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Amazon’s Prime Day is always a key period for camera buyers as any discount on such a major purchase is always helpful. Despite the tariffs, this year’s sale is particularly strong for photography buffs, with big discounts on most of the major brands including some that don’t normally offer deals. 

Some key deals include discounts on DJI drones, along with sales on models from Sony, Canon, GoPro and Nikon. Many of those cameras are ranked highly in our most recent camera guide, like Nikon’s Z6 III, Canon EOS R5 Mark III and the GoPro Hero 13 Black — so feel free to check that out as you add items to your cart. Without further delay, here are the best Prime Day camera deals we could find. 

Best Prime Day camera deals

Canon EOS R100 with RT-S18-45mm lens for $549 (15 percent off): Canon’s EOS R100 is the only modern mirrorless camera you can get with a kit lens for under $600. It comes with a 24-megapixel APS-C sensor that delivers great picture quality with Canon’s pleasing skin tones.

Canon EOS R50 with RF-S18-45mm lens for $749 (15 percent off): Canon’s 24-megapixel APS-C EOS R50 is great for travel, parties, street photography and more thanks to the portable size and built-in flash. It offers nice image quality with warm, human friendly photos and is capable for creators as well with 4K 30fps supersampled video, with 10-bit and HDR capability.

OM System OM-5 for $899 (25 percent off): For creators on a budget, the 20-megapixel, Micro Four Thirds OM-5 from OM System (formerly Olympic) is a great option at this price. It lets you shoot 4K video and 20MP stills at up to 10 fps. The design is nice with a full complement of manual controls, a fully articulating display and 7.5 stops of built-in stabilization.

Panasonic Lumix S9 for $1,298 (13 percent off): The S9 may be Panasonic’s smallest full-frame camera but it comes with the same 24MP sensor and similar video features to the popular S5 II. To that end, it offers up to 6.2K video, in-body stabilization and reliable autofocus. The key feature though is a special LUT button that lets you easily choose a custom cinematic look designed by professional creators.

Canon EOS R6 Mark II for $1,899 (5 percent off): Canon’s R6 Mark II offers a great mix of video and photography features. You can now shoot RAW stills at up to 40 fps and video specs are equally solid with sharp full-sensor 4K at up to 60 fps. It comes with in-body stabilization that’s great for video and photos and autofocus is quicker and more versatile than ever.

Nikon Z6 III for $2,197 (12 percent off): Nikon’s Z6 III is the best hybrid mirrorless camera for the money, thanks to the incredible performance of the 24-megapixel partially stacked sensor. You can shoot RAW bursts at up to 20 fps in electronic shutter mode while nailing sharp shots thanks to the much-improved autofocus. On the video side, it supports 6K RAW at up to 60 fps, or 4K 120p. All of that makes it ideal for creators and photographers alike, with the only drawback being the reduced resolution. 

Sony A7 IV for $2,198 (19 percent off): It beats many rivals with 33 megapixels of resolution rather than 24, with image quality much improved overall. Video is now up to par with rivals with 4K at up to 60p with 10 bit 4:2:2 quality. Autofocus is incredible for both video and stills, and the in-body stabilization does a good job. The biggest drawback is rolling shutter that limits the use of the electronic shutter.

Canon EOS R5 Mark II for $3,999 ($300 off): It’s company’s best camera in years thanks to improvements in areas like autofocus and video. It comes with a high-resolution 45-megapixel stacked sensor, but still lets you shoot blackout-free bursts at up to 30 fps — and most of the shots will be sharp thanks to the updated autofocus with AI tracking. Video is also strong with up to 8K 60p RAW and 4K 120 fps shooting. 

Best Prime Day action cam and drone deals

DJI Neo drone for $159 (20 percent off): The DJI Neo may be an inexpensive, beginner-friendly drone, but has powerful features like subject tracking and quick shots. It can shoot video at up to 4K 30 fps and is quick and maneuverable, though it’s also fairly loud. You can also grab one with three batteries and a charger for $229 (21 percent off).

DJI Osmo Mobile 7P gimbal for $125 (15 percent off): This three-axis gimbal keeps your smartphone video as smooth as can be with DJI’s ActiveTrack 7.0, and includes a magnetic snapping mechanism so you can install your mobile device in seconds. The latest feature is native tracking that follows you around, thanks to the included Multifunctional Module. 

