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Lensbabies are multiplying like bunnies these days. The new Lensbaby Sweet 80 Optic is available for pre-ordering for $200. This if you already have a compatible Lensbaby “Lens Body”.
If not, fear not, they also have bundles of the Sweet 80 with the Composer Pro II, together available for pre-order for $379 at B&H Photo in your choice of Nikon, Pentax K, Sony A, or Canon in SLR systems, and in your choice of Fuji X, M43rds, Sony E or Samsung NX in mirrorless systems.
Profoto is expanding into on-camera flashes, with their new Profoto A1 AirTTL Studio Lights available in Canon or Nikon for $995 each. To get along with them, they are also launching nine accessories (gel kits, extra batteries, chargers, bounce cards, etc. You can see them all and place pre-orders at B&H Photo and Adorama.
Tamron has revealed a new DSLR lens, the 100-400 f4.5-6.3 Di VC USD for the Canon and Nikon systems. There is no price on the lens yet, and since there’s no price, there are no pre-order options yet either.
There is a product page created for this lens however at B&H Photo.
This too has been added to the New Lenses of 2017 page.
Per the Mobile OS Fairness Doctrine, having mentioned the new iPhones, we now have to mention the flagship Android phone with its dual OIS cameras, which, what a coincidence, is also available for pre-order!
If you prefer factory unlocked, with USA warranty and no carrier strings attached, you can get it for $930 in two color options at B&H Photo and Amazon itself.
Samsung’s own store offers it both factory unlocked, and also in six carrier configurations (the Big Four, plus US Cellular and Comcast/Xfinity) for $930. They also have an optional $300 Trade-In Promotion of qualifying/eligible trade-in phones.
UPDATE: if you are a fan of eBay shopping, they have a variety of listings. Keep in mind, eBay is an open marketplace with all kinds of product conditions and authorized dealer status and international models and such, so be sure to scrutinize each listing before buying!
Carriers have a variety of offers with their terms and conditions and restrictions and pitfalls, so be sure to read and understand them before jumping aboard a particular carrier…
There are also some promotions that get you free accessories with early pre-orders. Check each carrier’s various options for details.
AT&T offers a 30-month installment plan with 0% APR on approved credit and such, for $31.67 per month. They have an up to $300 trade-in promotion, fineprint buried at the bottom of that page.
T-Mobile offers an old fashioned “Buy One, Get One FREE” promotion, with their own set of prerequisites and requirements for the promotion.
SPRINT has a “Switch to Sprint” promotion that is $20 per month on the 18-month Sprint FLEX Lease program with monthly bill credits on approved credit, with their prerequisites and restrictions. Note that this is a lease promotion, not a purchase promotion.
Verizon Wireless has a Trade-IN promotion that gets you up to 50% off Galaxy Note 8 with select trade-ins and a monthly payment plan and with other requirements. The 50% off is reserved for ten models (S7*, S8*, iPhone 7*, Pixel XL, etc), while the 35% off is with previous previous generation flagships, and 25% off is three times previous generation models.
The first wave of the new products Apple revealed at their 9/12/17 presentation at the new UFO building are now available for pre-ordering. The iPhone X is not part of this round, pre-orders will open later in the year.
We start with the 4K Apple TV which is a simple “add to cart” purchase without complications. There is a 32GB model for $179 and a 64GB for $199 with pre-orders available at B&H Photo and Adorama and MacMall
+ Apple Watch Series 3 for $359 (four options)
+ Apple Watch Series 3 with CELLULAR for $429 (seven options) unlocked at B&H Photo OR for $400 at Verizon Wireless (requirements)
+ more expensive options also available – check all 34 options
Be sure to read all the terms and conditions for the carrier promotions, as each carrier has their own terminology and fineprint!
At Sprint, their Best Trade-IN offer is 50% off the price of an iPhone 8 or 8 PLUS with a string of prerequisites including Sprint FLEX, and eligible trade-in, with new line or qualifying upgrade, etc, etc. Check all the details there.
At AT&T Wireless they offer a 30-month 0% APR installment plan on approved credit with their own set of prerequisites.
