFast 2.0 for $129
+ 256GB version of above for $250

+ FotoPro X-Go Mini Carbon Fiber Tripod Kit, Includes Ball Head and Quick Release Plate for $70

November 19, 2020 Filed Under: fixed lens cameras, nikon Tagged With: , ,

DxO PhotoLab 4 for $100 [ends Thur PM]

Good until the end of day on 11/19/20, the official DXO online store is offering their Dxo PhotoLab 4 software (full version) for $100. This is a digital download. They also have the Elite version for slightly more.

They have a linked-to pop-up comparison of the two versions at the aforelinked page. The Elite has extra features and includes three activations (instead of two for the standard version).

As you can see, there are many options aside from DRM-loving Adobe, it’s just that Adobe is suffocating the air, drinking almost all of the oxygen from the imaging software room 😉

PS: and while we be dissing Adobe, let’s not forget how much they are whining with one side of their mouth, but if you look at their quarterly financials [which they can’t hide as a public company] they have been raking in the billions, more so since they went to the software-as-a-subscription [aka Creative Cloud] business model.

November 18, 2020 Filed Under: apps and software Tagged With: ,

Thursday: WD, GVM, Lowel, Manfrotto, EdelKrone, Celestron, Peak D, Apple MacMini flash deal, Etc

ThirstDAY is here already and with it it brings a new set of B&H daily deals good until 11:59pm ET (or earlier if sold out):

+ Peak Design Everyday Sling (5L, Sage) for $50

+ ManFrotto Virtual Reality Carbon Fiber 3-Section Tripod for $350
+ just so we are clear, this tripod works in this real-reality, just like all other tripods do 😉

+ GVM RGB-10S LED On-Camera RGB LED Video Light with Wi-Fi Control for $42

+ Lowel TotaLED Daylight LED Floodlight for $199

+ EDELKRONE HeadONE for $259

+ Celestron 10×32 TrailSeeker Binoculars (Green) for $139

+ WD 2TB Blue 3D NAND SATA III 2.5″ Internal SSD for $185

+ flash deal: Apple Mac Mini for $1149
+ next flash deal: 64GB Hoodman HCFAST steel memory card

Meanwhile the current Adorama daily deals [change Thursday at 10am ET] include:

+ Flashpoint eVOLV 200 Pro TTL Pocket Flash Round Head Pro Kit (Godox AD200 Pro) for $349

+ WiseLift WLT400 Rolling work station Swivel Table with USB Ports and Drink Holder for $229

+ a couple of COVIDalia: KN95 masks and a $15 non-contact infrared digital thermometer

UPDATE: it is SAMSUNG DAY at the Best Buy dailies that includes Samsung Note 10* phones, 4K Tizen TV, POWERbot, external SSD with encryption, a 2pk of Galaxy Buds+ [neo-romantic gift idea!], and a sale of the red-orange EVO Plus microSDXC cards ranging from 64GB ($14) to 512GB ($90). The 128GB card wins the GB/$ at the very specific price of $20.89…

And at the Woot dailies there’s new condition Androids, Surface Laptop 2, floor/desk lamp, and GoSun solar equipment. Because the sun is still free 😉

November 18, 2020 Filed Under: daily deals

FREE Skylum Luminar 4 with Fuji Camera or Lens purchase [Time Travelling Offer]

If you have already purchased or if you purchase in the future a Fuji camera or lens in the USA, you can get the Skylum Luminar 4 software for FREE. All you have to do is enter your product’s serial number, your name and email and zipcode and follow the instructions on the page…

The promotional period is November 15 in 2019 until December 31st in 2020. So even if you didn’t know of this promotion when you purchased your Fuji gear, you can still get the software.

November 18, 2020 Filed Under: apps and software, fuji Tagged With: , ,

Fuji Instax SHARE SP-3 smartphone printer with Twin Film Pack for $90

The new Adorama daily deal (changes Thursday 10am ET) is the new condition Fuji Instax SHARE SP-3 smartphone printer with a film twin pack, all together for $90 with free US shipping. The printer is available in either white or black color scheme. The printer prints in color. Black or white is the printer’s body color 🙂

November 18, 2020 Filed Under: fuji, printers and photo paper Tagged With: , ,

Wednesday: Fuji X-A7 with 15-45 OIS PZ for $450 [four colors]

