Pre-order new Sony 35mm f1.4 Master Series prime

Master prime time! Sony has revealed a new 35mm f1.4 lens, this one is under their Masters (GM) series, not to be confused with the existing ZA. The new lens is now available for pre-ordering at B&H Photo for $1398. B&H Photo also has sample pictures and a brief hands-on experience at their Explora blog

Speaking of which, you can check the Explora CES coverage for some of the biggest announcement at Diet CES 2021. They include a new NVidia GeForce RTX 3060 (no pre-orders yet, good luck fighting the “miners” and their “canaries” for those), another iteration of the Moto G bargain phones ($200 to $300), new MSI gaming laptops, scary-looking ASUS gaming router, two more OnePlus Nord smartphones, Sony joining the drone market with their new AirPeak brand (just as the Chinese brand are facing scrutiny and bans), TV galore of course, Wifi 6E routers, HP Firefly laptop [no, they are not picking up the tab for Firefly TV action] and more…

$30 to $50 e-GiftCards with pre-orders of new OnePlus Nord smartphones ($180 and $300)

The tech world works in mysterious ways. While the most recent OnePlus flagship series was not greeted as a liberator, OnePlus had a surprise hit with their Nord affordable line. And they have revealed two new models in the Nord line at Diet CES 2021…

For a limited time, if you pre-order them during this window, B&H Photo will include a $30 or $50 (depending on model) B&H Photo e-gift card. The offer is good while you see it mentioned at the B&H product page, look for something like this: “Includes Free: 1 item ($30.00 value)”

The Nord N100 (64GB) goes for $180 with the $30 B&H e-gift card included automatically by B&H. This phone has 4G LTE (no 5G, so you won’t regrow a tail), with 4GB RAM, SnapDrogon 460 with Adreno 610, 6.52″ (1600×720, 90Hz, IPS-type LCD, Gorilla 3) screen, USB-C, headphone jack, microSD slot, Wifi 5, Bluetooth 5, fingerprint, etc.

If you want higher specs, the 5G Nord N10 (128GB) goes for $300 with a $50 B&H e-gift card included automatically by B&H while this promotion is running. This has 6GB of RAM, SnapDrogon 690 with Adreno 619L, 6.49″ (2400×1080, 90Hz, 405ppi, Gorilla 3, IPS-type LCD) screen, USB-C, headphone jack, microSD, Wifi 5, Bluetooth 5.1, etc…

NOTE: I don’t see NFC in the B&H specs of either at their aforelinked product pages, so this is something you may want to further look into if you want to use it for contactless payments and such… Under Q&A, for the Nord N10, a B&H staff member answered a customer-question saying this has NFC… But to be certain, be sure to google around multiple places, including the usually-reliable “phone arenas” and such…

Pre-order the new Tokina 65mm T1.5 Cinema Vista [C/E/m43/PL]

This year’s “Diet CES” has brought us a not-so-diet-priced lens, it is the new Tokina 65mm T1.5 Cinema Vista prime lens available for pre-ordering at B&H Photo for $7499 in the Sony E, Micro Four Thirds, Canon EF, Arri PL, and for $7799 in Arri LPL…

Pre-order new Tamron 17-70mm f2.8 Di III-A VC RXD for $799 [E]

Sony E fans, in mid-January 2021 you can have in your hands a brand new f2.8 zoom lens for the APS-C E system! That’s when the estimate is for the release of the just-announced Tamron 17-70mm f2.8 Di III-A VC RXD lens. It has a pre-order price of $799 and already B&H Photo is accepting pre-orders

Interesting decision to release a brand new APS-C lens in a world where full frame E-system cameras are close in price to the higher tier APS-C E-system cameras. But for those who are bought into the APS-C E-system, certainly having a compact(er) f2.8 17-70mm (25-105mm eq) lens can be quite tempting

Pre-order new Manfrotto PRO Scrim kits

Pre-order time of the Manfrotto kind! Their new PRO Scrim kits (four options, $460 to $930) are now available for pre-ordering at Adorama… Product details over there…

