Our favorite gifts under $100

As we gear up for the biggest shopping season of the year, we’re presenting our favorite gifts for photographers this holiday season. Thanks to Capture One, Mylio, MPB, Fundy, Skylum, Excire and Tamron, the sponsors of this year’s Holiday Gift Guide.

Need more gift ideas, and want to see all the latest holiday deals? Check out our Holiday Shopping Guide!

Below are a few of our favorites that are valued under $100. These are great gifts for the photographer in your life!

Excire Bundle

Recommended by the Photofocus team | Read review | $99; available via Excire

Ever wish you could simply search for your photos using simple words? What about colors, smiles, style and even content? Excire can easily scan all your photos and add simple tags to each photo. This is another AI tool, and if you can’t tell, getting organized is one of the major goals for 2023.

Peak Design Travel Tech 2L Pouch (Black)

Recommended by Pam DeCamp | $59.95; available via B&H

Great pouch for carrying chargers, cables, power blocks, hard drives, and other tech-related items. Fits great in carry-on bags.

Peak Design camera straps

Recommended by Bob Coates | from $34.95; available via B&H

Always had a problem when mounting my camera on a tripod. What do you do with the camera strap. Wrapping helped but was a pain. The quick release of the Peak Design connections makes that hassle a thing of the past. It also allows you to quickly change from a wide strap to a thin strap or a wrap strap with a couple quick clicks.

Vello extension tubes

Recommended by Julie Powell & Bob Coates | Read review | $82.50; available via B&H

I own two different macro lenses, but I still adore using my Vello extension tubes, on my standard lenses. Going out for a day trip and don’t want to carry everything? Throw these lightweight and durable extension tubes in your pocket and use them on a standard lens to achieve some up-close magic. Even on a zoom lens.

Extension tubes can save you money if you want to start playing with close-up photography. Extension tubes move your lens away from the sensor magnifying the resulting image. While not quite macro imaging, it can give you a taste before investing in a specialty lens. 

Lume Cube 2.0

Recommended by Lauri Novak | Read Review | $89.95; available via B&H

A Lume Cube is the smallest; professional-quality LED Light you can find. It’s perfect for both photography and video work!

Falcon Eyes F7 Pocketlite

Recommended by Bob Coates | $98; available via Amazon

I have several of these light panels. I use them in the studio for video lighting when I want rich colored backgrounds. I use them as a color-correct light when verifying artwork color when making images for artists. On location, I use them for low-level lighting at night and as accent lights. A really nice thing is being able to turn the power down to 1%. Many LED lights cut out at 5-10%.

Kate Backdrop fabric backdrops

Recommended by Julie Powell | Read review | Various prices; available via Kate Backdrop

Great portraits start with a great backdrop. The gorgeous selection from Kate Backdrop surely has something for everyone, from Old Masters styled to Fine Art, Solid Colors and of course, their incredible theme backdrops. Each backdrop comes in a variety of sizes and a fabulous rod pocket for quick installation. Beautifully printed on gorgeous fabric, and so easy to look after and setup. I have several now and use them often.

Datacolor Spyder Checkr Photo

Recommended by Jemma Pollari | Read review | $99.99; available via B&H

For photographers who need their color representation to be accurate, a color chart is a must-have. Datacolor Spyder Checkr Pro is an easy-to-use option that allows you to build a color profile for every lens and camera combination in your kit. Made up of the plastic chart (pictured) and software to get the information into your editing suite, it’s a pro-level tool for those who shoot in color-critical environments.

Hex Ranger DSLR Sling Bag V2

Recommended by Jemma Pollari | Read review | $99.95; available via B&H

This compact and sleek sling bag fits your essentials for shorter shoots, or where you only need your DSLR and a couple of lenses. It’ll fit an ungripped DSLR with 24-70mm attached and two small additional lenses with ease. It can hold a gripped DSLR but it’s a bit of a squeeze. The built-in rain cover and weather resistance makes this a versatile bag for all kinds of photographers

Lexar 64GB Professional 2000x UHS-II SDXC Memory Card

Recommended by Lauri Novak | Read Review | $94.99; available via B&H

One thing I’ve noticed when out with other photographers is how many of them only carry one memory card. Help them out buy getting them at least a second one to keep in their bag.