Hooray, hooray, it’s camera day at the Amazon USA Gold Box! For $450 with free US shipping, you can get in new condition, in your choice of four color schemes, the Fuji X-A7 with 15-45mm OIS PZ, sold and shipped by Amazon itself. Maximum two per color. Not sure if it’s two per color per customer, or two total regardless of color per customer. The shopping cart will tell you before the payment goes through 🙂

There are two colors per “philosophy”: two serious colors in the black-silver and silver-black and two fun-pastel colors in the aforelinked brown and the hard to resist mint green…

One secret benefit of the mint-green is that it’s a lot easier to get in an event that frowns upon “professional cameras” 🙂 For extra effect, put a Sponge Bob or Angry Birds sticker on the camera body as well 😉

This offer ends on Wednesday 11/18/20 at 11:59pm pacific time or earlier for any of the options that may sellout and become unorderable…

Needless to say there are many options in the mirrorless world these days and even if we dial it down to the APS-C mirrorless world, choices aplenty from Sony, Canon, Nikon and Fuji too whose X-T200 with 15-45 OIS PZ goes for $500 with free accessories at Adorama and at the B&H Photo website…

In Other Daily Deal Action
Also at the Amazon USA Gold Box there’s a sale on AmazonBasics Camera and Phone Accessories and a Sony home audio products promotion as well…

At the Best Buy dailies there’s the return of the Sunpak 12″ ring light vlog kit for $70 and a 500GB A-Data internal SSD for $50 and a couple of WD Easystore external HDDs…

Fans of the Samsung Endurance PRO microSDXC cards can find the 128GB version for $20 with free US shipping at the NewEgg dailies…

Meanwhile a PC Accessories sale at Woot includes the Wacom CDS-810S Sketchpad Pro for $50…

November 18, 2020 Filed Under: fuji, mirrorless deals Tagged With: ,

Wedn: Pelican Air, Intel Compute Stick, Benro, Sony CFast 2.0

And just like that, Hump Day is here and we are just nine days away from the Inaugural COVID Black Friday! In the meantime, good until 11:59pm ET on 11/18/20, these are the latest B&H daily deals:

+ 32GB Sony CFast 2.0 G Series Memory Card for $60
+ or get a 2pk for $115

+ Intel Compute Stick with FREE BitDefender for $99
+ Atom x5-Z8300, 2GB RAM, 32GB eMMC on-board, etc

+ OnePlus 8T 5G Dual-SIM 256GB Unlocked for $629 in two color schemes with FREE OnePlus Buds

+ Pelican Air Cases for $178 to $277

+ BenRo MP80 Macro Head with Arca-Type Quick Release for $100

+ Technical Pro Webcam Mic / Camera Arm for $19

+ refurb TP-Link Archer A20 AC4000 Wireless Tri-Band Gigabit Router for $119

+ flash deal: Ruggard Slim Briefcase for 13-14″ Laptop for $12
+ next flash deal: Nanguang Compac200 Daylight Slim Soft Light Studio LED Panel (price before sale $550)

November 17, 2020 Filed Under: daily deals

1-Year Adobe Creative Cloud Student & Teacher for $192 [with Auto-Renewal]

This looks like a Fry’s Monday e-newsletter custom-promo-code price-match, but as of the time of writing Amazon is offering a 1-Year Adobe Creative Cloud (Student & Teacher) full version for $192. Validation of student/teacher status is required. US customers only. You can buy up to ten licenses through this sale.

NOTE: this is an AUTO-RENEWAL offer! You can cancel at any time by finding the subscription in your Amazon account. You can cancel by clicking, you don’t have to call anyone to cancel it.

November 17, 2020 Filed Under: apps and software Tagged With: ,

National Geographic print magazine for $17/yr

DiscountMags is having a very limited time National Geographic print magazine. These are print magazines delivered to USA addresses without auto-renewal. The offers are good for new subs, renewals or gift subs. They include:

+ National Geographic for $17/yr (the flagship magazine)

+ National Geographic History for $14/yr

+ NG Kids or Little Kids for $14

November 17, 2020 Filed Under: books and magazines Tagged With: ,

Tuesday: Nodal, Tamrac, Sirui, Genaray, Snaptain, Vello, Etc

It’s Tuesday, or for those working from home, ToonsDay 🙂 A new set of B&H daily deals is here, good until 11:59pm ET tonight or earlier if sold out [plus a couple of flash deals]…

