Hot, Grey Market: 24-70mm II $1449 at AllNewShop via eBay


AllNewShop via eBay has the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM (grey market) for $1449.00.

AllNewShop, also known as GetItDigital, is not an authorized dealer, so this item is grey market. A Canon USA warranty is not guaranteed, but readers report it is historically honored. Beware a potential upsell call (stay firm and insist they process your order at this price).

If grey market is not for you, please consider our street price of $1639 from an authorized Canon USA dealer.




5DayDeal “Photography Business Bundle” for Only $87 – 5 Days Only!

Our friends at 5DayDeal just launched “The Complete Photography Business Bundle”, featuring a great collection of eBooks, starter kits, and videos, all focused on helping you launch and grow your photography-based business. It’s available for only $87 for five days only — the deal expires on March 1st at 3 PM ET, and will never be offered again!

We’re very pleased to see that this bundle is very different from the one offered last year. Whereas previous bundles focused on photography, lighting, or post-processing techniques, this bundle focuses on the business aspects of photography: marketing, attracting clients, SEO and web marketing, and legal.

We had a chance to preview “The Complete Photography Business Bundle”. We spent several days going through all the material. Scroll down for the full review!

Speaking from our experience, the journey towards being a professional photographer can be a daunting road, with many surprises to “discover” along the way. It’s most important to have mentors to guide you in this process, helping you avoid the pitfalls, letting you learn from their mistakes. If you are not fortunate enough to have local, personal mentors, the next best thing is to rely on the collective wisdom of successful photographers, and this bundle is an excellent way to tap into that. Read on below for our review of some of the content in the bundle.

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Here’s a quick summary of some of our favorite items in the bundle.

  • Click Click, Tick Tock eBook by Dan Carr. In a 94-page eBook, Dan covers several important aspects of a professional photographer’s workflow: strategies for managing digital files and backups, and time-saving tips for using automation for social media, accounting, and publishing online galleries. A very valuable, concise introduction to many useful tools.
  • Attracting Clients by Brent Mail. Brent describes several techniques for marketing — both ones that worked and ones that did not. Most fascinating is his “3rd party marketing” technique, where he obtains photography client referrals from car dealerships and other unrelated businesses.
  • Defendit by Rachel Brenke — a must-read for every photographer looking to protect their work from theft. A well-written explanation of copyright and trademark law, and detailed instructions for preventing unauthorized use of photographs and other creative work through the use of Cease and Desists, DMCA Takedown, and other techniques. Templates provided!
  • Two great resources for wannabe-wedding-photographers: The Complete Wedding Toolkit by Erin Youngren includes e-mail templates, sample contracts, and workflows/checklists for making sure you don’t miss anything. Jen Bebb’s 123-page eBook Love & Light is a visually stunning; most useful are the shot lists as well as a detailed guide on how to best position yourself during the ceremony and make use of the precious time.
  • In-Person Sales 101 by Chris Scott — an introduction to in-person sales techniques, specifically applied to wall-art. Not for everyone, but some interesting concepts here. Chris knows what he’s talking about as he’s the creator of the Preveal App, an iPad-based photograph sales tool that enables you to pre-visualize wall-art in a client’s home or office.

In general, this edition of the bundle featured a lot more books than videos. Overall we were impressed by the quality of the eBooks. In addition to the above, several longer books by David duChemin explored the ethos of the creative spirit (and creative entrepreneur) and Corwin Hiebert extracted words of wisdom from dozens of photographers in “Growing the Visionmonger 2”. Sadly, a few of the videos disappointed. Joel Grimes’ video was long and rambling, while Serge Ramelli’s “Photography Business Masterclass” was long, but wasn’t really teaching much.

In total we think the overall quality of this bundle was quite good, and up to the high bar set by 5DayDeal in previous years. As before, we recommend purchasing “The Complete Photography Business Bundle” if you see two or three items of interest; at a $87 price point it’s quite easy to derive value from this. It’s suitable for all types of photographers: those just thinking about starting a business, those growing a business, and even those with established businesses; there’s also something new to learn. Going through all the material in this bundle reminded us of our early days in the photography business — and the many mistakes we made. If only we knew then what we knew now!



Street Price Special: EF 11-24mm f/4L for $2449 Brand New


This very popular street price special is back: the Canon EF 11-24mm f/4L USM is available brand new from an authorized Canon dealer for $2449.00. This comes with a 1-year Canon USA warranty, free shipping, and no sales tax is charged.

Limited stock available; this price is only valid until sold out.

Check out all the other street prices, and remember the current Canon instant rebates, mail-in rebates, and CarePAK promotion are scheduled to expire on Saturday February 27th, unless renewed by Canon USA.



Lens Instant Rebates and CarePAK Plus Scheduled to Expire Saturday


Two of the current Canon promotions are scheduled to expire on Saturday, February 27th, unless renewed by Canon USA.

The current slate of lens instant rebates are scheduled to expire on Saturday. Many of these rebates were initiated prior to the holiday buying season in October 2015. Also scheduled to expire on Saturday (unless renewed) is the very popular CarePAK PLUS promotion. When you purchase selected Canon bodies or lenses from a Canon USA authorized dealer, you receive a free “CarePAK PLUS“, an extended 13-month warranty covering accidental damage from drops or spills. As our street prices come from Canon USA authorized dealers (except where explicitly indicated), they are eligible for this extended warranty.

Take advantage of these popular street prices before Saturday:

You can see all the street prices, or check out the printer bundle deals.



Announced: Sigma Art 50-100mm $1099, Tamron 90mm Macro $649


A few new Sigma and Tamron branded lenses were announced over the last few days, two are now available for pre-order.

Sigma announced the Sigma Art 50-100mm f/1.8 DC HSM for Canon, this is a fast aperture (f/1.8!) telephoto zoom designed for crop-body (EF-S) sensors. It’s quite a novel range and aperture, similar to their Art 18-35mm f/1.8 DC. It’s available for pre-order for $1099.00 at B&H with an expected ship date of April.

Tamron announced the Tamron SP 90mm f/2.8 Di Macro 1:1 VC USD, a vibration-controlled f/2.8 Macro lens that will likely compete toe-to-toe with the Canon 100L Macro. It’s competitively priced at $649.00 at B&H and is available to ship this week!

Finally, Tamron also announced the Tamron SP 85mm f/1.8 Di VC USD, a vibration-controlled f/1.8 prime. No pricing has been announced, but we expect it to be aggressive; they are likely hoping to take market share away from those waiting for the Sigma Art 85mm (still nowhere to be seen.)



Adorama “Open Box” Specials on Canon Cameras and Lenses


Authorized Canon dealer Adorama continues to have “open box” specials on select cameras and lenses. Adorama gives the condition as “Open Box – Packaging may show some wear and tear. Includes all original accessories and full 1 year Canon USA warranty.” From the previous sale, readers report receiving items in pristine condition with no evidence of being previously opened.

Check out all the open box specials at Adorama.



5DayDeal “Photography Business Bundle” Launches on Thursday

Our friends at 5DayDeal are at it again. Like last year and the year before, they’ve assembled another fantastic bundle of eBooks and video-based learning material. This time it’s a “Photography Business Bundle” focused on helping you launch and grow your photography-based business. As before, 10% of the proceeds are donated to a few great charities.

We’ll post our review on Thursday at 3 PM ET when the bundle launches, please look for it then. What we can say is this bundle is very different in focus from the previous bundles, so it should be very complementary even if you purchased a previous bundle.

While you wait for Thursday, you can optionally sign-up for a giveaway with $10,000 of prizes, including a Canon DSLR, and gear from Lowepro, Joby, and other big brands.