Month: November 2016

Adorama Black Friday Week Specials

On By Mark DoddIn Expired Offers/PromotionsLeave a comment

Adorama Black Friday Savings

FROM

adorama-logo

 

There are way too many deals for me to list each one here so click the banner or logo for the vendor you are interested in below to see the full list of cameras and lenses available during this sale. Please make a note of the various expiration dates as they are different for each vendor.

So go and get a head start on your Black Friday shopping as they deals are available now.

 

Adoroma Black Friday - sony

Adorama’s Sony Black Friday Instant Rebates are valid through 12/03 and ship free.

 

Adoroma Black Friday - Sigma

Adorama’s Sigma Black Friday Instant Rebates & Specials  are valid through 11/29 and ship free.

 

Adoroma Black Friday - Lensbaby

Adorama’s Lensbaby Black Friday Instant Rebates & Specials  are valid through 12/13 and ship free.

 

olympus

Adorama’s Olympus Black Friday Instant Rebates & Specials are valid through 12/3 and ship free. Includes Mirrorless cameras, Compact cameras, Recorders, Lens, and Accessories.

 

 

Removed the expired sale items but the above are still available, so get your items now before they disappear as well.
#Adorama #Sony #Canon #Nikon #Blackfriday #Sales #Sigma #Lensbaby #affiliate

 

Luminar for the Mac Available now

On By Mark DoddIn Carroll County, Fall, General Blog PostLeave a comment

Luminar

Luminar is Now Available for download.

 

Get it at the launch pricing for a limited time of $59 for new customers and $49 for existing Macphun customers. That’s a $10 savings off of the retail prices

And NOW, you can Try it BEFORE you Buy!

So give it a try as I’m sure you will realize this is the best photo editor for the Mac for beginner to Advanced users.
Once you download and install Luminar, you will get access to a series of 26 videos showing you how to make the most of Luminar’s features and options.

 

Here is my first photo edited with Luminar and one of the first I took with my Fujifilm X-T2

 

The tracks in the Fall

#Macphun #Luminar #Photoeditor #FujiFilmUSA

 

My New Camera Arrived – FujiFilm X-T2

On By Mark DoddIn General Blog PostLeave a comment

My FujiFilm X-T2 arrived today from Amazon Warehouse.

 

Fujifilm X-T2

Check current new pricing: Amazon|Adoroma

 

My trusty Nikon 80 is starting to show its age. It has served me well and will continue to do so as my backup camera. But I have been looking for a new camera for some time now. I checking out upgrading to another cropped sensor Nikon and even the Full Frame Nikons. Then I started seeing more and more folks including my photography friends using mirrorless cameras so I started to check those out as well.  I finally narrowed down my choices to a Nikon D7200 as the full frame Nikons are just out of my budget right now. And even though I really wanted a full Frame Sony mirrorless camera, again it was out of the budget. So I decided to get the FujiFilm X-T1, but then they announced the X-T2 model but it was just on the edge of my budget range for a new camera.

I’m always looking for the best deals to get the best bang for my buck, so when I started looking for my final choice of a Fujifilm X-T2 Mirrorless Digital Camera with 18-55mm F2.8-4.0 R LM OIS Lens as my camera replacement I wasn’t finding anything below full retail. This was expected since the camera was just released a little over a month ago. I resigned myself to sit and wait awhile to see if the price came down

In my hunt for the best price on the recent printer purchase, I stumbled upon an Amazon price-watching site called camelcamelcamel.com. I did my amazon search for the X-T2 with lens and didn’t see anything at the time that was discounted, so I added a price watch on camelcamelcamel.com.  Initially, it was just giving me the same pricing that I found myself, but then one day it showed me on for $230 less so I clicked on the link immediately. I was sent to the Amazon Warehouse listing that showed this was for a “used” classification sale of the camera. I had never heard of Amazon Warehouse so I started checking out the terms etc and when I was about to buy the camera, the listing was gone all in less that 15 mins. I was upset with myself for procrastinating, but I did my due diligence and checked out the service and terms so I was ready if it ever came up again.

Well a few days later another listing popped up and I jump right on it.  That order is the camera that arrived today. It was listed as Used: no cosmetic issues with the camera and  tested and confirmed working but only a damaged box. After opening the Amazon box and finding the X-T2 box inside I took everything out and inspected everything.  The only thing I could find wrong was the LCD screen was a little smudged, which was easily cleaned with a lint free cloth. The box hardly had a mark on it other than fresh tape.