They come with a 2-year warranty which can be extended to a 5-year extended warranty when you register the product [which goes to show the value of one’s personal data, which most people readily hand off to Facebook and Google and such without expecting compensation for the commercial use of their personal data, but that’s a story for another day]…

Pre-order the new Sigma I-series compact mirrorless lenses (E/L)

Shiguma strikes again with a new line-up of lenses, the I-series. These are mirrorless-exclusive full-frame compact-priority lenses and they are coming out for the Sony E and Leica L 35mm-full-frame mirrorless systems. The three lenses are:

+ 24mm f3.5 DG DN for $549
+ 35mm f2 DG DN for $639
+ 65mm f2 DG DN for $699

Initially at least, the prices are the same, there is no “Leica tax”. Of course prices can change over time, eg the E-system lenses getting discounted but not the Leica [pure speculation of course].

You can preorder these lenses at B&H Photo and Adorama

Read more about them at the B&H Explora which includes hands-on impressions and sample pictures…

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…

Pre-order Cricket Wireless Locked iPhone 12 and PRO with Amazon Billing and $100 drip-drop GC

If you are a big fan of both Cricket Wireless and Amazon, and you want the new iPhone 12*, and do not object to a CARRIER LOCKED phone, then keep on reading…

Cricket Wireless through Amazon is offering pre-orders of the new iPhone 12 regular for $829 (64GB), or $879 (128GB) or $979 (256GB) in many different colors including (PRODUCT RED).

They are also offering for pre-order the new iPhone 12 PRO for $999 (128GB) or $1099 (256GB) or $1299 (512GB) also in different colors but no (PRODUCT RED).

Now as I said this is CARRIER LOCKED (to Cricket Wireless) and you have to use $55/month Cricket “Unlimited” talk and data plan (Mexico and Canada included, with 15GB hotspot, Video streaming at SD quality, 4G LTE, no 5G).

This offer has a couple of twists:

  • your monthly payment to Cricket Wireless happens automatically through Amazon. Every month Amazon charges your credit/debit card and behind the scenes they pay Cricket Wireless on your behalf. No additional taxes on the $55 amount since it is a store value card (per the Amazon FAQs over there)
  • every month you remain on the plan you automatically earn a $4.17 Amazon Gift Card balance. If you stay for 24 months, it becomes a drip-drop total of $100 (24 x $4.17). $100 is the maximum you can earn in Amazon gift card balance through this promotion. On month #25 and later you earn nada gift card balance!
  • this is not a contract, you can terminate at any time, but this phone is locked to Cricket
  • there are FAQs and more details on this plan and terms and conditions further down the Amazon product page over there
  • I haven’t done this type of an offer before, so I don’t know how it works in practice

Pre-order the all new OnePlus 8T for $749 with FREEbie

It’s raining new smartphones left and right these days, and one such is the expected now-a-days “T version” of the current OnePlus model. So if all the options out there the OnePlus 8T is the one you want, it is now available for pre-ordering at B&H Photo for $749 with free US shipping and during this promotional pre-ordering period you will also receive for FREE (automatically by B&H) the OnePlus Truly Wireless Earbuds. The 8T is available in two color options…

As a quick refresher, this uses the SnapDragon 865, 12GB RAM, four back cameras, one front camera, 6.5″ IPS touchscreen (20:9 2400 x 1080, HDR10+, 1100 nits, 120Hz, Gorilla Glass 3), dual SIM, 256GB UFS 3.1 on-board storage, North America variant with 5G, unlocked, Wifi 6 (aka 802.11ax), Bluetooth 5.1. However, no microSD, no headphone jack!

