November 26, 2010, 9:46 AM — There are quite a few bargain-hunting strategies for Black Friday. For instance, earlier this week, Ian Paul rounded up some of the best Black Friday camera deals available, based on net savings. For the present list, however, I took a products-first approach: I made a list of some of PCWorld Labs' highest-rated cameras from the past couple of years, and then I tried to find the best deals being offered on them on Black Friday.
Result: jackpot.
I used the excellent BFAds.net Website to scrounge up all of these bargains. Frequently, the best deals come in bundles: Many highly-rated DSLRs are being sold as package deals with multiple lenses, a memory card, carrying bags, and other accessories, and the price for the whole package will save you quite a bit in the long run.
Here are some of the sweetest deals around the Web and in stores on some of our top-rated DSLRs, interchangeable-lens compacts, pocket megazooms, and compact point-and-shoots. As always, read the fine print and call the store to ask for details before you camp out in line at the store. Sometimes, what looks like a terrific deal turns out to be a turkey.
Olympus PEN E-PL1 | Full review
The merchant: Staples
The Black Friday deal: $500 as a kit with a 14-42mm zoom lens, a backpack, a Corel editing suite, a $25 gift card, and $250 in coupons for Olympus accessories.
Price when released: $600 as a kit with a 14-42mm zoom lens.
Quite simply, the Olympus PEN E-PL1 is one of the best interchangeable-lens cameras we've seen for beginners. In addition to standard controls for aperture, shutter, and exposure settings, it offers on-screen guides in iAuto mode that teach you the ropes of using manual controls. The E-PL1's Diorama Mode art filter is especially fun to use, as it simulates the effects of a tilt-shift lens and make full-size buildings look like scale models.
Nikon D90 | Full review
The merchant: Best Buy
The Black Friday deal: $1400 as a kit with an 18-105mm VR stabilized zoom lens, a 55-300mm VR stabilized zoom lens, and a camera bag.
Price when released: $1250 as a kit with an 18-105mm VR stabilized zoom lens.
The Nikon D90 was the first true DSLR to record video (720p at 24 frames per second), and it sat atop our Top 10 DSLR Cameras chart for quite some time. The 12.3-megapixel D90 offers stunning image quality, fast autofocus, and an easy-to-use interface. The big draw of this deal is the second lens included with the camera body, a 55-300mm (f/4.5 to f/5.6) stabilized zoom lens that costs $300-plus by itself.
Nikon D3000 [deal #1] | Full review
The merchant: Best Buy
The Black Friday deal: $630 as a kit with an 18-55mm VR stabilized zoom lens, a 55-200mm zoom lens, an 8GB SDHC card, a camera bag, and a tripod.
Price when released: $600 as a kit with an 18-55mm VR stabilized zoom lens.
This deal offers some serious bang for the buck: you get Nikon's light-but-powerful D3000 DSLR, two lenses that combine to cover a zoom range from 27mm wide-angle to 300mm telephoto, an 8GB SDHC card, a camera bag, and a tripod for just $30 more than the D3000 cost as a kit when it debuted. If you don't need the tripod or the full-on camera bag, check out the next deal.
Nikon D3000 [deal #2] | Full review