+ Snaptain SP510 2.7K Foldable Drone for $130
+ if it was more expensive, it would be Captain 😉
+ but it could make for a great coverband name, Snaptain and Tennille 😉

+ SirUI N-2004SK N-S Series Tripod (Aluminum) for $130
+ or as some like to call it, aluminium

+ Genaray Radiance Daylight LED Monolight for $349
+ no relation to Stormlight’s Knights of Radiance

+ Tamrac Tradewind Zoom Bag 2.4 (Dark Gray) for $13
+ NOTE: the bag itself does not zoom, neither optical, nor digital 🙂

+ Nodal Ninja NN3 MKII Starter Package for $100

+ Vello LW-100 Extendá Wi-Fi Camera Remote Control for Select Canon, Nikon & Sony in three options, $80 to $180 [includes LR & C1 tethering]

+ IndiPRO Dual Fusion V-Mount Battery Charger for $125
+ it may sound like a power drink you get from the gym but it’s not 😉

+ flash deal: NanGuang Compac100C Bi-Color Slim Soft Light Studio LED Panel for $169
+ next flash deal: Contec Deluxe Pulse Oximeter Blood Oxygen Level Monitor

UPDATE #1: for those shipping within the EU, Amazon Germany is offering today the 128GB Sandisk Extreme PRO SDXC for 25 euro-dollars and the 64GB version of that for 14 euro-dollars…

November 16, 2020 Filed Under: daily deals

Monday: Elements 2020 for $50 individually (or both for $75)

Adobe arrives as the headliner of the Woot daily deals it is an Adobe Elements 2020 offer. Individually you can get Premiere or Photoshop for $50 each, or you can buy both of them as a bundle for $75. Here we are talking about the Elements 2020 versions…

Other Woot daily deals include a budget HP Windows 10 crawlbook (oops, notebook) and Pioneer speakers. More time at home or the office during COVID 2020, more need for music and audiobooks and podcasts and such…

Then we go to Big Yellow, aka Best Buy’s dailies where you can haz [it’s so annoying when you use formerly-trending phrases years later!] a 500GB WD USB-C portabale SSD for $85, standing desk options, a $50 Case Logic Viso camera bag, a couple of very affordable WesthingHouse Roku TVs [hooray for Roku, it still managed to survive despite the Giants Battling Over Streaming Devices], and the headliner is a $70 Keurig K50 K-Cup coffee machine…

November 15, 2020 Filed Under: apps and software, daily deals Tagged With: ,

Monday: GVM, Luxli, Steiner, Roxio, WD, Apexel, Etc

Here comes Monday again and with it come seven new B&H daily deals good until 11/16/20 at 11:59pm ET (or earlier if sold out) along with a more limited-time flash deal…

+ GVM Aluminum 5-Section Monopod with Video Fluid Head for $89

+ LuxLi Viola² 5″ On-Camera RGBAW LED Light for $179
+ optionally buy it together with a Luxli softbox with diffusion filter for $201 total

+ ApeXel 4K HD Mobile Phone 5-in-1 Camera Lens Kit for $35

+ Steiner 7×50 C Navigator Pro Binoculars with Compass for $350

+ also Roxio Game Capture, 2TB WD internal SSD and Samson fitness microphone (???)

+ flash deal: NanNuang Mixpad 106 LED Panel Light for $123
+ next: Berrcom Non-Contact Infrared Digital Thermometer, a must-have COVID-era accessory!

November 15, 2020 Filed Under: daily deals

Godox VL150, Pelican 1615NF, OB BenQ GV1

The current set of Adorama daily deals, good until Monday at 10am ET [or earlier if sold out] is as follows:

+ Godox VL150 150W LED Video Light for $299

+ Pelican 1615NF Air Wheeled Check-In Case without Foam, Orange for $274

+ open-box BenQ GV1 WVGA Wireless Portable Projector for $249

November 15, 2020 Filed Under: daily deals

Sunday: Lexar CFast 2.0, Manfrotto, WD, GenAray, Mangus, Etc

We start with something “seasonal”, the Meh daily deal is a 2-pack of UV Light sanitizer boxes for $29 plus shipping [except for Mehmbers who get free shipping]…

Next up at the Adorama daily deals [change Sunday 10am ET] two Pelican laptop backpacks ($35, $50), a Gitzo carbon fiber microphone boom for $210, and some kind of a phone wristlet for $35…