DJI Osmo Action 4 for $209 (30 percent off): DJI’s Osmo Action 4 is a tremendous deal at this price, as you’re not giving up much in comparison to the most recent model, the Action 5. It has the same big 1/1.3-inch sensor that delivers excellent video quality, especially in low light. It also features a D-LogM profile to boost dynamic range, DJI’s excellent clip-on mount and high-quality 4K 120p video.

DJI Mini 4K drone for $239 (20 percent off): The Mini 4 weighs less than 249 grams so it doesn’t require a permit, but can still shoot 4K video at up to 30 fps or 2.7K at 60 fps with three-axis stabilization. It can fly up to 31 minutes on a charge and has one-tap movements like dronie, helix and panoramic shooting. If you have a bit of extra money in your budget, the bundle with an extra battery and carrying case is also on sale for $309 (21 percent off) or with a charger and three batteries for $359. 

GoPro Hero 13 Black for $329 (23 percent off): GoPro’s Hero 13 Black is now available with a new family of modular lenses called the HB series (ultra-wide, anamorphic and macro), making it far more versatile for action creators. It also has a slightly bigger battery that allows longer capture times, up to 90 minutes for 4K 30fps video. Other specs remain the same, including up to 5.3K at 60fps in 10-bit color, along with the excellent Hypersmooth stabilization. 

Insta360 X4 for $349 (30 percent): Insta360 simply dominates the 360-degree category, thanks to its ability to capture action at up to 8K 30fps or 5.7K at 60fps — providing more detail when you reframe it to 16:9. At the same time, the Me Mode that produces flat video (with automatic selfie stick removal) has been upgraded from a maximum 2.7K 30fps to 4K 30fps. It also offers solid battery life, waterproofing to 10m and a free editing app. 

Best Prime Day deals on camera accessories

K&F Concept 25L backpack for $50 (17 percent off): A large 25L three-tiered camera bag that can hold multiple cameras, lenses and drones. It has quick side access and features durable materials with a rain cover, making it great for outdoor travel, weddings or vlogging.

Lexar 256GB Professional Silver Pro V60 memory card for $51 (32 percent off): An excellent compromise between speed and value with up to 280MB/s read and 160MB/s write speeds. 

SmallRig 71-inch Camera Tripod with 360 ball head for $56 (20 percent off): Two-in-one tripod monopod with a head that adjusts 360 degrees so you can take photos at any angle horizontally or vertically. 

Elgato Key Light 2800 lumens for $140 (22 percent off): For presentations or simple studio shoots, you get a silent, low-heat studio light with high output and a 2900-7000K temperature range. It’s controllable by WiFi and has an opal glass face for glare-free diffusion. 

Elgato Prompter for $190 (37 percent off): Whether you’re a creator on YouTube or present on Zoom, the Elgato Prompter is an elegant and popular choice thanks to the built-in display that allows you to read scripts while looking at the camera. Support more cameras than ever, even with wide lenses and features an easy setup. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cameras/the-best-amazon-prime-day-camera-deals-you-can-get-right-now-for-2025-104502187.html?src=rss 

Prime Day is here and that means there’s a good chance you can save a ton on some of the latest gadgets on the market. Case in point: the Apple iPad Air with M3 chip. The slab that was released this March is down to $480 right now, which is a 20 percent discount from its usual price.

This model remains our overall pick for best iPad, and we gave it a score of 89 out of 100 in our review. The powerful M3 chip was the star of the show. Testing shows the M3 is about 16 percent more powerful in both single- and multi-core performance than the M2.

The iPad Air is still Apple’s most affordable large-screen iPad, which makes multitasking easier than on the base iPad. The M3 iPad Air is also compatible with the new Magic Keyboard for iPad Air, which is a much-improved design based on the keyboard that was introduced alongside the iPad Pro M4.

