This is the time of year when many blogs and tech news sites start hunting for supposed “deals” and offer “tips” on what to buy for the big Black Friday sales holiday.
What they’re really doing is fishing for affiliate link commissions.
The “deals” are always subjective, however, it is true that every retailer you know and love will have products discounted. Whether you really want them or not is another story.
The discounts are only worth it if it’s something you’re actually looking for. I, for instance, want to buy a new computer, and I know that Apple traditionally only offers (teeny) discounts for Black Friday. So I’m in. I’ll wait and shop, and walk out with a new Mac Mini that may cost less during the sale. Or may not.
I do get questions all the time about the mobile gear I use to produce to make a travel series, so since we’re in buying season, I’m going to run down the list—most of what I use is already on sale, with decent savings that might interest you.
Do know that like other newsletters, we too get a commission for affiliate links, but the purpose of this piece isn’t to sell, but to enlighten. (The mini commissions do help keep the lights on and pay for those grilled cheese sandwiches!)
Photowalks Gear
What does it take to produce a travel series on mobile phones, mostly all shot by me? Read on:
Phones: I bring the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max as my main cameras on the road, along with a Samsung Galaxy S23. I couldn’t be happier with the quality, except when sunspots put weird marks in the image.
A big question this year was on how big an upgrade the iPhone 16 is from the 15 series. Very minimal. The 16 phones have a “Camera Control” button on the side that brings up the camera and settings in what was billed as a quicker response, but in fact it’s awkward and dialing in the settings is no easier. Plus, the 16 phones have artificial intelligence features that mostly do things that don’t greatly improve our lives, like summarizing e-mails and a new, not more responsive Siti. More new features are coming in 2025, so stay tuned, but I’m guessing the iPhone 17 will be more of a substantial upgrade. (The best AI feature is a iOS18 freebie that works on older phones too—the ability to instantly transcribe any recording made in the Voice Memos app.)
Rode Wireless Go II Microphones: These little portable mics changed my life, making it much easier to get good audio out in the field, and mic up interview subjects. That said, there is a competing product that many of my fellow YouTubers swear by and it’s the DJI Mic II, a product I’ve thought about switching to, because it’s truly wireless. With my mic, I plug the receiver into the USB-C port via a cable on the iPhone and it connects to the transmitter that is on my lapel. The DJI unit just slips directly into the USB-C port, however, sans wires. Rode just came out with a copy of the DJI Mic called the Wireless Micro, with a pair selling for $149.99. I’d love a pair of those on Black Friday sales! (But how many Mics do I need? I already have four pairs of Rode mics!)
Peak Design Travel Tripod. Ever notice how on Photowalks, I address the camera, without having my arm extended in one of those “I’m holding the iPhone at arm’s length” shots?
I pull that off by placing the phone atop my trusty tripod, which beyond my “stand-ups” is also vital for timelapses and interviews.
I’ve been carrying around heavy tripods for years, but it wasn’t until I started toting the lighter Peak Design travel tripod that I actually enjoyed carrying the thing. It’s pricey, but a hefty Black Friday sale brings the price down to $300 from $379. It’s light, it’s sturdy, it opens and closes quickly and fits into a suitcase. The runner-up is Neewer’s Litetrip LT32, which set out to clone the Peak Design tripod, but with cheaper materials. It too fits into a suitcase, takes a little longer to unfold, but is on sale for just under $170, down from $230.
Cages. I house the iPhone 15 Pro Max in a Neewer filmmaking cage. I also use the $40 Small Rig Cage as well. (I paid $40 and it’s on sale for $25.) The reason for the cage? It has slots to plug in the mic and light (LED by Aperture, $72, normally $99) and can connect to a tripod or Selfie Stick/mini tripod (Insta360, $21) without the need for an additional smartphone tripod mount. I don’t use gimbals, the product sold to help you supposedly steady your video shots. I’m not a fan—they take too long to set up, and the difference in quality is so minimal it’s not worth the effort. I feel I can get video pans that are just as smooth with a Cage atop the selfie stick.
Insta360 X4 camera. For those times in your life when you want to get a shot of you walking down the street, and there’s no one around to film you. Or, you want a shot of a bunch of you waving from a hot air balloon in the sky, or from the top of a lighthouse. The Insta360 cameras have two lenses, on the front and back, giving you a complete wide-screen view. The shots are wild and you can do some crazy things with the camera. I wouldn’t do a travel video without it, but only when used sparingly. The camera sells for $500, but is now on sale for around $425. (The X4 is the new edition, released in 2024 with higher resolution than the previous model, and yes, the shots really look better on the X4.)
GoPro Hero 12. I didn’t upgrade to the new GoPro Hero 13 this year, a model that primarily offered new lens attachments and a better battery. I still use the Hero 12 in pretty much every video I do, for awesome driving shots. The 12 is on sale, $100 less than last year, for $299 while the Hero 13 is also discounted and only $40 more. If you’re new to GoPro or need an upgrade, I’d get the new one.
