Black Friday Deals for Wedding Photographers

Black Friday is here! and if you’re a wedding photographer looking to upgrade your gear, speed up your workflow, or treat yourself to something fun—this is the moment. Unfortunately, this year seems to be a pretty quiet as far as “Amazing” deals go. Especially with tarrifs and recent price increases on major Cameras/Lens manufacturers.

Realistically, if you don’t need new gear, I would hold off for a while.

With that being said, Here are a few good deals I was able to find!

Aftershoot – $399 Pro Plan (Includes LEO & Esteban’s Profile for Free)

*** Get the deal here ***

If you’ve been wanting to speed up your culling or create a more consistent editing workflow, this deal is incredible. You can get the Pro yearly membership for $399 AND it includes LEO, Esteban’s personal editing profile, for FREE!

Geekoto – Up to 30% Off

*** Check the sale out ***

Ideal for off-camera flash shooters. Great deals on stands, lights, and portable wedding-day lighting gear. This is my favorite lighting brand and you should absolutely check them out. They also have some pretty awesome content creation light panels and continuous lights!

CloudSpot – Get 6 months free with any annual plan!

*** Sign up here ***

Whether you’re new or upgrading, get 6 months completely free when you switch to a yearly plan. Perfect for anyone delivering wedding galleries or albums. And don’t forget that they also now offer a robust CRM service at no extra cost!

Steel & Flint Presets – 50% Off (Code: BF50)

*** Buy them here ***

Get mine and Mandy’s presets for 50% off! Offer will last through 11/30 so, hurry up and get them!

Gear Deals for Wedding Photographers

These are the strongest Black Friday camera deals chosen specifically with wedding photographers in mind. As mentioned before, this years seems a bit underwhelming but, there are still some deals that seem worth it!

Sony Deals -

Sony A7 IV – $1,998 (Save $700) - Buy it here

One of the most reliable hybrid cameras. Excellent autofocus and color.

Sony ZV-E10 II – $1,098 (Save $200) - buy it here

Perfect for content creation, BTS, and travel. Body-only is $998.

Sony ZV1-F – $499 (Save $100) - Buy it here

A compact content-friendly camera great for travel.

Sony FX30 – $1,798 (Save $300) - Buy it here

A great cinema-style camera for video shooters wanting cinematic video.

Canon Deal -

Canon is quiet this year, but one deal stands out:

Canon R5 (Mark I) – $2,599 (Save $700) - Get the deal here

A powerhouse of a camer : 45MP, incredible color, and fast autofocus. A steal. Arguably no reason to upgrade to the mark2 when the first one is so good and so affordable.

Nikon Deals -

Nikon Z6 III – $2,096 (Save $600) : Get the deal here

One of Nikon’s strongest hybrid bodies for weddings and video. Nikon has been lagging in the AF dept but, this camera fixes that. incredibly camera for an incredible price.

Nikon Z8 – $3,496 (Save $700) : Get the deal here

Fast, reliable, and incredible for portrait and event photographers.

Nikon ZF – $1,896 (Save $100) : Get the deal here `

Retro style with modern Nikon performance. A joy to shoot with. I’ve owned this camera for a bit now and it’s one of the most fun cameras I’ve used in a long time!

Lens Deal Worth Grabbing

Viltrox Mirrorless Lenses – 20% off! : Get the deal here

Amazing performance for the price, especially the PRO line.

TTArtisan 50mm Tilt – $183 (Save $47) : Get the deal here

A favorite among creative wedding photographers. Great for portraits, details, and unique compositions.

Fun Extras & Stocking Stuffers

DJI Neo Mini Drone – $150 (Save $50)

Get the deal here

Perfect starter drone for personal work and travel content.

CHUZHAO Vintage Mini Digital Camera – $33 (Save $16)

Get the deal here

A fun, vintage-styled digital toy camera perfect for creative play.

