Twelve Days of Christmas, Holiday Gift Ideas: Photography

The holidays are upon us. Black Friday and Cyber Monday are both over, and the December rush has begun. Whether you're shopping online, through retailers like Amazon.com, Overstock.com, or offline in retail outlets such as Wal*Mart or Target you can be a smart consumer. By using sites like PriceGrabber or Google Product Search or mobile applications like ShopSavvy (Android & iPhone) you can be sure you're getting a good deal.

Of course, the best place to start is to look at who you're buying for, and how much you're willing to spend on them. But to get you started, I've thrown together a list of some of the bigger consumer products of the year. Ranging from the cheaper stocking stuffers, to the more expensive presents this list has a little bit of everything, although it's definitely for the geekier folk.

Photography

Canon T1i $719

So you're looking to give that special someone a really nice gift? The Canon T1i is more or less the more affordable (and of course, less powerful) cousin of the 5D Mark II. The T1i can shoot full 1080 video, 15.1 megapixel images, and features a nice big 3 inch display for reviewing. And although I'm personally not a big user of LiveView, it can do that as well. While I don't have this model (instead, opting for the even cheaper Rebel XS), I have played with it and it's just wonderful. The kit lens is decent, although if you're buying for a photographer (which at $700 I sure hope you are) they'll most certainly be buying their own lenses soon enough. If you're looking to buy a good lens for your photographer friend instead, here are three affordable but great lenses.

• Tamron 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6 Macro Zoom Lens (Canon) $163
• Tamron AF 19-35mm f/3.5-4.5 Wide Angle Zoom Lens (Canon) $299.99
• Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Lens $99

Dolica 63-Inch Tripod & Monopod with 68-Inch Ball Head $29.99

Most people are familiar with tripods, but not everyone (other than photographers) appreciate and use monopods. When I was looking to get an affordable tripod, and monopod I went to the best place to look: Amazon. This Dolica tripod/monopod combo was in my price range, and fit my needs as a semi-amateur photographer. It's sturdy, lightweight, and only cost 30 dollars, including shipping.

Manfrotto 3 Section Aluminum Tripod $145
and
Manfrotto 4 Section Aluminum Monopod $60.90

Now, if you're shopping for the more professional, serious photographer (or you're just feeling generous), Manfrotto's tripods and monopods are some of the best. The prices may seem ridiculous for what is essentially a glorified stick (or three sticks stuck together), but anyone who's used a bad tripod can tell you, quality is everything.

Joby GorillaPod $44.95

Joby's GorillaPod has to be one of the coolest tripods ever. It's bendable, wrap-able, and can really do just about anything you need it to do. Just mount the camera on, and bend the legs around whatever you can find, be it a railing, a chair, or just about anything else, or just stand it up on a surface to get a nice steady shot.

Sandisk 8gb SDHC Memory Card$14.75

And finally, while it's not exclusive to photography, memory cards are obviously essential to any gear bag. 8gb is my standard size for memory cards I buy, mostly because they're large enough, and at the price where it is just a great buy. At 15 dollars (with 4gb for 10, and 16 for 3x that at 30), it's currently the best price for a memory card. Buying in bulk package, rids you of the packaging, and shaves off a few bucks. This could also be a great stocking stuffer, if you're feeling generous.

This is the day three of our Twelve Days of Christmas, Holiday Shopping Ideas from Maverick Revolution.