DJI Mini 4 Pro. What is a travel video without a sweeping drone shot? For that, we turn to the Mini 4, the smallest full-featured drone DJI makes for $999. (Amazon has a $40 Black Friday discount on it.) You recall that last December, the ocean ate my drone when I got too close for one more shot, and there went my old Mavic Air 2S. The Mini comes with its own controller for flying that doesn’t require being connected to the phone, which I like.
And while we’re on the subject of drones, I wrote a few weeks ago about DJI’s latest Neo, a drone that flies by itself, without needing a controller, and I said it would be one of the biggest hits of the season, as it sells for just $200. I stand by that, but that doesn’t mean it’s good. I bought and returned the drone when I discovered it’s just a toy and doesn’t fly very high.
Power: When I’m out in the field on a shoot, the iPhone starts running low on juice by 11 a.m., which is why I never travel without several power banks (and multiple phones.) I like this MagGo from Anker, which has a nice discount of $53, down from $90.
Mac Mini/MacBook: I edit every episode of Photowalks on a 16 inch MacBook Pro from 2021, but the computer is showing its age by slowing down. I plan on augmenting it with a second computer, the new Mac Mini with M4 Pro chips, which has more power than the iMac. (The Mini has the new M4 Pro chip and 12 core CPU and 16 core GPU, vs. 10 core CPU and the regular M4 chip on iMac.) The Mini starts at $599, but a souped up version on Amazon is $1369. down from $1399. However, the unit I want, with all the extras, will sell for just under $2,100, so let’s see if I can’t get a better price from Apple on Black Friday.
External solid state drives
If you buy one thing on this list, make it the Samsung T7 Shield SSD drive. In the digital age, we’re constantly running out of room, and way too many of us don’t take the time to backup our photos physically, beyond limited online. The T7 drives are small, quiet (no moving parts) work wonderfully, and offer more room than ever. This same drive sold for $400 a year ago and is now on sale for $263 for a 4 terabyte model.
Kondor Blue Hub
On these pages some time ago I expressed a desire to buy a hub that would connect the power bank, a solid state drive and a microphone and lights to the iPhone. These little hubs are hard to find, but Kondor Blue’s $90 hub, long in the works, finally started shipping. The USB-C Media Hub is truly just that: a piece of hardware with slots to connect the other devices. The issue is figuring out how to connect it to an iPhone, and how to connect the other devices as well while you’re running and gunning. (Kondor Blue has NO documentation available and its customer service is woefully un-responsive.) In a nutshell, it needs several adapters to connect it and devices to the iPhone. Because of the limitations, I’ve hardly used it. Watch the video below to see how ridiculous it looks.
Hobolite Mini LED. I bring this battery powered light with me out in the field for some extra help on night shots and love it. It’s not overly bright, but it is brighter than my small LED. The price is $250 and I haven’t seen it on sale.
Cables
We spoke a few weeks ago about the issue of charging devices in hotel rooms, mostly with too few slots in the room for AC, and outdated charging devices that won’t connect to current gear. All the usual suspects have Black Friday discounts, so if you’re always struggling, now would be a good time to pick up multiple prong outlets and charging bricks from Anker, Neewer and the like.
Greg mentioned buying a three-pronged charging cable—currently on sale for $10. Mike told me about this Anker outlet extender, which looks like the perfect accessory for all of our bags. I’m seeing two outlets and 3 openings for USB-C devices, the cable that works with most modern devices. It’s selling for $11, down from $19.
Don’t forget you’ll also need the right cables, depending upon which device you have—i.e., an older iPhone with Lightning (USB-C to Lightning) or USB-C to USB-C if you have a Galaxy, Pixel or iPhone 15 or 16. I recommend buying extras and leaving them in your suitcase, to be dedicated for travel.
Have fun shopping everyone!
In other news
—Dish Network and DirecTV aren’t merging afterall. DirecTV said it couldn’t make the financials work. And like that, Dish’s SlingTV announced it was raising prices, due to the never-ending price hikes from programmers.
—What do MSNBC, CNBC, USA Network, E! and Oxygen have in common? They’ve all been dumped by owner Comcast, shifted into a new division for ailing and non growing cable channels. How MSNBC and CNBC will continue to interact with current sibling NBC News is a big question for the future.
—The Department of Justice wants Google to shed its Chrome browser, thinking that Google uses it to coerce more people into using their search engine. Google does a lot of sneaky things, but I don’t use Google Search because somebody made me. It gets better results than Microsoft’s Bing. Period. Take away Chrome, and we’ll still use Google, unless Chat GPT gets so good in the next year that we turn there instead. What do you think readers?
Thanks as always for taking the time to read, watch and listen. What one device or accessory do you hope to pick up? Let me know in the comments.
Jeff
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