Fstoppers Holiday Gift Guide 2014 - Best Photography Gifts Under $200

Yesterday, we showed you some of the very best gifts for photographers and videographers under $75. Today, I wanted to show you some of the very best deals and must have tools for photographers and videographers everywhere that cost less than $200 that are all part of our Annual Holiday Gift Guide.

Once again, this is part two of a three part series to help provide you with the best gift ideas for photographers and videographers everywhere. Yesterday, we released The Best Photography Gifts Under $75, and tomorrow we'll be releasing The Best Photography Gifts Under $500. But today, we're sitting in the middle zone, with the best photography gifts under $200.

1 Year of Adobe Creative Cloud (Photography Plan)

It has been some time since adobe went to a subscription model for this products. Many of you resisted, fought, begged, and pleaded with Adobe to go back to their purchase model, and many more of you found the conveniences within the Adobe Creative Cloud system after trying it out for a short time. As a compromise, Adobe created the Photography Plan, allowing you to get Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe Lightroom for only $10 a month. Two tools that many consider essential for photographers everywhere.

1 Year of PixieSet (Basic Account)

Here at Fstoppers, we love PixieSet. PixieSet is a gallery system that allows your clients to download images, order prints and share with friends with ease. Where it differs from many of the competitors like PASS, Zenfolio or SmugMug is their customer support. No one adds features faster than PixieSet, and pairing that with their affordable prices, PixieSet is a great way to up your presentation, without breaking the bank.

MagMod 2 Basic Kit

MagMod is a set of incredibly innovative speedlight modifiers that allow you to add grids, gels and other tools to your speedlight with ease. Using elastic bands and magnets instead of the traditional velcro or tape options, MagMod is able to fit on virtually every speedlight on the market, and give you a whole new set of tools to use with it. This simple and intuitive design may place MagMod in the category of the best photography product of the year, and is certainly a tool that all photographers can find a use for.

Wacom Intuos5 Small

For retouching, there is no better tool than a Wacom tablet. The ability to control your retouching using a pen adds a whole new deminsion and speed to your retouching process. Perhaps Wacom's only failure is their naming process. The small is really a medium in size, the medium being kind of large, and so on. So take Julia Kuzmenko's advice, and just go for the small tablet. After a few days of the learning curve, you'll never go back to using a mouse or trackpad again.

Yongnuo YN600EX-RT Camera Flash

Yesterday, we talked about the Yongnuo 560 III, and said that for the price, it's a wonderful flash. Today, lets talk about it's superior older brother, the YN600EX-RT. As you may have guessed by the name, this flash is pretty much a clone of the Canon 600EX-RT, and has HSS, TTL, and a bunch of other features you cannot find in the 540 III. Not only is it nearly a completely clone (and possibly a lawsuit waiting to happen), it can be found for only $170...about 1/3rd of the price of the Canon version. 

Dylan Patrick's The Cinematic Headshot Tutorial Series

Fstoppers recently teamed up with the incredibly talented Dylan Patrick to develop a 6 hour tutorial showing you exactly how to create the cinematic headshot. The tutorial goes over everything from gear, to coaching, to retouching, giving you a complete look as to how to create these images yourself. Even the most talented photographers in the world could watch this tutorial series and get a whole new wealth of knowledge from Dylan's process.

Alien Skin Exposure 7 

I know what you're thinking..."A Photoshop plug in?". I know, I know, but Exposure is actually really great. If you don't believe me, ask the likes of Felix Kunze, Sue Bryce, or Lara Jade, who have all contested that they love Alien Skin Exposure. Released just the other day, is Alien Skin Exposure 7, the latest and greatest from Alien Skin. Adding ten new film presets, and a handful of new tools, including RAW support, Alien Skin Exposure 7 is certainly worth checking out.

LaCie 1TB Rugged Drive

I love LaCie rugged drives. Sure, they're ugly...but they always work without fail, and can take a beating. In fact, I like these drives so much, I own 6 of them, and don't intend on buying a different type of drive this point forward. Secured with some gawdy, but easy to find, orange foam, the LaCie drives are designed to withstand a beating, or atleast the average life of a traveling photographer. Paired with USB3, these drives are fast. In a modern age, where we're all taking photos that are 20MP-36MP in size, hard drive space is always an issue, and LaCie has built a drive that can hold plenty of images, and can take a beating as well.

Have more suggestions for great gifts under $200? Feel free to contribute in the comments below. And stay tuned for tomorrow's $500 and less gift guide for photographers and videographers.