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Your new employee, Aftershoot

Needless to say, Artificial Intelligence has become an essential tool in the photography industry. As a user and ambassador, Aftershoot has completely streamlined my workflows and has saved me thousands of hours worth of work.
But I’m not here to talk about how amazing it is. That would make this blog post an Ad and we don’t want that….

I want to talk about the following things I constantly see in our photography community.

“ It’s not working for me ”
” I tried it and I didn’t get good results”
” I don’t think AI is as good as everyone hypes it out to be”

With Ai and Aftershoot being the new technology everyone is raving about in our industry, I fully believe that we are missing the mark on a few key points about Ai and THAT is what I would like to cover in this blog:

—AI is not a magic button that instantly perfects your workflow. You’re not going to sign up for Aftershoot and immediately have enough time to go binge on the newest season of “ love is blind” on Netflix.

Ai is exactly what those letters mean: Artificial intelligence. It requires training, patience, and the right mindset to make it work for YOU.

Its results are a direct correlation of how much effort you’ve put into making that artificial intelligence adapt to your own unique workflow. It needs to learn from your style and you need to nurture it until you get optimal results.

If aftershoot is not working for you, it’s not because the technology is flawed, but because your expectations are. Your results with AI are a direct correlation f how much effort you put into training it.

With the key word being “ Training “ I believe there should be a change of mentality with tools like Aftershoot so, here it is…

AHEM!! ready for this?

AI Is Your New Employee—Train It Like One, damnit.

Think of Aftershoot as a brand new employee in your business. You’ve just hired someone with a basic understanding of their job, but like every new hire, they still need guidance to match your specific workflow and style. They’re not going to know everything on day 1. If you neglect training, don’t expect stellar results. The more you train your employee, the better it will perform and the more it will align with your preferences.

So, let’s talk about this New, insanely underpaid employee you just found at a random photography conference…

1. It will NEVER EVER EVER replace you or free up 100% of your time. That’s not its purpose. AI is a tool to assist you, not a replacement for your creative judgment.So, don’t ever expect to get home from a wedding, throw thousands of images into it and deliver the wedding blindly without checking it’s work. You’d never do that with a new hire so, why do it with a tool that is…. ready?…..Artificially intelligent.

2. If your new employee isn’t performing well, are you setting them up for success? Or are you sitting at your desk, frustrated, without giving it the proper feedback it needs to improve?
   
   did you hire the employee in the middle of wedding season and throw it into the wolves? How would a new hire feel if you just said “ Hey here are a bunch of photos. look through my photos and edit them”

   If you’re using Aftershoot and feeling disappointed, take a step back and ask: Have I trained them properly?
   
   
   Sooo….Have you trained Aftershoot for Success? if you’re having issues, that answer is probably a big old NO.
   
   

Let’s break it down into the two key features of Aftershoot: culling and editing.

Culling: Are You Providing Proper Feedback?

Aftershoot’s culling is designed to speed up the image selection process, but it won’t be perfect right out of the box. Here’s what you should be doing:

1. Are you correcting its mistakes? If Aftershoot misselects images, are you going back in and manually adjusting them? And are you doing it WITHIN aftershoot so it learns from the changes you’re making?

2. How often are you refining its selections? Once? Twice? A hundred times? The more you interact with it, the better it understands your preferences. That’s literally what AI is about ( And new hires! )
   
   Here’s a quick timeline of how this works…

   The more you train it, the more it will know.

   The more it knows, the less you’ll have to train it.

   The less you have to train it, the more free time you’ll have.

   The more time you have, the more episodes of “Love is blind” you’ll be able to binge.

Okay, so now that you’ve gone through culling, let talk about editing. This is very tricky too and there are tons of variables to get optimal results. But, like everything else AI, Aftershoot’s editing can save you hours of time……

if you train it correctly….

1. How many images are you using to create a profile? A handful of images won’t give AI enough data to accurately mimic your style. I have found that depending on how your editing style is, it might require more images in order to get optimal results.

2. Are you choosing the right images for training? If your training set is inconsistent, so will be your results.Try making multiple profiles if you shoot in vastly different locations/lighting conditions.
   