Pre-orders time: GoPRO HERO 9 Black

Our little baby GoPRO cameras have grown up, it’s their ninth birthday 😉 Joking aside, version 9 of the GoPRO HERO Black has been revealed and orders are accepted with a late September 2020 release estimate. The price is $450 and orders can be had at B&H Photo and Adorama and eventually Amazon

UPDATE: the current Adorama daily deal (expires Thursday at 10am ET) is the Intel 1TB 665p Series Internal SSD going for $98 with free US shipping…

FREE (by mail) Sigma 45mm f2.8 L-lens with Panasonic S5 PreOrder/Purchase

This is not a Labor Day deal, but I haven’t posted about it yet, so this is a good time to post it! If you are planning to pre-order/purchase the Panasonic S5 full-frame mirrorless camera by 9/30/20, and you are willing to do some e-paperwork, Panasonic-Sigma will send you by mail [once you complete the predefined tasks] a Sigma 45mm f2.8 L-system lens for FREE! This is the first time as far as I can recall when you buy a camera from Manufacturer X and you receive a free lens from Manufacturer Y 🙂

Anyway, the Panasonic S5 body only is available for pre-order for $1999 at B&H Photo and Adorama, both reputable and authorized dealers, and they both mention this promotion explicitly on their website and include a PDF file of the terms and conditions.

A copy of the receipt and the barcode of the camera are among the items needed in order to get the freebie. One gift per purchase and up to two free gifts per person. The gifts will be handed out in purchase-time order. The PDF even includes an email for questions…

PS1: the offer is also available if you purchase the Panasonic S5 with Panasonic 20-60mm f3.5-5.6 S kit for $2298 from B&H Photo and Adorama… This is not a bad starter kit, with a zoom and the Sigma prime by mail arriving later on…

PS2: the offer is not mentioned at the Amazon website. To be safe, for these type of offers, it’s better to go with the camera-centric retailers because they are more organized with the offers, and your claim cannot get caught up in “you bought from an Amazon 3rd-party seller” nonsense…

PS3: the promotional period is September 2-30 in 2020, so if you had previously pre-ordered (from an eligible/authorized dealer) without knowing about the promotion, you are still eligible to participate…

PS4: and if you file a rebate with me, I will send you a vial of certified Olympus Tears 😉

Pre-order new sexy Ricoh GR-D III Street Edition for 600 Tall Coffees

Temptation! If you love Big Sensor Primes and you also love your wallet, STOP READING!!!

Available now for pre-ordering is the brand new “Street Edition” Ricoh GR-D III with a pre-order price of $1200 at B&H Photo et al… Check your favorite camera review sites and forums for comparisons to previous models and Fuji competitors…

With so many mirrorless systems and lens options, many of which are shrinking in size too, fixed lens cameras are becoming a harder sell for some, but thankfully not all. This camera is a bit of the opposite of the Sony RX10 Mark IV, in fact so opposite you could have them both as complements and compliments too 🙂

The standard kit includes “Street Editions” of the mini viewfinder, leather strap, ring cap, and “Display Box” ~ in addition to the usual accessories (battery, cable, power adapter, hot shoe cover, etc)…

Pre-order new Tamron 28-200mm f2.8-5.6 Di-III RX [Sony E]

One more zoom-zoom lens option is coming soon for you Sony E-shooters! Tamron has just revealed their brand new 28-200mm f2.8-5.6 Di III RXD lens for the Sony E-system, and it is available for pre-ordering for $729 at B&H Photo et al…

PS: I have double-checked, this is indeed Tamron, not Tokina [because I often get them confused]

Pre-order new Rokinon 14/2.8 II and 85/1.4 II Manual Focus Lenses [C/N/E/X/m43/EF-M]

Rokinon fans, unite and take over! Rokinon lenses are now old enough that we have “II” models, and two new “II” primes are now available for pre-ordering at B&H Photo as follows:

+ 85mm f1.4 II for $399 in Sony E, Canon EF, Nikon F, Fuji X, Canon EF-M, M43

+ 14mm f2.8 II for $499 in Sony E, Canon EF, Nikon F, Fuji X, Canon EF-M, M43

These are manual focus lenses. Try finding a 85/1.4 for this price for Canon EF or Nikon F or Sony of any kind

Pre-Order new Nikon Z50 Creator’s Kit for $1147

To coincide with what would have been NAB 2020, for those video-curious and Nikon-Z-curious, Nikon has announced a new Nikon Z50 Creator’s Kit and this is available for pre-ordering at B&H Photo for $1147. This kit includes:

+ Nikon Z50 camera
+ Nikon Z 16-50mm f3.5-6.3 DX VR
+ Rode VideoMicro shotgun microphone
+ Joby GorillaPod 3K flex
+ SmallRig mounting plate
+ Nikon Travel bag
+ Nikon school voucher

