Last Updated on 08/30/2019 by Mark Beckenbach
August has been great for excellent deals on photography gear.
August is usually the hottest month of the year in many places. But this August has been even hotter than usual thanks to all the incredible photography gear deals. We’ve seen camera prices slashed and deep discounts on lenses. In this roundup, we will take a quick look at seven items that The Phoblographer’s readers have been buying. Looking at the list below, one thing is clear: we have a lot of readers who currently shoot with Sony. Fujifilm seems to be popular amongst our readership too, and for good reasons. Their cameras and lenses are stellar performers. We’re not surprised to see the Fujifilm X-H1 near the top of the items sold thanks to the latest price cut it received ($999 w/grip), and with the Nikon trade-in program in full swing, it’s no shocker that you folks have been showing more interest in the Nikon Z series of cameras either. Check out the most popular photography gear from August 2019 below.
Nikon Z6
Here are the pros and cons from our full review:
Pros
- Comfortable handgrip
- Excellent Electronic Viewfinder with 100% frame coverage
- EVF protrudes from the camera body, minimizing contact between your nose and the rear LCD
- The top display shows you all of your settings at a glance
- Intuitive touchscreen rear LCD
- Solid battery life when using newly designed EN-EL15b batteries
- Robust weather sealing
- Works with most existing Nikon F mount lenses using the Nikon FTZ adapter
Cons
- Single XQD card slot may be a deal-breaker for photographers with certain workflows
- Colors on the rear LCD were inconsistent when compared to EVF
- Autofocus performance, while better than the Nikon Z7, still leaves much to be desired
- Certain settings were oddly organized within the menus
- There is way too much settings information displayed on the rear LCD, often getting in the way of you framing your shot
Buy now ($1,796.95): Adorama – Save even more with the current Nikon trade-in program.
Fujifilm X-H1
Here are the pros and cons from our full review:
Pros
- Great image quality
- The best autofocus of any APS-C camera on the market
- Film styles
- 4K 24p 200MB/second video is fantastic
- Weather sealing
- Pretty good battery life if you switch off all connectivity
- Easiest setup and connection to a mobile phone that we’ve experienced
- The top LCD screen is nice
- Dual card slots
- Versatile images
- Fantastic EVF
Cons
- Fujifilm Eterna is overrated
- Bluetooth being on in the background along with IBIS can drain battery life quickly
- The grip and the size overall make it difficult to reach the shutter dial, and it’s very difficult to reprogram the exposure functions due to how their lenses work
- The vertical grip isn’t necessary really, but we see how and why folks would like it
Buy now ($999 w/grip): Adorama
Sony 24-105mm F4 G OSS
Here are the pros and cons from our full review:
Pros
- Sharp image quality
- Nice bokeh in the right situations
- A bit of weather sealing
- Optical image stabilization
- Versatile range
Cons
- Nothing really, we accept this lens for what it is
Buy now ($1,198): Adorama
Pro Tip: Buying new photography gear is one thing, but keeping it clean, and making sure it will last many years is something else entirely. We cannot stress enough just how important it is to keep your photography gear clean. You need to be cleaning it at least once a week and giving it a deep clean once monthly if you want your investment to last. Be sure to keep a basic camera and lens cleaning kit with you at all times. You’ll be glad you did.
Sony 70-300mm F4.5-5.6 G OSS
Here are the pros and cons from our full review:
Pros
- Weather sealing
- Compact size
- Sharp images
- Optical image stabilization
- Pretty fast focusing in good lighting
Cons
- Slows down when focusing in lower light no matter what camera you use
Buy now ($1,173): Adorama
Zeiss 40mm f2 Batis
Here are the pros and cons from our full review:
Pros
- Weather sealing
- Beautiful image quality overall, but still not as good as some other Zeiss lenses we’ve used
- Versatile, we’re glad Zeiss made this lens
- Autofocus is good enough for professional work
- Look at that bokeh!
- Not badly priced
Cons
- Not as well built as some other lenses we’ve used
- Not as sharp as we’d expect a Zeiss to be
- Autofocus is a bit slow for fast-paced street photography but not really for photojournalism
Buy now ($1,124): Adorama
Sony 35mm F1.8 FE
Here are the pros and cons from our full review:
Pros
- Small
- Cost-effective and under $1,000
- Weather sealing
- Sharp, very sharp
- Beautiful bokeh
- The best colors we’ve seen from a Sony lens
- Can focus very closely
- Fast aperture
- With AF-C on the Sony a7r III, it is fast enough for street photography
Cons
- Though this is minor, we wish Sony gave us a working distance and zone focus scale for street shooting
Buy now ($748): Adorama
Pro Tip: As you all know, not all cameras and lenses are created equal when it comes to being weather sealed. If you like the idea of shooting outside when the skies have opened up, and you’re not sure your photography gear will handle it well, fear not. Just keep some affordable camera and lens weatherproof covers on you and you can quickly protect your equipment and get the shots everyone else is missing out on when it rains or snows.
Rokinon 12mm F2.0 Fujifilm X Mount
Here are the pros and cons from our full review:
Pros
- Great colors
- Small build
- Lightweight
- Nice aperture clicks
- Sharp
Cons
- There are lenses with better bokeh for sure
Buy now ($269): Adorama