At T-Mobile, everyone gets a giant splash of magenta for FREE 😉 They too have a trade in promotion with up to $300 in 24 bill credits with eligible trade-in and their own prerequisites. They actually created a readable FAQ on the Trade-In offer, which all carriers should be required to provide instead of hiding all the terms in tiny online fineprint and anachronistic terminology 🙂 [T-Mobile does this too, not just the other three, but in this case, the FAQ is a nice touch]
Verizon Wireless has a trade-in promotion for the iPhone 8 and also the iPhone 8 PLUS that gets you $100 or $200 or $300 depending on which phone you are trading in. Only specific models are eligible for the trade-in bonus:
These were not announced this week, but since we have an Apple-centric post, this is a good place to post them…
+ Apple MacBook, iMac, Mini, iPad sales at B&H Photo
+ Sales and Price-Checks on the latest models at MacMall
+ Adorama Apple Sale as well with 21 participating products
The iPhone X ruined my joke for the Sony RX10 IV price, because it no longer costs twice as much as the iPhone 🙂 Regardless, bad jokes are not included with the pre-orders 🙂 Sony went the flagship smartphone route with separating the announcements from the pre-orders. So today is the day…
… pre-orders are now accepted for $1700 for the new Sony RX 10 IV 1-inch superzoom with RAW and much and more at B&H Photo and Adorama and Amazon itself.
If my without-calculator math is correct, this is the 13th RX-series camera, and all of them are still available for purchase. Check the most recent (July 2017) Fixed Lens Price Chart for the previous models (does not have RX0 and RX10 IV).
Another one of the IFA 2017 products has made its way to the Pre-ordering party, it is ACER with its new Holo 360 all-in-one 360 degrees camera, available for pre-ordering for $429 at B&H Photo.
Per the Taiwanese Chamber of Commerce Fairness Doctrine, any mention of Acer must be accompanied by a mention of ASUS, which brings us to the new ASUS ZenFone 4 Max Smartphone available for pre-order for $199 at B&H Photo. This has dual 13mp cameras, and of interest if you value BIG batteries – this has a 5000 mAh battery! The processor is on the light side being a Snapdragon 430, but has 4GB RAM, 32GB on-board with microSDXC, 5.5″ 1080p, Nougat, factory unlocked.
On the pro lighting front, there is a pre-order there too! B&H Photo is accepting pre-orders for the Litepanels Gemini 2×1 Bi-Color LED Soft Panel (Standard Yoke) for the very specific price of $4218 with free expedited shipping when it gets released. The current availability estimate is mid October 2017.
For more B&H action, check their latest B&H Featured Sales.
It’s interesting how the camera market can sometimes go in circles in some ways. The good old Olympus E-series fixed lens cameras of a decade ago may have found spiritual successors in the Sony RX10 series mayhaps, which brings us to a new addition to the line, the new RX 10 IV, available for pre-ordering on Thursday AM for $1700 at B&H Photo and Adorama et al.
One unusual accomplishment of the Sony RX-series is that every single camera in the RX-series remains a currently available. How much this is a sign of popularity and how much it is a matter of inventory, I do not know, but it still is something rare in the world of digital cameras.
This has been added to the New Cameras of 2017, making it the sixth RAWsumer of the year, and the most expensive of the lot so far.
On the lighting front, a new line of Rotolight NEO II on-camera lights and HSS Transmitters are now available for pre-ordering at Adorama. The NEO II light fixture goes for $400, or you can buy a full kit for $1600. HSS Transmitters are available for Canon, Nikon, Sony, and Olympus-Pentax [one model for both; they haven’t merged]. There’s also a $100 receiver. A total of seven options are available.
For more Adorama action, check their latest New Releases and Pre-orders page.
Coming along with the Fuji X-E3 camera and its accessories, Fuji also revealed a new medium format prime lens, but also a new prime lens for their X-System!
The new Fuji 80mm f2.8 R LM OIS WR MACRO has a starting price of $1200 and it is available for pre-ordering at B&H Photo and Adorama.
This too has been added to the New Lenses of 2017 tracking page.
It’s the …Age of Ultron for Nikon SLR shooters 🙂 The new Voigtlander Ultron 40mm f2 SL IIS is available for pre-ordering in two color schemes for $515 for the Nikon F system at B&H Photo with a next week (September 12) release estimate.
This too has been added to the New Lenses of 2017 tracking page.
In addition to the previously mentioned Fuji X-E3 camera pre-orders, now two of its serious accessories are available for pre-ordering:
+ Fuji MHG-XE3 Metal Hand Grip for $129 at Adorama and Amazon itself (late September estimate)
+ Fuji LC-XE3 Bottom Leather Case for $79 at Adorama and Amazon itself (late September estimate)
For more Adorama action, check their latest New Releases and Pre-orders page.