NOTE: for those not following the Nikon Z system closely, this is an APS-C / DX camera bundled with an APS-C / DX lens…

Pre-order Canon RP with 24-105mm f4-7.1 zoom for $1299

If you are looking for a Canon RP “take pictures with” kit with a zoom lens, B&H Photo is accepting pre-orders for the new Pre-order Canon RP with 24-105mm f4-7.1 for $1299. Yes it is f4-7.1, not a typo 🙂

Pre-order new Canon EOS C300 III EF Body for $11,000

IF you are a fan of the Canon video-priority cameras, we have 11,000 good news for you! Canon has revealed their brand new Cinema EOS C300 III camera body in the EF mount with a preordering price of $11,000 at B&H Photo

Also coming along for the ride is a new Canon 25-250mm T2.95-3.95 Super35 zoom lens. More on these at the B&H Explora

Pre-order Olympus E-M5 III with 12-45mm f4 ED PRO for $1599

If you are looking to jump into the promise and premise of “more compact than before” in the E-system, Olympus has created a new zoom kit based on the Olympus E-M5 III. It is the camera bundled with the Olympus 12-45mm f4 ED PRO lens (which currently goes for $649 on its own), all together for $1599 available for pre-ordering at B&H Photo. The E-M5 III body only on its own goes for $999. All three official E-M5 III kits include the Olympus FL-LM3 flash. This kit too is available in the two usual color schemes (black, silver-black)… The shipping estimate is currently early June 2019…

PS: the “Raiders edition” is not likely unless the Raiders win three Superbowls in a row 🙂

Pre-order Tamron 70-180mm f2.8 Di III VXD for $1199 [Sony FE]

Going 35mm full frame has brought the Sony FE system additional lenses. Hot off the e-presses is a brand new Tamron 70-180mm f2.8 Di III VXD lens for the Sony E system only, with a pre-order price of $1199 at B&H Photo. No exact release estimate yet…

More details on the lens at the B&H Explora blog

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 🙂

Pre-order the new Fuji X100V Big Sensor Primes for $1399

Big Sensor Prime fans unite and take over! Fuji has official announced their all new X100V big sensor prime with a 26mp APS-C X-Trans sensor and a new 23mm f2 Fujinon lens (glued to the camera of course). The pre-order price is $1399 and the camera is estimated to be released on March 31st in 2020…

Pre-orders are accepted at B&H Photo and Adorama and Amazon itself

Also offered for pre-order is the official Fuji case for said camera for $80…

Pre-order the new Mac PRO computer line-up

Just in time for the Holidays of 2019, Apple has updated the Mac PRO computer line-up and these new creative critters are now available for pre-ordering at B&H Photo along with a 32″ PRO Retina 6K display, along with assorted and related products and accessories. Apple is putting Xeon back in the tech-o-sphere radar? 🙂

Pre-order new Pixel 4 and 4 XL and get a $100 Gift Card

If you are a fan of the Pixel smartphones, B&H Photo is running a limited time pre-order promotion on the just-announced Google Pixel 4 phones. They include a $100 B&H electronic gift card with pre-orders! There’s no coupon code, the e-gift card is included automatically with the pre-orders.

Depending on your viewport/screen, the free items may not be very visible. Look for the tiny text that says “Includes Free”. Also included is a 3-month prepaid Mint Mobile SIM card that’s why you may see “2 items ($160.00 value)” instead of just the $100 B&H e-gift card.

Prices for the Pixel 4 start at $799 (64GB) and jump to $899 for the 128GB option.

Prices for the Pixel 4 XL start at $899 (64GB) and jump to $999 for the 128GB option.

