Holiday Gear Guide: Gift Ideas Under $200
Ah… tis the season of giving! Last week we introduced you to some great gift ideas under $100. We are continuing our Gear Guide this week with ideas that cost just a bit more. For those of you who have a little bit of a budget and you want to make sure you’re spending it wisely, we wholeheartedly support that endeavor with these fantastic gift ideas that will keep you under $200 but still put a big grin on your favorite photographer’s face.
Over the next few weeks we will be releasing updates to our Holiday Gear Guide, first starting with the lower-cost items and working our way up to the premium stuff.
Up until the end of the holiday season, Fstoppers will be posting the raging-burning-explosivly-awesome deals that we find online that you just can’t afford to miss. If there is anything we all love, it’s saving money on the stuff we really want.
You can get to the complete list of products between $100 and $200 by clicking here, but below are a few of the standout ideas that we think you should consider for that special photographer in your life.
Lightroom 4 Lightroom 4 is the most popular photo editing and workflow software out there, and for good reason. No other software allows the RAW and jpeg editing freedom that Lightroom does (in addition to allowing for unlimited presets from various third party sources) and also gives the type of workflow simplicity that is important to photographers with a lot of images in their library. A must-have for any photographer out there. [Amazon | B&H]
_______________________________________________________________________
PocketWizard Plus III If the photographer in your life uses off-camera flash, having a pair of PocketWizards makes all the difference. There are a lot of cheap knockoff brands out there, but if you want to show you care you’ll go for the real thing. You can also use them to remotely trigger the camera itself, so that’s great fun for photo booths or unusual angles. What’s good to remember is that you only really need two of these: one on the camera, and one on one of the lights. You can trigger the remaining lights using slave sensors. [Amazon | B&H]
_______________________________________________________________________
Manfrotto 190XB w/ Micro Fluid Head Tripods are expensive, it’s a fact that many of us have had a hard time coming to terms with. That said, there are affordable options that still get the job done, like this tripod from Manfrotto. If the photographer in your life is still using that piece of junk tripod he bought at Best Buy four years ago, ease his suffering with a brand spanking new quality one. [Amazon | B&H]
_______________________________________________________________________
Lensbaby Composer Pro Tilt shift lenses are expensive. Crazily expensive. Though the result isn’t quite the same, Lensbaby lenses give a similar feel to the images for a lot less investment. There are a lot of popular photographers who use these lenses, and they can work great for bridal portraits or engagement sessions. They are a little tricky to use, but once you get a handle on it, they’re great. [Amazon | B&H]