The Fuji GFX mirrorless medium format system has a new member today, a brand new lens, the new Fuji Fujinon GF 45mm f2.8 R WR, available for pre-ordering for $1699 at Adorama and B&H Photo.
Medium Format systems are more specialty, so you’re not gonna get a burst of new lenses like you may get with DSLR and mirrorless 35mm and smaller-sensor systems.
There is only one camera so far in the system, the GFX-50S, which goes for $6500 in new condition or you can get it used starting at $5300 at Amazon Warehouse Deals. You can find this at the bottom of the Stock Status Tracker.
Mirrorless cameras just scored a goal, increasing their lead to 10-8! Fuji put in a new middlefielder that scored this goal [okay, time to abandon soccer/football analogies]…
Fuji has a new 24mp APS-C mirrorless camera in their X-System, it is part of the X-E series, it is the brand new X-E3, available in silver or black [but still not Raiders edition].
It will be available in three official kits as follows:
Pre-orders at the above prices are now accepted at B&H Photo and Adorama and Amazon itself where the release estimate is September 28 (2017).
Keep in mind though, estimates are only estimates until or unless the cameras start shipping.
This reinforces the three Fuji X-System lines of X-T, X-E, and X-A.
It also juxtapositions this new camera with the existing Fuji X-T1 with FREE 35mm f2 promotion, at the moment giving the X-T1 an advantage in terms of both a lower price and a free lens included with it. [check the Stock Status Tracker for all the X-T1 options].
Keep in mind, release estimates of new camera gear can sometimes be finicky and can obviously change as time goes by. So with that disclaimer out of the way…
… we have began a full update of the Stock Status Tracker and as of this update…
… the Amazon listing for the Nikon D850 body only shows a September 7 in 2017 release estimate for the camera.
To make sure I’m not hallucinating, here’s a screenshot 🙂
According to Amazon’s Best Seller charts, this is the #1 seller among New Release digital cameras. Keep in mind, the Amazon best seller lists are only as good as the product categories different products are put in. If someone fat-fingers a coffee machine under cameras, it will show in the best sellers 🙂
DJI has joined the IFA 2017 party, with a new group of Mavic Pro Platinum quadcopters! There are a few different options, with prices starting at $1099 at B&H Photo and the official DJI store.
For more of the recent releases, check the pre-orders posts and the New Cameras of 2017.
The IFA 2017 rivers are flowing, here’s another new product, it’s the Insta360 ONE Action Camera available for pre-ordering for $299 with free shipping at Adorama and B&H Photo.
For more of the recent releases, check the pre-orders posts and the New Cameras of 2017.
Even though they bought Pentax, Ricoh still has some cameras under its own name, such as their Theta series. A new model is born today in that series, the new THETA V 360 4K Spherical VR Camera, now available for pre-ordering for $430 at B&H Photo.
Ricoh thinks of this as a mini system, as it also offers optional accessories for pre-ordering:
+ Ricoh TW-1 Underwater Housing for Theta V, S, or SC for $200
If you have devices that can support 400GB microSDXC cards, and you like the idea of having that much of your data in a single card, then you may be interested to learn that the new condition 400GB Sandisk Ultra microSDXC UHS-I, model SDSQUAR-400G-GN6MA, is available for pre-ordering for $250 with free shipping at B&H Photo.
PS: back in our time, we were lucky if we could get a 64MB Smartmedia card at a reasonable price 🙂 Now you can fit over 6000 of those Smartmedia cards in this tiny little microSD card 🙂
It’s IFA time in Berlin, which means more new tech products from all directions. Especially, in the world of photography, since this is an odd year, so there’s no Photokina [see Trade Show Calendar].
Sony had a pretty successful RX-series of RAWsumers, case in point, as you can see at the Fixed Lens Cameras Price Chart all models continue to be available in new condition at authorized dealers!
So it should not be a surprise that Sony would decide to further expand the RX-series.
Which brings us to the new brand new RX0, an ultra-compact elementproof camera but with a 1-inch 21mp sensor, and a 24mm f4 Zeiss-blessed lens, RAW of course (it wouldn’t be an RX-series without RAW!), and various tempting video features. And an RX-series starting price of $700.
In new-typical Sony fashion, pre-orders are not accepted right away. It will be available for pre-ordering on September 5, 2017.
But there are detailed pages for it at B&H Photo and Adorama.