Then it’s B&H Photo daily deals time, which are good until 11:59pm ET on Sunday [or earlier for anything that may sell out; earlier for flash deals with limited duration]…

+ Lexar Professional 3500x CFast 2.0 Memory Card, four options, $75 to $500 (64GB to 512GB)

+ Manfrotto Pro Light Reloader Air-50 Carry-On Camera Roller Bag for $140

+ Genaray Spectro LED Outfit 500 Daylight LED Light for $170

+ Magnus PV-7451M Tripod/Monopod with 3-Way Pan/Tilt Head for $50

+ ReVo 5″ Hand Grip for HDSLRs and Video Cameras for $8

+ GoPlug Smart Power Bank (110V) for $169

+ Kensington Wireless Presenter with Red Laser for $20

+ flash deal: SoundCraft Ui24R 24-Channel Digital Mixer / Multitrack USB Recorder with Wireless Control for $599
+ next flash deal: AKG D5 Handheld Supercardioid Dynamic Vocal Microphone

Last but not least, at the Best Buy daily deals they have the 12TB WD EasyStore external USB 3.0 HDD going for $200…

November 15, 2020 Filed Under: daily deals

Saturday: Sandisk (SD, microSD) and WD (internal, external, RAID Desktop HDD) sale

The recurring storage sale is back …recurring at the Amazon USA Gold Box, and it is indeed yet another variant of the Sandisk and WD sale, which are of course now under the same lawyerly roof. Sale ends on 11/14/20 at 11:59pm pacific time or earlier for any individual item that may sell out earlier… Limit three of each individual item per customer…

This includes among others:

+ 512GB Sandisk Extreme PRO (up to 170MB/sec, V30, UHS-I, U3, C10, they are like a NASCAR car with all these labels on them) for $120
+ 1TB version of above for $270
+ without a calculator, it is obvious the 512GB win the GB/$

+ 400GB Sandisk Extreme microSDXC (A2, U3, V30, UHS-I) for $60
+ 1TB version of above for $183
+ again, no need of a calculator, 400GB wins GB/$

+ 400GB Sandisk Ultra microSDXC (A1, U1, V30, UHS-I) for $40
+ 512GB version for $64
+ once again, 400GB wins GB/$, no need for calculator, you have a 30% increase in storage for a 50%+ increase in price!

+ a dozen WD items are also participating in the sale, too many to list here individually but the product categories included are:
+ MyBook Duo Desktop RAID HDDs
+ internal WD Red PRO 3.5″ NAS HDDs
+ internal SSDs
+ SSD Portable HDDs
+ and the all encompassing “etc”
+ find them all at the Sandisk and WD sale of the Amazon USA Gold Box…

Among the other Saturday deals du jour they have a soccer team (11 items) of TackLife jump starters and assorted car-related gear, a $299 Sonos speaker with Alexis Carrington (okay, Alexa), various Contigo insulated and non tumblers (some of them keep it so hot you can’t even drink it hours later!), learning toys (including a cash register to teach youngsters a likely-needed career skill?), and for teens of all ages, Beats Solo 3 headphones for $120 [of particular interest to newer iPhone/iPad users because of the extra benefits of the Apple W1 chip]…

UPDATE #1: I forgot to mention this in the post-mess above, but also part of the sales is a battery-powered SONOS Move SmartSpeaker going for $299 (limit two per color)…

UPDATE #2: among the Best Buy daily deals there’s the 12″ Sunpak Bi-Color Vlog kit with a Boya microphone going for $70…

UPDATE #3: and a FREEBIE! If you are participating in the Lucky’s rewards program [regional supermarket chain], good until Sunday night they are offering for FREE a 10-pack of Lavazza K-cups. You have a choice from two flavors. This is truly a freebie, I’ve done these freebies many times before 🙂

November 14, 2020 Filed Under: daily deals, memory cards and storage Tagged With: , , , ,

Miggo Agua Versa Backpack, Tamrac case little things, Oben, Edelkrone, ElVid, Acer, Etc

Three times not a charm, no lenses in the latest B&H daily deals, and this being Friday, this lot is good until Saturday at 11:59pm ET (or earlier if sold out – already a Sony camera-mount mic system sold out):

