It's that time of year when most of the photography sites all shift to shills for shekels. Pretty much every site masks monetary massing under the term "recommendations." Some do that with a level of integrity, some just post new affiliate links to anything that gives them a piece of the action.
I don't play this game. I believe you should buy what you need—or what you want if you've got the disposable income—and then get out in the field using it. Should someone offer a better price this time of year, great, enjoy the savings. Just realize that everyone is going to be in your face (well, really your display) pushing hard to get you to buy things you probably don't need and maybe didn't even want, but darn, those prices sure look tempting.
Speaking of savings, the one thing I'd note about that is that beyond the camera and lens makers providing deals, this is one of those times of year where storage costs get reduced. I've seeing some impressive price drops—as much as 40%—on hard drives and storage cards. I even took advantage of that myself to pick up some more SSD capacity for my machines.
This is also the time of year that the software companies suddenly offer their wares for much less than they've been charging you, including, this year, Adobe with their complete Creative Cloud suite. That tends to be a little like pushing drugs, though. They really want to hook you on a taste and then hold your long-term business via subscription/update revenue. Some do a better job of paying off that initial taste. Adobe has been iterating and innovating like mad in their products, and today's Lightroom and Photoshop are way, way better than the old Creative Suite.
Others (I'm looking at you Photo Mechanic) want that same level of monthly tithe for...well, I'm not sure what I get for that. It certainly isn't performance or features. Still others (I'm looking at you TopazLabs) simply seem to reinvent and rename their products rather giving you anything that lasts particularly long and operates in a consistent fashion. So be careful with the "software bargains." They tend to have a Trojan Horse impact on your credit card.
I stick by my long-held advice:
- Establish a budget for what you're going to spend during the holidays on photography.
- Evaluate what you really need and are missing, making sure that you understand what will actually make a difference in your imagery.
- Build a list of #2 that can be bought with #1. (Normally I'd also say prioritize the final list, but I'm being lenient this year.)
- Watch the sales carefully. The pre-Black Friday sales aren't necessarily the best sales. It's usually the two week period starting with Black Friday in which you see the best offers.
As for this site, we'll be rather quiet between now and the end of the year. I've got a number of articles in progress, but I'm in no hurry to post them while you're being dazzled by all the SAVE SAVE SAVE offers.