This is the lowest we’ve ever seen the iPad Air with M3, so if you’re in the market for an iPad, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better deal than this one. Most people will be happy with the iPad Air, but there are a couple of other Prime Day iPad deals worth considering too. The cheapest iPad, the iPad A16, is on sale for $280 right now, and the smallest iPad, the iPad mini, has dropped to a record low of $379.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/apples-ipad-air-m3-is-120-off-for-prime-day-094516489.html?src=rss 

The HBO Max re-rebranding is officially underway. After revealing back in May that it would change the name of its Max streaming service back to HBO Max sometime this summer, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) is starting to do that as of Wednesday. In a press release, WBD simply said that “HBO Max is back. It’s good to be home” and included an image of the app’s new(ish) logo.

Variety earlier reported that the switch back to HBO Max would begin on Wednesday, with users around the world starting to see the name of their Max apps changing to the new (old) name. WBD leadership is said to have wanted to have the HBO Max branding back in place before the Primetime Emmy Award nominations are announced on July 15.

HBO Max debuted back in 2020. WarnerMedia and Discovery merged to form WBD in 2022, and the following year, the company cut HBO from the name when it folded Discovery+ content into the flagship streaming service. Two years later, WBD has learned at least one error of its ways and restored the more prestigious part of the platform’s name.

This is not the only major change going on at WBD, which is splitting into two companies. One will be home to HBO, HBO Max and the Warner Bros. film, TV and game studios, and the other will house its cable networks. The latter will be saddled with most of WBD’s debt load.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/hbo-max-is-back-hbo-max-says-121537812.html?src=rss 

DJI has unveiled the Power 1000 V2, an updated version of its original 1000Wh portable battery with a faster charging time, higher continuous power output and more fast-charge options for drones, smartphones and more. Better still, it comes at a slightly lower price, though it’s not yet available in the US. 

The Power 1000 V2 has 1024Wh of capacity as before, but can now output 2,600W continuously rather than 2,200W as before. It can be fully charged in just 56 minutes compared to 70 minutes for the original model, or to 80 percent in 37 minutes if you’re in a hurry. It is slightly heavier though at 14kg (30.8 pounds) compared to 28 pounds for the last model. 

That extra capacity will let you power things like a saw for 40 minutes, a small fridge for 20 hours or a (checks notes) electric jackhammer for 1.2 hours. At the same time, you can charge a digital camera approximately 59 times, a mobile phone 57 times, a laptop nine times and a drone 12 times. It now offers DJI’s Power SDC super-fast charge function, letting you charge select DJI drone batteries in as little as 30 minutes. It also features dual 140W USB-C output ports so you can quickly charge a laptop and smartphone at the same time.

It’s compatible with solar panels via the Power Solar Panel Adapter Module with up to 1800W solar input, taking 40 minutes to charge all 1,024 Wh. It also supports two-way charging so you can turn the tables and charge your car or RV’s battery, for instance. 

The DJI Power 1000 V2 joins the company’s new DJI Power 2000, introduced last week as a portable battery and even a home backup system. It’s now available in Europe on store.dji.com for £799 or €899. There’s no word yet on when or if it’s coming to the US or at what price. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/djis-updated-power-1000-v2-portable-battery-now-charges-in-under-an-hour-122750676.html?src=rss 

Welcome to Video Games Weekly on Engadget. Expect a new story every Monday or Tuesday, broken into two parts. The first is a space for short essays and ramblings about video game trends and related topics from me, Jess Conditt, a reporter who’s covered the industry for more than 13 years. The second contains the video game stories from the past week that you need to know about, including some headlines from outside of Engadget.

Please enjoy — and I’ll see you next week.

In a 2024 interview with Chris Plante, just a few months after Xbox fired 1,900 employees in one blow, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer said the best way to prevent further layoffs in the video game industry was to ensure constant financial growth for major studios’ shareholders. And the most logical way to do that, he intimated, was with layoffs.

“The thing that has me most concerned for the industry is the lack of growth,” Spencer said. “When you have an industry that is projected to be smaller next year in terms of players and dollars, and you get a lot of publicly traded companies that are in the industry that have to show their investors growth — because why else does somebody own a share of someone’s stock if it’s not going to grow? — the side of the business that then gets scrutinized is the cost side.”

He says it as if it’s a natural and irrefutable fact of life. Of course the company has to continuously grow. Obviously the studio caters to its shareholders above all else. The only way to make the numbers go up is to reduce costs, which means slashing headcount. And Spencer is just a man in a Battletoads graphic tee who, clearly, has to do everything he can to make these investors, his fellow executives and himself richer. Poor guy.

