Top 30 Black Friday Camera Deals

Black Friday is an excellent time to upgrade your photo and video toolkit or snag a great gift for that aspiring TikTok star in your life. Right now, you can score some serious bargains on cameras, as well as our favorite gear for creating your own home video studio or mobile recording rig. These are the best Black Friday camera deals we’ve found so far, but we’ll be updating this post throughout the weekend. We updated it at Sunday, November 26, 2023.

Camera and Lens Deals Nikon Z 6 II: The Nikon Z6 II is our favorite camera for Nikon shooters. The 24-megapixel full-frame sensor has excellent dynamic range, and the phase-detect autofocus system is one of the best I’ve used. Video quality is also excellent, with 10-bit 4:2:2 N-Log output possible over HDMI. The Nikon Z6 II is also the most comfortable camera I’ve tested. But the real star of the show here is the Z-series lens system with its wider base mount, which allows more light to the corners of the sensors. The benefits of this can be seen in the incredibly fast 58-mm f/0.95 lens (manual focus) and the surprisingly small 50-mm f/1.2. If you’ve got a lot of legacy Nikon glass you want to keep using, there’s an F-to-Z mount adapter available for $250. Note that the B&H price includes a shoulder bag.

GoPro Hero12: This is a great deal on our favorite action camera for recording your outdoor adventures. The GoPro Hero 12 (8/10, WIRED Recommends) just launched in September, and the previous model is still selling for $300, which makes this a pretty sweet deal. Not only do you get the latest version, you also get two batteries and a mini tripod. The Hero 12 isn’t a huge change from the Hero 11, but it does have better battery life and can shoot HDR video in 5.3K. I still haven’t been able to overheat it in three months of trying. If none of that matters to you, you can grab the GoPro Hero 11 for $298 ($51 off).

DJI’s Action 3 (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is last year’s model, but it’s still a fine camera—and at this price, it’s probably the best-value action cam you can get. The image quality doesn’t match the GoPro Hero 12 (or the new DJI Action 4), but it’s good enough for most people, with 4K video and 12-megapixel stills. It has a great design with a magnetic clip system that puts GoPro to shame. The battery life is also outstanding.

Panasonic GH6 (8/10, WIRED Recommends): Panasonic’s mirrorless cameras have been the go-to for independent filmmaking for years. The GH6 continues that trend with great image stabilization for those handheld shots, Apple ProRes support, and some great extras like a built-in accelerometer to display lean and tilt. Battery life could be better, but otherwise this is a solid choice for anyone wanting to shoot high-quality video on a budget.

Camera Strap and Bag Deals Wandrd Rogue Sling: Wandrd’s Rogue sling (formerly called Roam) is the best everyday sling bag for carrying your camera and gear. It can be carried as a sling, messenger, or waist pack, and because the soft padding conforms to your back, it’s comfy to wear for long periods. The mix of 840-denier and 1680D ballistic nylon and water-resistant YKK zippers make it feel like it’s worth twice its price, too. The 3-liter version is on sale for $87 ($23 off), and the midsize 6L is on sale for $111 ($28 off).

Moment’s Rugged Sling: Moment’s Rugged Sling is aimed at street photographers who trek around all day. It has a modular organization system inside, and its weatherproof fabric is made from recycled sails. There’s a large zippered front pocket that makes it easy to get to your gear, and the “winged” rear padding design makes it super comfortable on your back. The larger 100-liter size is also on sale for $90 ($60 off).

Simplr M1a Mirrorless Camera Strap: This has been my camera strap for going on eight years now, and I still love it. It’s light, comfortable, and perfect for the average mirrorless camera. Now, full disclosure, if I had a 300-mm or larger bazooka wildlife lens, this isn’t what I’d use, but for my Fujifilm and Sony A7 cameras, this thing is perfect. I also love that it easily converts to a wrist strap. Simplr has one sale a year, and this is it.

Wandrd Prvke: WIRED reviews editor Julian Chokkattu calls Wandrd’s Prvke the closest a camera bag has ever come to perfection. He likes the 31-liter version, which is what this deal is for. The padding is cushiony, and the exterior waterproof tarpaulin and Robic 1680-denier ballistic nylon materials have held up extremely well over time. It fits everything you need to shoot a video in the field, including a tripod (which secures in place with a buckle). If you’re purchasing it from Wandrd’s site, make sure to click the “Photography Bundle” option before adding it to your cart.

Mobile Photography and Video Deals Moment T-Series Lens: Moment redesigned its lenses this year, and the new T-Series lenses will not work with older cases. That doesn’t matter if you’re just getting started, and that’s why we like this deal. You get a new T-Series case with two mobile lenses. (You can pick which lenses—we suggest the fish-eye and anamorphic.) Be aware that the lenses are back-ordered. Moment says they should ship around December 8.

Lume Cube Creator Kit: Lume Cube’s Creator Kit is a mobile studio in a box. You get a Lume Cube light, a compact tripod that can open up to 55 inches in length, a shotgun mic with a windscreen, and a universal phone mount with clips to attach all of these accessories together. The mic quality is solid, and the windscreen keeps your voice clear and crisp even when recording in the outside world. It’s a great all-in-one solution for mobile video recording.

Lume Cube Mobile Tripod: Lume’s mobile tripod is very stable, but the best part is that the ends of the clamp double as cold shoe mounts, so you can hook up a microphone and a compact video light for a full on-the-go studio. It’s fairly comfortable to grip and carry if you are moving around as you film. Our only gripe is that you can’t adjust the height.

