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What Is Amazon’s Prime Day?
Every year, Amazon’s Prime Day offers thousands of deals on the site’s products, from electronics to books and art supplies. This year the 48-hour event started yesterday and concludes at 11:59 pm PST tonight, Wednesday, July 17.
What’s the Catch?
To get access to the deals (or most of the deals), however, you have to be an Amazon Prime subscriber.
Amazon Prime costs $14.99 a month or $139 a year. Its benefits include faster shipping on Amazon orders, discounts at Whole Foods, and access to Amazon’s streaming entertainment. You can also pick up a free 30-day trial of Prime here.
What’s on Sale?
Prime Days feature deals across all of Amazon’s categories, including tools for artists. Many of these deals are Lightning Deals, lasting only a few hours. A word of advice: Move fast, as the most desirable products will sell out quickly.
What’s On Sale Right Now?
While (frankly) many deals are not worth shopping, we’ll be tracking the best deals on tablets, cameras, and accessories here as they become available. Some can be accessed without a Prime membership, though with Prime membership you’ll get free shipping. Others are only available to members. See our picks below and check back in with us often to find our favorite Prime Big Deal Days deals and discounts. Happy browsing!
IPADS, DRAWING TABLETS, AND STYLUSES
Apple iPads and drawing tablets by Wacom and other brands have long been powerful tools for illustrators and graphic designers. But you’ll also find many 3-D artists using them to create virtual worlds for gaming environments; photographers editing images; and traditional artists generating ideas and sketches. If you’re looking for an iPad or drawing tablet this is a great time to pick one up. Here are some of the best and most popular Amazon Prime Day deals on Apple iPads and drawing tablets:
$80 off Apple iPad (9th Generation)—Buy for $249.00
It may not be the latest version in Apple’s lineup of iPads, but this 9th generation iPad gives users a lot to like and may be more than adequate for their needs. This Wi-Fi-only version (with no cellular capability) has 64GBs of on-board storage. It’s powered by the A13 Bionic chip and has a Retina display and an ultra-wide front camera. It also has excellent battery life.
39% off Apple Pencil (2nd generation)—Buy for $79.00
Although you can use an iPad without a stylus, artists will get the most out of just about any model iPad using an Apple Pencil. This 2nd-generation stylus offers pixel-perfect precision and very low latency, so there’s no lag. It’s great for drawing and sketching as well as note-taking and signing documents. It pairs magnetically to the side of your iPad, which it uses to charge.
$50 off Apple iPad (10th generation)—Buy for $299.99
Apple’s newest generation iPad, powered by the A14 Bionic chip, offers upgrades to some of the 9th generation’s features. For instance, it comes with a 16-core Neural Engine, which allows the it to function more efficiently. Artists will love that it can capture video in 4K resolution and that the front camera has 12-megapixel image sensor. This particular model is Wi-Fi only and has 64GBs of on-board storage.
43% off Wacom Intuos Small Graphics Drawing Tablet—Buy for $39.95
For artists on a budget, this inexpensive Wacom drawing tablet should fit the bill. It features battery-free technology, so there’s no worry about running out of charge. It also comes with a lot of free software to get you up and running quickly. The tablet itself has four customizable express keys to access short cuts quickly and easily. It’s compatible with Chromebooks, Macs, Android devices, and Windows.
$300 off Wacom Cintiq Pro 24 Creative Pen Display—Buy for $1901.62
Artists will appreciate the ample work area offered by this larger-size Wacom’s Cintiq Pro, which has a 23.6-inch display with 4K (3840 x 2160 pixels) resolution. Like its smaller sibling, it ships with the Wacom Pro Pen 2, which has 8192 levels of pressure sensitivity, excellent tilt response, and virtually lag-free tracking, all of which helps make this tablet a great performer. It’s compatible with both Windows and Mac platforms.
24% off XPPen Artist Pro 14 Gen2 Drawing Tablet—Buy for $319.99 with an Amazon Prime membership
If you’re looking for a more affordable alternative to a Wacom, XPPen makes a number of excellent drawing tablets, including this second-generation Artist Pro 14. The 14-inch display has anti-glare etched glass and full HD (1920 x 1080) resolution, and the tablet features a built-in foldable stand and an X-Edge Wrist Rest design that lets you set up your preferred working configuration and work longer without fatigue. Intriguingly, it comes with a very sensitive pen, which the company says is the first in the industry to offer 16,000 levels of pressure. And it offers wide compatibility: Windows 7 (or later), macOS 10.10 (or later), Android (USB3.1 DP1.2), Chrome OS 88 (or later), and Linux.
$100 off Huion Kamvas 22 drawing tablet—Buy for $349.99 with an Amazon Prime membership
Huion is another brand that makes great alternatives to Wacom drawing tablets and iPads. For instance, this drawing tablet is relatively inexpensive for one with 21.5-inch display and full HD (1920 x 1080) resolution. The pen has 8129 levels of pressure sensitivity and great tilt response. The display not only has a scratch-resistant surface that replicates the experience of drawing on paper, but it also comes with an anti-glare film to minimize distracting reflections. It’s compatible with Windows 7 or later, Mac OS 10.12 or later, Android (USB3.1 DP1.2) and Linux (ubuntu).