Estimated shipping date for the Pixel 4 models is October 22 in 2019. It’s a Oh So Orange Just Black and Clearly White Tuesday 😉

Also available for pre-ordering but not including a $100 B&H gift card are the new Pixelbook Go laptops. Scroll further down the listings to find the preorder options. For now they appear to have a “Ships to USA only” restriction. Prices start at $649 for the Intel m3 and increase as memory, storage and processor increase…

Pre-order new 10.2-inch iPads starting at $329

A sign perhaps of Apple’s need to drive more sales among the “mere mortals”, this week saw the first official live-stream of a big Apple event in the modern era on YouTube and this was backed up by a Tim Cook statistics on the iPad ~ a lot of the iPad users are new and non-iPhone users, the iPad is bringing fresh blood in the shoppe.

Which brings us to the just-announced 10.2-inch iPads, they are now available to pre-order at B&H Photo with prices starting at $329 (Wifi, 32GB) and going +$100 for the jump to 128GB. For fans of 4G LTE, they have the usual +$130 on the Wifi-only model.

And there’s good reason iPads are keep getting bought up by non-platform users. Both Microsoft and Google tablets are in a state of non-existent confusion. Google can’t decide if they want Android or ChromeOS or both or neither for their tablets 🙂 Microsoft can’t decide which variant of “Windows Lite” to launch this month 😉

PS: if the CEO of Apple can get away with saying “eggspecially” can I also do it? Or is this too part of the Apple script to make the presentation feel more conversational/human/casual/relatable? I’m eggspecially interested in finding out!

Pre-order Wacom 15.6″ MobileStudio Pro 16 Graphics Tablet

On the pre-orders front, there’s more high-end action from Wacom, B&H Photo is now accepting pre-orders for their new Wacom 15.6″ MobileStudio Pro 16 Graphics Tablet for $3499 with a mid-September 2019 release estimate. This is not something you give the kid instead of an “Etch A Sketch” (unless of course you are a [m/b]illionaire 🙂

Pre-order new Nikon Z 24mm f1.8 lens for $997

If you have already jumped aboard the Nikon Full Frame Mirrorless train, they have a new temptation for you available for pre-ordering, it is the brand new Z 24mm f1.8 S lens with a pre-order price of around $1000 at B&H Photo and Adorama and Amazon

Pre-order new Canon 90D APS-C DSLR starting at $1199

Canon is not just releasing a new APS-C mirrorless camera, they are also ushering out a new APS-C DSLR in their long line of ??D DSLRs using the new 32mp APS-C sensors. The new 90D is available for preorder in the following standard kits:

+ 90D body only for $1199
+ 90D with 18-55 for $1349
+ 90D with 18-135 for $1599
+ the wait is not long for this one, the release estimate is mid-September 2019
+ available for pre-ordering at B&H Photo and Adorama and eventually at Amazon

Pre-order new Canon M6 II mirrorless kits starting at $850

The Canon APS-C mirrorless system is not abandoned just because Canon launched a “boutique” full frame mirrorless system [meow!]. A new APS-C mirrorless camera has been revealed, it is the M6 Mark II and it is available for pre-ordering at B&H Photo and Adorama and Amazon at these standard configurations:

+ body only for $850

+ with 15-45mm lens and EVF-DC2 viewfinder for $1099

+ with 18-150mm lens and EVF-DC2 viewfinder for $1349

+ the camera body is available in black and silver (really black-silver) color schemes

Pre-order new Sony a6100 and a6600 APS-C Mirrorless cameras

Two new cameras have joined the party of the Sony E-system, two new APS-C mirrorless cameras that are now available for pre-ordering as follows:

+ a6100 body only for $748
+ a6100 with 16-50 for $848
+ a6100 two lens kit (16-50, 55-210) for $1098
+ release estimate November 2019
+ available for pre-orders at B&H Photo and Adorama and Amazon

+ a6600 body only for $1398
+ a6600 with 18-135mm for $1798
+ a6600 with 16-25mm f2.8 for $2796
+ release estimate November 2019
+ available for pre-orders at B&H Photo and Adorama and Amazon

Pre-order new Rokinon AF 18mm f2.8 FE for $399

If you are a fan of the Sony E-System and you like your lenses to have this new auto-focus thing [may or may not catch on ~ only the future will tell], B&H Photo is now accepting pre-orders for the new condition Rokinon AF 18mm f2.8 FE for the Sony E-System (FE = full-frame) for $399. The current release estimate is October 2019… This is only available in Sony E!