“We’re a business,” Spencer told Polygon. “I’ve said over and over. I don’t get any luxury of not having to run a profitable growing business inside of Microsoft. And we are that today. But just across the industry — you mentioned it, and in sitting here at GDC, I reflect on friends of mine in the industry that have been displaced and lost their jobs and how just, I don’t want this industry to be a place where people can’t, with confidence, build a career. So that’s why I keep pivoting back to, how does this industry get back to growth?”

He’s already said the answer — layoffs — but it flies directly in the face of his stated desire to create a stable marketplace where his friends can thrive, so he watches the snake devour its own tail and shrugs, never once considering that the question itself is the problem.

Fast forward to July 2, 2025. Microsoft laid off 9,000 people across its global workforce, and the Xbox division was rocked by thousands of job losses, multiple studio closures and notable game cancellations. The news came out in leaked memos, social media posts from fired employees and LinkedIn status updates, and I spoke to someone with knowledge of the situation at Halo Studios about the mood among developers. Overall, it’s been a lot to keep track of. Here’s all of the reported fallout, as it stands on July 8:

Reported studio layoffs, closures and info

Blizzard: Layoffs; Warcraft Rumble sunsetting

Halo Studios: Layoffs affecting at least five people; we published a firsthand account of tension at the studio

The Initiative: Studio closed; Perfect Dark remake canceled

King: Layoffs affecting roughly 200 people, 10 percent of the studio

Rare: Layoffs; creative director and Banjo-Kazooie creator Gregg Mayles is out after 35 years; Everwild canceled

Raven Software: Layoffs

Sledgehammer Games: Layoffs

Turn 10: The Forza Motorsport team was gutted by layoffs and shut down; Turn 10 is now a Forza Horizon support studio

ZeniMax Online Studios: Studio head Matt Firor is out after 18 years; Blackbird canceled

Reported game cancellations

Blackbird (ZeniMax)

Everwild (Rare)

Perfect Dark (The Initiative)

Warcraft Rumble (Blizzard)

Unannounced first-person shooter (Romero Games)

Spencer said it in 2024 and it’s still true today: The Xbox division is growing, with an eight percent yearly increase in revenue from Xbox content and services in the first three months of 2025. Still, for employees, it doesn’t feel stable.

This situation isn’t unique to Microsoft, either: In May, Electronic Arts canceled its Black Panther game and closed the studio creating it, and this followed a previous culling at Respawn, which included canning a new Titanfall title, plus years of layoffs at BioWare. Meanwhile, EA CEO Andrew Wilson took home more than $25 million in the 2024 fiscal year. In 2024, 11 percent of developers across the industry were laid off, according to GDC’s 2025 State of the Game Industry Survey. Statista reports the global games market is expected to grow yet again in 2025, generating more than $522 billion in revenue.

Layoffs are a cruel solution to a shitty question, and at the moment, they form the backbone of the AAA industry. The world’s largest studios function on a binge and purge cycle, with acquisitions, crunch and layoffs built into their business plans. This cadence is only becoming more chaotic as additional factors, like AI and consolidation, are converging to decrease hiring numbers and increase the scope of layoffs. At Microsoft, using the company’s Copilot AI toolset is “no longer optional” for employees, and as one worker told me, “They’re trying their damndest to replace as many jobs as they can with AI agents.”

Practices like these have helped propel unionization efforts across the industry, including at Xbox studios.

“We are deeply disappointed in Microsoft’s decision to lay off thousands more workers, including union-represented CWA members, at a time when the company is prospering,” Communications Workers of America President Claude Cummings Jr. said about the recent layoffs. He continued, “Right now, we are living through a moment of profound corporate consolidation and disruption. In times like these, union organizing is not just a tool for protections in the workplace; it is essential to workers’ survival, and one of the strongest defenses we have against unchecked corporate power.”

In addition to this most recent round of 9,000 layoffs, Microsoft fired 6,000 people across its divisions in May. The Xbox segment specifically lost more than 2,500 employees to layoffs in 2024, and Microsoft closed Arkane Austin, Alpha Dog Games and Tango Gameworks (though Krafton eventually scooped up Tango for itself, thankfully). The scattershot vibe of the closures, cancellations and layoffs — affecting productive and low-overhead studios like Tango, exciting new projects like Blackbird, and multiple proven ZeniMax teams — drives home the notion that Microsoft was always more interested in controlling these studios’ IPs than supporting the developers that worked there.