   I personally think my profile is a great balance of everything so, I have built it based on 20,000 images instead of building multiple profiles. With that being said, It wouldn’t hurt to try out multiple profiles that work best for your specific style and shooting conditions.
   
   And now…THE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECT OF THIS EQUATION….
   
   
   
   
   

3. Are you fine-tuning your edits in Lightroom and feeding that data back into Aftershoot? based on all the people I talk to….probably not.
   So, you’re kinda leaving your employee hanging because you’re not correcting it when it does something wrong.
   
   Now, I will admit that Aftershoots interface is uhhh….subpar when it comes to communicating this feature. And by subpar, I mean it is absolutely awful. Whenever I want to update my profile I think…
   
   ”wow. This app really doesn’t want people to know you can update your profile, huh?”

Remember? That employee only has a basic understanding of how things are done. So, if you’re getting bad results, it’s probably more indicative of your lack of feedback you’re giving it. With edits and profiles, this is incredibly simple!

When you make adjustments to Aftershoot’s edits, do you re-upload those corrections via the “Improve your profile button” so it learns from them? If not, you’re missing a key step in the training process.

At the end of the day, success with Aftershoot ( or any Ai tool ) is going to mostly rely on effort put forth by the user. This is why photographers that have the most success with Ai, are generally the ones that are making the effort to understand it, train it and maintain it.

Switching lenses podcast: Episode 4

Title: A Personal Journey Through Episode 3: From Analog Love to Theme Park Thrills

Hey everyone! It’s Esteban here, bringing you a more intimate glimpse into our third episode of Switching Lenses. We've hit episode number three, and I couldn’t be more excited to share some behind-the-scenes moments and personal stories with you—right here on our first blog post!

Welcome to Episode 3

Kicking things off, this episode is all about celebrating how far we’ve come with the podcast. Honestly, I never thought we’d make it past two episodes. But here we are, in sunny Orlando, Florida, celebrating at Universal Studios. I’m just as thrilled as Mandy was when she high-fived me for reaching this milestone!

Falling Back in Love with Analog

In this episode, we dive deeply into the rise of analog photography—a topic close to my heart. There’s something authentic and almost magical about the film process. It forces you to slow down, appreciate each shot, and really engage with the art of photography. Mandy and I have spent the last few days snapping away at Halloween Horror Nights, feeling that nostalgic film connection I’ve been raving about.

Thriving Amidst Wedding Season Chaos

As photographers know, wedding season can feel like a whirlwind. Staying motivated isn’t always easy. Personally, adding new gear to my kit, like quirky lenses or exploring film options, keeps my creative spirit alive. Sometimes, it’s also about knowing when to hit pause, step back, and enjoy a little downtime—because burnout is real, and it’s important to maintain that balance.

A Disney vs. Universal Adventure

For those of you who tune in regularly, you’ll know my allegiance lies with Universal—until now. Experiencing Disney opened my eyes to a level of immersion that’s truly unparalleled. From getting goosebumps on Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge to the magical projections on Cinderella’s Castle, I found myself enamored by the experiences. And yes, Butterbeer is as delicious as it sounds!

Tech Time with Esteban

I’m all about the gear, as many of you probably know by now. This week, we’ve been testing the RayBan Meta Glasses for capturing those candid moments and using our trusty Anker battery pack to keep everything charged. It’s all about making our workflow smoother, whether we’re shooting a wedding or riding VelociCoaster at Universal.

Let’s Connect

I’m really looking forward to hearing from you all about how you stay organized and motivated. Your stories and tips could be just what another listener—or even I—need to hear. This journey is better when shared, after all.

Wrapping Up

Thank you for being part of our Switching Lenses community. Your feedback and interaction mean the world to us, and I can’t wait to see where this journey takes us next. Until then, stay inspired, keep shooting, and join us next week as we dive into more of our world.

Take care, and see you soon!

– Esteban and Mandy