24% off an Apple iPad Mini (6th Generation)-Buy for $379.99
This version of Apple’s most compact iPad comes with Wi-Fi, 64GB of storage, and and an 8.3-inch liquid retina display. It’s powered by Apple’s A15 Bionic chip for powerful performance and fast graphics, and it comes with a 12-megapixel ultra-wide front-facing camera and USB-C connectivity.
$185 off a Wacom Cintiq 16 Drawing Tablet-Buy for $616.26
This Wacom Cintiq tablet has a 15.4-inch display with HD resolution, and compatibility with both Windows and Mac platforms. It ships with the Wacom Pro Pen 2, which has 8192 levels of pressure sensitivity, tilt response, and virtually lag-free tracking, which helps make this tablet a great performer. It also has two customizable switches, for quick access to shortcuts.
CAMERAS
While it’s true that these days most consumers take photos and videos on their mobile devices, many artists still know the value of a stand-alone camera. And today’s cameras are better than ever. We’ve found some great discounts on several models, including full-frame mirrorless interchangeable-lens cameras, mirrorless interchangeable-lens cameras with APS-C sensors targeted at vloggers, and GoPro action cams.
25% off Sony a7 III full-frame mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera with 28-70mm lens—Buy for $1498.00
Although the newer Sony a7 IV has greater image resolution and a superior auto-focus tracking system, the a7 III still has a lot of valuable features. It includes an advanced 24.2MP BSI full-frame image sensor, 15 stops of dynamic range, the ability to shoot 14-bit uncompressed RAW files, and an ISO range of ISO50 to ISO204,800. It can also fire off up to ten frames per second using either the electronic (silent) or mechanical shutter with auto exposure and autofocus tracking. It also comes with a 28-70mm FE f/3.5-f/5.6 lens and can capture 4K-resolution video at 30 fps.
$100 off Sony ZV-1F Vlog Camera—Buy for $398.00 (Limited time deal)
The Sony ZV-1F is targeted at vloggers, with features such as a side-opening swiveling touchscreen LCD screen, Soft Skin Effect mode, product showcase settings and more—all designed to produce great 4K-resolution video footage. It has a 20-megapixzel, 1-inch BSI-CMOS image sensor, an ISO range of ISO 125 to ISO 12,800 and 3-inch swiveling display. Because it’s based on Sony’s RX100 series of high-end point-and-shoots, it has excellent photo features too, like the ability to fire off 24.0 frames per second in continuous shooting mode. It also has an ultra-wide 20mm lens that has a very wide f/2 maximum aperture.
26% off Canon EOS R5 mirrorless full-frame camera (body only)—Buy for $2899.99
The Canon EOS R5 is a pro-level full-frame mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera that comes with a 45-megapixel full-frame CMOS sensor. When it debuted, was one of the first pro models to shoot uncropped 8K video recording up to 29.97 fps. It can also capture up to 12 still frames per second (when using the mechanical shutter) and up to 20 fps (when using the completely silent shutter). It features Canon’s advanced Dual Pixel CMOS autofocus II technology, which is very quick and ensures sharp photos and video; 1,053 automatically selected AF Zones that can also detect the human eyes, faces or heads as well as the eyes, faces and bodies of animals (like dogs, cats and birds); and 5-axis in-body image stabilizer, which works in conjunction with Canon’s optical image stabilizers in its lenses. (This offering does not include a kit lens.)
34% off GoPro HERO11 Black Bundle—Buy for $249.99 with an Amazon Prime membership
The Hero11 Black is no longer the latest GoPro, but it still has a lot of versatility and features. For starters, when it was introduced it came with a larger sized image sensor than previous models (1/1.9 inches), which gave the video a new aspect ratio of 8:7. It also has better image resolution that past models (up to 27 megapixels), while delivering 5.3K at 60 fps video and the ability to grab 24.7 megapixels stills from your footage. It can record 2.7K at 240 fps video that can be played back in 8x slo-mo, to capture great details. It even comes with a water-repelling lens cover that also helps eliminate lens flare and other artifacts to make your photos and videos even more stunning.
PERIPHERALS AND SOFTWARE
$100 off Epson Workforce Pro WF-7310 printer—Buy for $149.99 (Limited time deal)
While you’ll find a lot of inkjet printers on the market, not many of them are wide format. But with this Epson, you can produce pages as large as 13×19 inches. Plus, if you need to print lots of pages for your project, this is a great model for that, too. It comes with two 250-sheet trays, and even a rear feed.
40% off Adobe Creative Cloud with 100GB Storage-Buy for $395.99 for the first 12 months (Limited time deal)
Adobe Creative Cloud is an essential tool for artists, photographers, videographers, graphic designers, arts administrators, and gallerists. This collection of more than 20 desktop software and mobile apps as well as online services includes the drawing and painting app Fresco, as well as apps for 3D and augmented reality projects.