+ MiGGo Agua Versa Backpack 90 for $89

+ Tamrac filter cases and such, $5 to $10

+ O’Ben LH-2510 Leveling Base Head for $50

+ Edel Krone StandONE All-Terrain Foldable Camera Stand for $100

+ El Vid OptiView 50 3.2″ LCD Viewfinder for $20

+ MyGekoGear Orbit 122 1080p Dash Cam with 8GB microSD Card for $50

UPDATE: the Amazon USA Gold Box includes a 30% Marvel Toys sale [they make good photo props and test(ing) subjects], but also an Acer-centric computer sale that includes monitors, laptops, mice, a $35 laptop backpack and more. This is a mix of “normal” and “gaming” computer gearz…

UPDATE #2: the current set of Adorama daily deals [change Friday 10am ET] include four different Flashpoint lighting kits ranging from $140 to $729. The $140 is an on-camera round Li-Ion available in six camera systems (Pentax included!)

Speaking of gear in-stock, the Playstation 5 is in an unusual situation where retailers won’t even accept pre-orders/back-orders because there’s little and less of it…

PS: there was a hosting outage of sorts earlier in the day. All apologies for the inconvenience!

November 13, 2020 Filed Under: daily deals

Now shipping: Profoto OCF adapter for $299

Those of you part of the Profoto ecosystem may be interested to learn that the new Profoto OCF adapter is now in-stock and shipping for $299 with free US shipping at Adorama and also at B&H Photo…

November 12, 2020 Filed Under: lighting deals Tagged With: ,

NewEgg launches Black Friday Sales Event

Those of you reading the “A Song of Ice and Fire” book series may be familiar with the phrase “it’s always Black Friday under the sea”, and NewEgg applies a similar philosophy, it’s always Black Friday in November as they have launched their 2020 “BF Event Sale”. They have their usual assortment of tech-y and computer-y items…

November 12, 2020 Filed Under: technology deals

15-hour Speedlights 101 e-learning class for $12

Time for some e-learnings, Creative LIVE is running a 17 classes for $12 to $17 each sale for a limited time and it includes commercial photography, HD-DSLR, portraiture, fashion, digital workflow, wedding albums, Final Cut, Ultimate LR Classic CC workflow and more!

But wait, there’s more! For gearheads, they have a couple of classes:

+ Choosing the Right Lens with John Greengo (4h 17m) for $12

+ Speedlights 101 (15h 20m) with Mark Wallace for $12

November 12, 2020 Filed Under: classes and tutorials Tagged With:

Thursday: SLC Magic Cine 35/1.2 FE for $199 [also: GVM, Movo, Nanuk, Manfrotto, BluTec, 16TB WD, Celestron, Etc]

Hooray, hooray, it’s back to back LENS DAYS at the B&H daily deals, this lot good until 11:59pm ET tonight (or earlier if sold out)..

+ SLR Magic Cine 35mm f1.2 FE for the Sony E mount for $199

+ GVM Bi-Color LED Video Light G100W for $209

+ Manfrotto Lumimuse 3 On-Camera LED Light for $35

+ Nanuk 918 6-lens case for $100 in six color schemes

+ MoVo GH800 Carbon Fiber Professional Gimbal Tripod Head for $130

+ Vello Wireless ShutterBoss III Remote Switch with Digital Timer for $50 available for select cameras in five different camera systems: Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fuji and OlyPan

+ BluTec 4K HDMI to USB 3.0 Video Capture Device for $69

UPDATE #1: among the Thursday Best Buy dailies they have the 16TB WD EasyStore external USB 3.0 HDD for $260 [kinda scary to have so much data on a single 16TB HDD without any backups], and a $1500 A-Data gaming laptop [I dinna ken A-Data made gaming laptops]… Sorry juice fans, but the PocketJuice is not a portable juice maker, it’s just a fancy name for a powerbank 🙂

UPDATE #2: a big Celestron sale is among the headliners for the Thursday 11/12/20 Amazon USA Gold Box deals du jour. A dozen products are participating, a mix of binoculars, travel scopes and spotting scopes, with prices ranging from $60 to $499…

November 11, 2020 Filed Under: daily deals, mirrorless deals Tagged With: , ,

Pre-order the new Apple Silicon M1 computers (ship next week)

And they are finally here! The all new Apple Silicon Mac computers. And they revealed a trio of them yesterday. No more profit-leakage to Intel. Apple keeps it all, and that’s why the prices are kept reasonable despite the big performance gains that were made in the Apple presentation…

The new M1 chip has 8 cores (four fast, four efficient), (up to) 8 GPU cores, 16 Neural cores, up to 16GB RAM, up to 2TB storage, better battery life, better security and on and on and on…

During this transition period, Apple is launching “Universal” apps, a name that didn’t go so well for Windows. Universal apps will have the binary code for both the Apple M1 apps and Intel apps in a single executable to make it easier for end-users. Non-M1 apps will use Apple’s Rosetta II emulator, which Apple claims can run faster than the original Intel Apples.

