Topaz continues to provide fun, intuitive and effective plugins with their most recent release, Topaz Texture Effects. On sale via Topaz Labs website HERE for 30% off (normally $69.99, on sale through November 20th for $49.99 when you use code “TEXTUREFX” at checkout), as is often Topaz’ MO for new releases. Come on in to read my thoughts, and to see more…
As a long standing fan of Alien Skin products, I find that it is my duty to alert you guys to their substantial price cuts on all software. Full disclosure, I make no commissions on any sales of Alien Skin software during their sale, which while I’m a bit bummed about that, it is a great deal on some great apps. Any and everything is 40% off through this Wednesday, the 26th, so check it out at AlienSkin.com HERE
You can download free trials of anything they have going. I really like Exposure, myself. Hit me up if you have any questions in the comments or on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and Instagram. If you’d like to receive email notifications on sales, reviews and tutorials, please feel free to add your email address at the top right of the page here. You’ll get email alerts as new articles are released.
Happy shooting!
Tyson
Adorama has the Panasonic, micro 4/3 GM1 camera with 12-32mm pancake zoom for $598 which comes with a $200 Adorama Gift Card, dropping the price for the camera and lens to an effective $398! The lens itself retails for $348, and while that may be a little steep for the lens itself, it is a true 24mm e-fov wide angle lens that is sharper than many of the comparable prime lenses for the system at like aperture, across this zoom lens’ range. While the asking price for the lens itself might be debatable, the quality and sheer minuscule footprint cannot be. Sure that $200 gift card is only valid at Adorama, but if you’re like me, you’ll find a way to eventually spend two hundred bucks on something there.
That’s a pretty sweet deal for this little powerhouse of a camera and lens that I feel is the best kit lens I’ve used for the system.
You can see the deal, currently running at Adorama via my affiliate links below:
GM1 (Blue) with 12-32mm f/3.5-5.6 Lens (Silver) + $200 Adorama Gift Card HERE
GM1 (Orange) with 12-32mm f/3.5-5.6 Lens (Silver) + $200 Adorama Gift Card HERE
If you’d like, you can read my thoughts on the GM1 HERE and the 12-32mm Kit Lens HERE.
I bought my GM1 as soon as it was available, and it has been with me every day since, literally. With the right lenses, this camera is pocketable and is small enough to go anywhere. It has the same sensor as the GX7, which is rumored to also be included in the soon to be announced G7, which is a great performing sensor, especially for RAW file capture, and in my test/review, out performed the Sony sensor in the Olympus OMD EM5 in most every way. The GM5 is essentially the same exact camera with a hot shoe and an EVF. Both great additions, but for this price, I think it would be hard to find a better overall value of size, performance and build quality offered with the GM1. It’s a great little machine, and by little, I mean tiny.
You can stay posted on reviews, tutorials and deals by finding me on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr or Instagram or if you prefer to receive email alerts when articles are posted, feel free to add your email address at the top right of the page here.
Happy shooting.
Tyson
Alien Skin is offering 35% off everything this week, or over 50% off of the whole Photo Bundle! Their sale runs through Valentine’s day and if you’ve been thinking about picking up Exposure 7, Blowup 3, Snap Art 4 or even Eye Candy 7 for those designers out there, now may be a good time to check them out. The current discounts bring these programs down as follows:
Exposure 7 – $96.85 (normally $149)
Blowup 3 – $64.35 (normally $99)
Snapart 4 – $64.35 (normally $99)
or all three in the Photo Bundle for $129.35 (normally $299!!!)
Eye Candy, which is not included in the Photo Bundle, is on sale for $83.85 (normally $129). I’ve not used Eye Candy, so I can’t personally speak about it, but if it is anything like the other programs, I’m confident that it does what it does well.
Visit Alien Skin’s website HERE. Unfortunately, my discount code (tysonrobichaud) won’t give you an extra 10% off, but this is a far better deal anyway 🙂 I just recently reviewed Exposure 7 which I love. Feel free to read a bit more about it HERE if interested.
I’d suggest downloading free trials via the same link above to test them out, and if you do like them, buy ’em before this sale ends. The whole bundle going for less than Exposure alone is pretty cool.
Happy shooting,
t
Adorama has started to offer the GX7 (body only) with a bunch of freebies or gift card for $300 off the normal price. Now, I don’t have a crystal ball, and I don’t know if this is somehow a precursor to a newer camera, but even if it is, this is a killer deal on what I feel is the best all around micro 4/3 camera out right now.
Let me clarify that last statement. I don’t mean to say there aren’t better performing micro 4/3 cameras in ways. The GH4 is the benchmark right now, but costs a lot. The EM1 has some bells and whistles, but also, costs a lot more than the GX7. Neither of these two is anywhere near as compact as the GX7 is, and as you may have read, I feel the GX7 does really, really well against the EM5/10’s or EP’s of the world in my opinion.
Find the GX7 with a bunch of stuff for $697 at Adorama HERE
Find the GX7 with a $100 Adorama Gift Card for $697 HERE
The GX7 deals are listed through 10/4. If you’d like to read more on why I feel this is the best current overall micro 4/3 camera, hit the links to my review articles below:
GX7 vs EM5 Battle for my affection Part 1 (IBIS, EVF’s and LCD’s)
GX7 vs EM5 Battle for my affection Part 2 (Build Quality and Ergonomics)
GX7 vs EM5 Battle for my affection Part 3 (User Interface, IQ, features and the final decision)
Adorama is also offering a $300 rebate off of the GH3. I’ve never used the GH3 aside from a few shots here and there so I cannot give a personal endorsement, but I do feel it has gained a good reputation for a reason.
It’s currently $797 and can be purchased with a $50 gift card and 4% reward, a $100 gift card or alone without one which is odd, but you can see all 3 deals on Adorama for the GH3 HERE if that floats your boat, and these deals look set to expire on 9/13.
I don’t normally do this type of post, but I do field a lot of questions, emails and various social media inquiries about cameras and the GX7 is one that I feel has been the best mirrorless camera I’ve yet used and with the current deals, is an absolute steal in my opinion. The Adorama links are in fact attached through my affiliate account there and would give me a small commission which will in turn be used to purchase more stuff to shoot and review on the blog, so I thank you in advance for the consideration and I hope everyone is well and enjoying the summer (or winter depending on where you may be reading from).
Thanks all and happy shooting!
T
The season for the commercialization of spirituality (or, SFTCOS) is upon us and following suit, we have been absolutely bombarded with new offerings in the digital photography department. Taking the holidays out of it, and looking at it purely from a gear point of view, it is truly an exciting time to be shopping around for the best bang for your (or a loved one’s) buck.
Over the last 4 years that I’ve written this blog, I’ve been asked quite a few questions about which cameras, lenses, systems, et al, are the best. While I’ve chosen the gear I’ve chosen for my own personal reasons, there are so many others out there that offer their own set of pros and cons, and to put it plainly, there is no universal truth, nor answer to that question.
Come on in and I’ll give my take on which of the newly announced cameras over the last year or so are the most intriguing, interesting, best value or just plain confusing…
Tyson Robichaud Photo-blography 