Layoffs are an answer to the question, “How does this industry get back to growth?” Mass firings are not a function of artistic integrity or technological innovation, and they’re antithetical to the process of actually building fresh and powerful video games. I’ve never asked myself how industry profits can grow, as a player or a critic. Only a small and very specific group of people have, and they don’t speak for me. Unfortunately, they move for all of us.

The news

Helldivers 2 will hit Xbox this summer

Helldivers 2 is heading to Xbox on August 26, ending its tenure as a PlayStation 5 console exclusive after a little more than one year. Helldivers 2 is developed by Arrowhead Game Studios and published by PlayStation, so it wasn’t guaranteed to come to Xbox platforms at all. To be clear, it’s not due to be included in Game Pass any time soon. Since settling its launch issues in early 2024, Helldivers 2 has been quietly building up a sizable playerbase of intergalactic freedom fighters, with more than 15 million copies sold across PC and PS5.

Neil Druckmann is coming home

Naughty Dog co-founder Neil Druckmann is stepping back from the development of HBO’s The Last of Us television series to focus on making games again. Druckmann is a co-creator of the show and he’s been spending his time recently helping produce and write it at HBO, but now that the second season is done, he’s returning his attention to the studio that started it all.

“Now is the right time for me to transition my complete focus to Naughty Dog and its future projects, including writing and directing our exciting next game, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet,” he said in a statement. Welcome back, Druckmann — as Engadget deputy news editor Nathan Ingraham put it, the video game industry is happy to see you again.

Ex-Ubisoft executives convicted in France

Former Ubisoft executives Thomas Francois, Serge Hascoet and Guillaume Patrux were convicted in France of fostering a toxic workplace with rampant sexual and psychological abuse. Former chief creative officer Hascoet was sentenced to 18 months in prison, suspended, and Patrux received a 12-month suspended term. Francois was additionally found guilty of attempted sexual assault and received a suspended three-year prison sentence. This wraps up a multi-year investigation by French authorities into complaints of toxicity and gender-based harassment at Ubisoft.

Ghost of Yōtei showcase on Thursday

Sucker Punch will show off about 20 minutes of Ghost of Yōtei gameplay on Thursday, July 10, at 5PM ET during a dedicated State of Play event. I can’t wait to watch that wind move.

Finally, Time Flies

I’ve been looking forward to Time Flies since I buzzed my way through the demo at Summer Game Fest 2022. It’s a ridiculous little game that provokes poignant thoughts about human existence and pushes players to find joy in small moments, and it’s finally coming to PC, Switch and PS5 on July 31. Make sure to give it a go, whenever you have some time to kill.

AI prompts to help you navigate being laid off, from a colleague who wasn’t laid off

Two days after news of the Microsoft layoffs broke, Xbox Game Studios Publishing executive producer Matt Turnbull made a post on LinkedIn offering “ways to use LLM Al tools (like ChatGPT or Copilot) to help reduce the emotional and cognitive load that comes with job loss.” His suggested prompts included, “Draft a friendly message I can send to old coworkers letting them know I’m exploring new opportunities,” and, “I’m struggling with imposter syndrome after being laid off. Can you help me reframe this experience in a way that reminds me what I’m good at?” The tonedeaf post was met with appropriate ridicule and swiftly taken down.

Additional reading on the Xbox situation

Polygon: Microsoft has never been good at running game studios, which is a problem when it owns them all

Bloomberg: Xbox Executives Were Blown Away by an Upcoming Game. Then They Canceled It.

Eurogamer: Xbox’s absent landlord execs are only part of a much bigger problem

The Seattle Times: Microsoft to lay off about 9,000 employees in latest round and related thoughts from Circana analyst Mat Piscatella

Aftermath: Has Xbox Considered Laying One Person Off Instead Of Thousands

Have a tip for Jessica? You can reach her by email, Bluesky or send a message to @jesscon.96 to chat confidentially on Signal.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/video-games-weekly-every-time-this-industry-grows-it-shrinks-234020383.html?src=rss