Tripods, Lighting, and Microphone Deals Lume Cube Ring Light Mini: Good lighting is key to good video. This ring light provides great lighting and is easy to set up; just slot your phone into the universal mount in the middle and you’ll cast light on your face as you film (vertically or horizontally). The light gets bright enough to illuminate your face even in the darkest of rooms, and you can adjust the brightness or color temperature to make the white tones cooler or warmer.

Anker Wireless Mic: We love Anker’s wireless mic system. It comes in a wonderful case that lets you magnetically recharge the two transmitters as well as the receiver. Even better, you have the option to plug the system into a variety of devices. The audio quality is solid too.

Peak Design Travel Tripod: This is one of the most compact tripods on the market—it’ll fit in the water bottle pouch of your backpack. Despite the compact storage size, it doesn’t compromise on height or stability. There’s a slightly lighter carbon-fiber version as well, but it’s expensive even on sale. Unless weight is your primary concern, this aluminum version does the job. You get a built-in phone mount, but we suggest grabbing the universal head adapter so you can pair it with a fluid head.

Peak Design Capture v3: We love this tripod head for shooting stationary things, like products. Shooting any object head-on without any movement is very dull. You may as well just show a still photo. Fluid heads let you smoothly pan and tilt your camera around so you can add some motion to your B-roll footage.

Fujifilm Instax and Instant Camera Deals Fujifilm Instax Link Wide: Fujifilm’s Link Wide is my favorite Instax printer, if only for its size: Those gloriously big Instax Wide prints just look better. They are pricier, though, at around $1.20 per print (print price varies by quantity). The Instax Wide has its own dedicated app that works well and has plenty of fun layouts and premade templates. The only thing I don’t like here is that it charges off a USB-A cable.

Fujifilm Mini Link 2: Our favorite for parties, Fujifilm’s Mini Link 2 prints images from your phone. Fujifilm’s new mobile app is much better than its past efforts and includes some extras like Party Print, which creates collages from multiple phones, while Match Test takes images of two people (or two images of one person) and prints a combined image. It’ll also tell you how “compatible” it thinks the pair is.

Fujifilm Instax Mini 40: The Instax Mini 40 isn’t a camera I’ve used much, but it’s roughly the same as other Instax models in that it features automatic exposure, a plastic lens that’s passable but not great, and a built-in selfie mirror. It shoots the roughly credit-card-sized Instax Mini prints.

Polaroid Now+ Instant Camera: Polaroid’s Now+ Instant Camera has the standard features you’d expect from a Polaroid including roll-out film, vintage aesthetics, and a chunky body with buttons that are easy to find. But what sets it apart is the smartphone companion app. It wasn’t the best experience when we tested it a couple of years ago, but it does come with features like Manual Mode, Tripod mode, and the ability to set a custom f-stop in Aperture Priority mode.

Polaroid OneStep+: This is our favorite budget instant camera. The plastic housing is easy to grip, the built-in selfie mirror helps to set up good shots, and the camera automatically adjusts its exposure to suit the lighting around you. It comes with cute shutter button accessories too, but you’ll need to use your own adhesive because the built-in sticky backing isn’t very durable.

Memory Cards, Storage, and Accessory Deals Lexar Professional 128-GB SDXC UHS-II Memory Card: This SD card is more expensive than most, but it’s also faster. I’ve been shooting with various versions of this card for five years now and I’ve never had an issue with them. They’re speedy enough for 5K video recording and they hold up well to life in a camera bag.

SanDisk Extreme 128-GB SDXC UHS-I Memory Card: If you’re primarily shooting still images on a mirrorless camera, this card is plenty fast enough for most people and saves you considerable money over the faster version above.

Crucial X6 Portable SSD: These Crucial drives are my favorite portable drives. They’re reasonably priced (for a portable SSD) and speedy. These are lightweight, which means they’re ideal for when you’re working away from home. I use one to store video clips, and it’s fast enough to edit them right off the disk. The only downside is the plastic construction. Don’t expect it to survive many drops.

SanDisk Extreme Pro 500-GB Portable SSD: Striking the perfect balance between speed, reliability, and price, the SanDisk Extreme Pro is our top pick for USB thumb drives. It has a sleek and durable aluminum case with a loop for attaching it to a key ring. Push the plastic slider to reveal or hide the USB-A plug, and it’s completely operable with one hand. In our tests, the speeds matched what SanDisk advertises (420 megabytes per second read, 380 MB/s write), making it ideal for copying images between devices.

BlackMagic DaVinci Resolve Speed Editor: We like the Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve Speed Editor (8/10, WIRED Recommends) for how dead simple it makes video editing. It has dedicated editing keys, and a jog wheel for easily scrubbing through the timeline. One of our favorite aspects of this device is that it comes with a free copy of DaVinci Resolve Studio, which is normally $295.

Book Deals Read books to get better at photography? Learn how to use the gear you have and start studying the work of those who came before you.

Photography: The Definitive Visual History: I have not used this particular guide, but DK publishes dozens of kids books in a similar vein through its Eyewitness series and they have all been excellent. This one is a 20-week course, complete with a quiz at the end of each “week.” It’s best suited for beginners, though at 360 pages I imagine everyone will learn something.

Aperture Book Bundle: This is a great book bundle for aspiring young photographers. Aperture says it’s for 8-12 year olds, but older kids would get something out of these three books. Joel Meyerowitz’s Seeing Things, gives kids an introduction to photography as a thing that captures meaningful moments. Eyes Open: 23 Photography Projects for Curious Kids, is an assignment book for kids by Magnum photographer Susan Meiselas, and Go Photo! is another activity book with different projects to get kids engaged with the world around them.

Retailer Sales Pages: If you want to shop Black Friday sales yourself, here are the relevant pages.