Of photography interest, Lightroom’s universal app is coming next month, while Photoshop’s universal binary is expected in 2021…

Speaking of apps, these M1 Macs can also run iOS (iPhone and iPad) apps out of the box since they are using similar underlying infrastructure…

And these are now available for pre-ordering in various configurations at B&H Photo with shipment expected to happen next week, which is when the new Mac OS “Big Sur” is expected to rollout…

+ Apple MacMinis starting at $699

+ Apple MacBook Airs starting at $999 ($899 for education)

+ 13.3″ MacBook PRO starting at $1299 ($1199 for education)

If you have 50 minutes to spare, you can watch the whole socially-distanced Apple presentation recorded at “The UFO” in Cupertino::California:

Not everyone is on the hype train though, Linus of “Linus Tech Tips” has a handful of objections…

November 11, 2020 Filed Under: technology deals Tagged With: , ,

Wedn: Mitakon Zhongyi 20mm f2 4.5x Super Macro for $139 [C/N/E/X/m43], Etc

Hooray, hooray, it’s a LENS DAY at the B&H daily deals, good until 11:59pm ET (or earlier if sold out):

++ Mitakon Zhongyi 20mm f2 4.5x Super Macro for $139
+ DSLR option in Canon EF, Nikon F
+ Mirrorless option in Sony E, Fuji X and M43rds

+ IndiPRO Universal Power Grip for Devices with Canon LP-E6 Battery with FREE D-Tap PRO battery charger for $199

+ Celestron 8×32 TrailSeeker Binoculars (Green) for $130

+ gEnAray Trailblazer T40D Daylight LED Light (40W) for $119

+ Delkin Fat Gecko Triple Mount for $60
+ with the right lighting, this can also be used as a horror movie prop 😉

+ also internal SSD and JBL true wireless

+ flash deal: Goal Zero Nomad 28 Plus Solar Panel for $150
+ next flash deal: Pelican 3310R-RA Right-Angle Rechargeable FlashLight (Yellow)

UPDATE: the current Adorama daily deal (change Wednesday 10am ET) are:

+ StabiLens Cinematographer Kit for $100

+ Alter 72mm Rapid Filter System, Includes Lens Mounting Ring for $20

+ Athlon Optics 10×32 Talos Series Water Proof Roof Prism Binocular with 6.5 Degree Angle of View for $70
+ not sure if it’s related to “Athlon Sports” season preview magazines

+ Air Selfie AIR PIX Portable Pocket-Size 12MP HD Flying Camera with Smartphone Control for $96

UPDATE #2: at the Woot daily deals they have factory refurbished Parrot drones under “Electronics” ($64 to $280), a $24 Bio Bidet (non-electric) under “Clearance”, and a budget refurbished HP AMD A9 laptop for $260 under “Computers”…

UPDATE #3: and at the Best Buy dailies they have:

+ 400GB Sandisk Nintendo Switch microSDXC for $90
+ 1TB WD Blue internal SATA SSD for $100
+ various other electronics and kitcheny items…

UPDATE #4: among the Wednesday Amazon USA dailies they have another sale on Anker accessories along with various Sabrent internal SSDs…

November 10, 2020 Filed Under: daily deals, dslr deals, mirrorless deals Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Singles Day 2020 is Here at Chinese Retailers

Singles Day 2020 is here, November 11, and with it there’s plenty of sales in-progress at Chinese websites (that ship world-wide and have English versions of their websites) including:

+ GearBest, the one I placed most orders with, and has a more organized, less chaotic website
+ Top Tech Feast sale; just not a “Feast for Crows” 🙂
+ $5 off an $80+ PayPal order