It is obvious to me this was an Amazon returned product and they sold it via Amazon Warehouse at a discount. Don’t know why anyone would want to return such a great camera. I’m not complaining one bit as I feel I’ve gotten a new camera for several hundred dollars less than the current going price and it looks brand new. Now I’ve got some money to go out and get an additional lens, of which I wouldn’t have been able to do if I purchased it brand new.

So if you don’t mind purchasing a returned unit, I would recommend setting up a price watch with camelcamelcamel.com or your favorite price watcher so you can get notified of the reduced prices from folks like Amazon Warehouse. And make sure your service notifies you as from my experience, the Fujifilm XT-2’s do not last long.

One last note: if the price is way lower than the regular price, definitely check it out first. I was notified of one listing for this product being $600, but after checking things out it was obviously a scam.

Now the only thing to do it take my new camera out for a spin this weekend to hopefully get some great fall colors pictures.

#AmazonWarehouse #Fujifilm #XT2 #Amazon #NewCamera

 

Pre-Order Luminar, Save $10 and Get Bonus Items

On By Mark DoddIn Expired Offers/PromotionsLeave a comment

Pre-order Luminar, the new photo editor from Macphun.

The all inclusive photo editor for those who just want a better basic editor to those who want all the advanced features and more than those found in other editors. Click the image below to pre-order or just to learn more about this new editor.

 

 

Let’s just get the pre-order Luminar details out of the way first

Pricing

  • New Macphun Customers can Pre-Order Luminar for the discounted price of $59 and get the Pre-Order Bonuses!
  • Current Users of any Macphun Software, including Aurora HDR or Aurora HDR 2017 can Pre-Order Luminar for the discounted price of $49 and get the Pre-Order Bonuses

The details of the bonus items will be detailed on the Luminar pre-order page.

The Pre-order Luminar offer is only available from November 2 – November 17. After that, the bonus items are gone and the price goes back up by $10 for new and existing customer pricing.

 

Now let’s get into some details about Luminar

 

Luminar Key Features:

  • Adaptive User Interface
  • All-in-one photo editing tool set
    • Includes essential editing tools for different photography styles
    • Live editing, live processing, live previews
    • Non-destructive editing
    • Works as a standalone app or plug-in
    • RAW converter & processor
    • History Panel

Click here to see the full list of Luminar’s features

 

From basic to advanced

Luminar is designed to be used by those who just want it for basic editing all they way up to the most advanced user and everyone in between. For those looking to go beyond what Photos for the Mac can do for you and let you grow into more advanced editing techniques all within one program.

With a few clicks you can switch from the basic mode to a more advanced mode.

Pre-order Luminar
Luminar with the basic photo editing tools on the right.
Pre-Order Luminar
Some of the more advanced tools shown on the right with preset along the bottom

 

In the basic or advanced views you can quickly see how the edits you have done affect your photo with the split view that shows your original and the your photo with your Luminar adjustments so you can quickly compare the results.

Pre-Order Luminar
Split view with your original image on the left and your image after Luminar

 

When you start getting into the advanced options such as filters and you are not sure what they will do to your photo. Now there are built in examples that you can see for each filter type.

Pre-Order Luminar
Not sure what the Polarizing Filter does, expand the window to see a description and example images of the filter in use

 

Now sure where to start, no problem, you have a wide variety of presets to choose from. You can either stick with the changes that the preset gave you or you can expand upon those changes by choosing a preset and then making your own additional adjustments. If you like the adjustments you made and think you will use them on future photos, you can even save the settings as your own custom preset.

 

Pre-Order Luminar
Presets show at the bottom and the various preset types you can choose to help narrow down you choices

 

My thoughts

I see Luminar being used by the casual user who just needs access to a few more photo editing options than those offered by  the basic programs that come with your computer up to those who want more advanced editing features but do not want to pay the higher price of other editors.

With the ease of use and the built-in examples, I can see those who started out using the basics editing functions quickly moving into using the advanced features of Luminar.

 

Luminar is a great starting point for the Macphun series of photo editors. Start with Luminar and as you are looking for more advanced editing features you can move up to Creative Kit which gives you more controls over the specific functions of each app that is part of the Creative Kit. Or if you have decided to venture into HDR, you can add Aurora HDR 2017 the best HDR editor out there.

 

Pre-Order Luminar Now and Save $10 and get the limited time Bonus items

 

#Luminar #pre-order #bonus-items #macphun #discount