This has been added to the New Cameras of 2017 tracking page, making it the fifth RAWsumer to be introduced in 2017. Try to guess the other four before looking. But we don’t have fabulous prizes if you guess right 🙂
In a matter of three days, the Mirrorless Cameras managed to not only score an equalizer, but take the lead 9-8 over DSLR cameras among the New Cameras of 2017. The one who gave the mirrorless cameras the lead is the brand new Olympus E-M10 Mark III, or Third of Its Name, now available for pre-ordering in two configurations, body only or with lens and bag.
Each combo is available in either silver or black, but so far, there’s no Raiders edition yet. With the Raiders moving in Vegas, the opportunities for Raiders merchandising are at an all time high [speculation].
+ E-M10 III Body Only pre-orders for $650 in silver or black at B&H Photo and Adorama and Amazon itself
+ E-M10 III with 14-42mm EZ lens and Olympus Case and 16GB SD card for $800 in silver or black at B&H Photo and Adorama and Amazon itself
+ also available is Olympus CS-51B Body Jacket for $50 in Black or Brown color schemes
If you are a Canon EF shooter and love tilt-shift lenses, it’s your lucky day! Canon has revealed three new tilt-shift TS-E EF lenses, each one priced at $2199. So for the price of a used old Honda Civic, you can get all three 🙂 They are available for pre-ordering as follows:
+ Canon TS-E 50mm f2.8L Macro Tilt-Shift Lens at B&H Photo and Amazon itself and Adorama
+ Canon TS-E 90mm f2.8L Macro Tilt-Shift at B&H Photo and Amazon itself and Adorama
+ Canon TS-E 135mm f4L Macro Tilt-Shift at B&H Photo and Amazon itself and Adorama
PS: car prices are estimates and do not represent Blue Book values 😉
PS2: these too have been added to the New Lenses of 2017
A new lens from Canon to brighten your photography and darken your wallet! The new Canon EF 85mm f1.4L IS USM Lens is available for pre-ordering for $1599 at B&H Photo and Amazon itself and Adorama.
The lens has been added to the New Lenses of 2017 tracking page.
Canon is back with their renewed interest in their mirrorless system. They have a new camera, the M100, that will be available in two options. For $600, with the 15-45mm kit lens, and for $950 with the 15-45 and the 55-200 lenses. They are available in black or white and pre-ordering is available at B&H Photo and Aamzon itself and Adorama.
With this announcement, mirrorless cameras “scored an equalizer”, making the score 8 vs 8 in DSLR vs Mirrorless among the New Cameras of 2017.
Of Canon lighting interest, they have revealed a brand new Canon MT-26EX-RT Macro Twin Lite with a starting price of $989 and a mid-November 2017 release estimate. Pre-orders are accepted at B&H Photo and Amazon itself and Adorama.
Despite that estimate, there are a couple of listings at Amazon by Beach Camera that say this is in-stock and shipping in a few days. They have the same price and include some free accessories, one bundle with a 128GB Sandisk Extreme PRO SDXC, and another bundle with a Tripod, Kodak Flash and more. This also shows as in-stock at Beach Camera’s own website, but not at their Buydig online-centric website.
I have no way of verifying whether it is indeed in-stock there, so YMMV…
Wallets open wide. Open ALL the frames in your wallet. The Nikon full frame DSLR that was promised is now a real product. The Nikon D850 body only is officially announced and pre-orders are accepted for $3300 at authorized dealers including B&H Photo and Adorama and Amazon itself.
With this new addition, the DSLRs take an 8-7 lead versus Mirrorless cameras among the New Cameras of 2017. But the score is far from settled, IFA is just around the corner. There is no Photokina this year since it is an odd-numbered year [and a very odd year to boot], so announcements may be spread out more evenly among the remaining Trade Shows.
In a surprisingly fast move (for this blog these days), the Nikon D850 has also just been added to the Stock Status Tracker. This is the fastest I’ve ever added a camera to the tracker 🙂
Gamers time now ~ the brand new Xbox One X Project Scorpio Edition 1TB Console is now available for pre-ordering for $500 at Amazon by Amazon itself with a limit of one per customer. November 7 (2017) is the projected release date.
If you are a fan of Canon EF lenses, Panasonic video cameras, and the Super 35 format, your wishes are coming true! Panasonic has revealed their new AU-EVA1 Super35 Cinema Camera that takes Canon EF lenses. This is available for pre-ordering for $7345 at Adorama.
Camera audio is a sub-category in itself with specialty products appearing as audio + video becomes more prevalent in cameras. Which brings us to the brand new Rode VideoMic Pro Plus On-Camera Shotgun Microphone available fro pre-ordering for $299 at B&H Photo. No shipping date posted yet.
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