+ Alibaba

+ Alibaba’s more western-facing AliExpress
+ that red thing with white inside you may see in product listing search-results, that’s 11 11 written in white on a red background, noting that a product is participating in 11-11 sales; it took me a few minutes to realize I must admit 🙂

+ DH Gate

+ Bang Good, it is indeed a retail website, do not let the name scare you 😉

+ Geek Buying because the geeks will not only inherit the earth but will also buy it 😉

+ Light In The Box

+ Deal Extreme (as of the time of writing it appears to be down per Cloudfare)

+ if you have any other favorites that you found good deals, please feel free to post them in the comments or use the online contact form

As usual, a number of the websites have “lightning type of deals”, and those require some luck because the world market for these websites is decidedly over 1 billion shoppers…

PS: since the names are so close, let’s also make Singles Day a Shingles Awareness Day!

PS2: since the names are exactly the same, we must needs also make today a 45rpm Singles Day appreciation day! The good old and new days of vinyl!

November 10, 2020 Filed Under: storewide deals

34-inch Crystal PRO 1500R curved ultra-wide monitor for $250

And now an early “Black Friday” deal of the computer monitor kind from Monoprice. They are offering their new condition 34-inch Crystal PRO 1500R curved ultra-wide monitor for $250 with free US shipping for a limited time and up to five per customer at the sale price.

As of the time of writing this averages 4.3 out of 5 based on 13 customer reviews. It has 2560×1080, 21:9, AMD FreeSync, 75Hz (100Hz overclocked), height-adjustable stand, HDMI, DisplayPort and DVI inputs, Samsung’s VA panel technology, 75×75 VESA, 1-year PixelPerfect warranty, RGB 95%, NTSC 72%, DCI-P3 75%, Adobe® RGB 74%, etc…

Meanwhile at the Tuesday Best Buy dailies they have the Case Logic Viso Camera Backpack (Large) going for $100, and twenty house-brand computer accessories on sale ~ among other things…

November 9, 2020 Filed Under: technology deals Tagged With: ,

Tuesday: Tamracs, Impact Monolight Kit, 1TB Seagate $40, Etc

Tuesday is here and we have a Lucky Seven B&H daily deals good until 11:59pm ET (or earlier for anything that may individually sell-out ahead of its designated expiration time):

+ Impact 180Ws Monolight Starter Flash with LED Modeling Light for $80 with FREE Impact Air-Cushioned Light Stand (Black, 8ft) included automatically by B&H

+ 1TB Seagate BackUp Plus Slim USB 3.0 external HDD for $40
+ finally we found a new bottom for 1TB external HDDs!

+ Tamrac Tradewind Zoom Bag 2.1 (Dark Gray) for $15

+ Tamrac Quick Release Microfiber Shoulder Strap (Black) for $10

+ Apexel Extendable Tripod for DSLR Camera and Smartphone for $18

+ 32GB JumpDrive TwistTurn2 USB 2.0 Type A Flash Drive (Black) for $4.50

+ Kensington Orbit Trackball with Scroll Ring (White) for $23
+ I had one of these (this one or something similar) with mixed results, it had some benefits but some frustrations too; I often used it alongside a mouse for maximum flexibility 🙂

AT the Woot daily deals there’s VIVO standing desk options from $64 to $240, and older refurbished iPads and iPhones in Electronics and Computers…

The current Adorama daily deals (changes Tuesday 10am ET) includes:

+ Incase Tracto Duffel, Anthracite for $50

+ Vanguard VEO 2 235AB 5 Section Aluminum Tripod with VEO 2 BH-50 Ball Head for $65

+ Westcott 18″ Bi-Color LED Ring Light Kit with Batteries & Stand for $180

November 9, 2020 Filed Under: daily deals

Monday: Venus Macro Twins, Fisheye Converter, WB card set, Etc

Monday is here once again, and it will be here again in 7, 14, 21, 28, etc days 🙂 This day brings us a 6-pack of B&H daily deals good until 11:59pm ET (or earlier if sold out) as follows:

+ Helder 37mm or 52mm HD 0.25x Fisheye Conversion Lens for $20

+ Venus Optics KX-800 Flexible Macro Twin Flash for $179

+ Ruggard Fabric Camera Rain Cover for $30

+ Vello White Balance Card Sets (Small, Medium, and Large) for $20

+ also TP-Link smart Wifi kit and Panasonic outdoors security system

November 7, 2020 Filed Under: daily deals