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Amazon Prime Day drops the price of the Sony A7 II by $555

Today's Best Sony A7 II Prime Day Deal

Sony A7S II
Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

Sure, your smartphone takes nice pictures. But maybe you’re looking to add some more art and technique to your photography. Nothing beats a traditional DSLR. If they’ve always seemed just out of your price range, the Amazon Prime Early Access Sale happening this week is perfect for you. For instance, the Sony A7 II is on sale for only $898 — a $500 discount on its normally much more hefty $1,398 price tag.

Why you should buy the Sony A7 II Mirrorless Camera

While newer models are available, even with the fantastic Prime Day deals on right now, you’ll pay a lot more for a flagship camera. However, the Sony Alpha A7 II has distinguished itself as one of the best Sony cameras in the lineup. It’s a solid workhorse that still delivers excellent photos, making it a fantastic choice for the budding pro photographer on a budget, especially with the Sony A7 II Prime Day deal that’s on right now.

The Sony A7 II Mirrorless Camera is an impressive upgrade from the original Alpha A7, which had the distinction of being our 2013 Camera of the Year. The Mark II adds five-axis image stabilization, noticeably faster autofocus, and superior video quality. It offers full-frame 24.3-megapixel DSLR image quality in a compact body, and the E-mount supports a wide variety of high-quality full-frame lenses, including G Series and Zeiss, so that you can pick the right tool for the job, whether you’re on a nature hike or shooting an air show.

You can also record Full HD video in the XAVC-S format with bitrates of up to 50Mbps, or more casual AVCHD and MP4 recording. Integrated Wi-Fi and NFC let you pair it up with your smartphone or tablet for one-touch transfer of images, plus you can tether it to your PC  to capture photos or video in a studio setting.

Even though newer models come out every year, pro-grade DSLR cameras are designed to be long-term investments, and Sony’s A7 II is a camera that many pro photographers still use in their roster today. This Sony A7 II Prime Day deal is an excellent value if you’re looking to get into serious photography at a price that won’t empty your wallet.

Jesse Hollington
Jesse has been a technology enthusiast for his entire life — he probably would have been born with an iPhone in his hand…
This smart Celestron telescope is 32% off for Prime Day in October
Celestron telescope with its many attachments.

Want to level up your stargazing game? Right now is an interesting time to get into the hobby, with incredible images from the VLT Survey Telescope being released and new rockets being launched every few months. This Celestron StarSense Explorer DX telescope isn't going to give you views of planets in other solar systems, but it has a bunch of cool features to help new astronomers get excited about space. As part of Prime Day telescope deals, this Celestron is discounted from $470 to just $320. Grab it before Prime Big Deal Days are over.

 
Why you should buy the Celestron StarSense Explorer DX telescope during Prime Day
The biggest feature of the Celestron StarSense Explorer DX that makes it great for beginners is the ability to hook it up to your smartphone. Connecting your phone lets you use the app to get a guided tour of the sky. Just point the telescope up in the sky (on a clear night) and connect the app. Using StarSense technology, the telescope figures out exactly what it's looking at. It knows where you are in the world, what time it is, and what it's looking at. From there it can point you in the direction of interesting things to look at based on your location and time. This is great for people just starting out in the world of stargazing.

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Prime Day in October: Get a pack of 12 AA rechargeable batteries for $18
AmazonsBasics AA batteries being inserted into a game controller.

As much as we try to avoid it, sometimes, you just have to buy those pesky household items you never want to spend money on. But if you're lucky, you can take advantage of some excellent discounts, like Prime Day deals, which provide the perfect opportunity to stock up. Amazon's Prime Day Big Deal Days event makes those discounts even sweeter. While we are close to an AA-battery-free world, it hasn't happened yet. Fortunately, we have a rechargeable option to spend less money and throw fewer batteries into landfills. Right now, you can get a 12-pack of Amazon Basic rechargeable batteries for just $18, thanks to a 10% discount on Prime Day. This deal will likely only stick around during the sale, so if your battery drawer is running low, grab them as soon as possible.

 
Why you should buy Amazon AA rechargeable batteries during the Prime Day Big Deal Days sale
Of course, there's not much I can tell you about batteries that you don't already know. These Amazon Basics brand AAs have a 2,000 mAh storage capacity. That's lower than a traditional alkaline battery, but it has enough power to last for a good three to four hours of continuous use. Then the rechargeable factor comes in. You can recharge these batteries about 1,000 times before they die out. Think about how many batteries it will save you -- and how much money. Let's do some quick napkin math. 1,000 recharges... alkaline batteries cost around one-third the price of a rechargeable... factor in the difference in storage capacity... It could be as much as $300 in savings over a single battery's lifetime. A lot less waste too.

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The best October Prime Day robot vacuum deals happening now
Digital Trends Best Prime Day Robot Vacuum Deals

Cleaning a home can be tedious, especially if you live somewhere that has a lot of pollen, sand, or dust; it's so easy to accumulate any of them if you don't vacuum or clean up regularly. It's often no fault of our own, either; with busy lives, even folks who work from home might have a hard time picking up a vacuum and doing some cleaning. Luckily, there is a solution in the form of Robot vacuums, and while they're ordinarily quite expensive, Amazon's Prime Big Deal Days 2023 event has lots of great robot vacuum deals you can take advantage of right now.

Not only will it help you with keeping your home clean, but you can actually get some big savings by grabbing something now, and you likely don't even have to wait until Prime Day itself to see the best deals. Even better, it's not only Amazon that is offering great deals and, in fact, we're seeing some excellent Prime Day deals on robot vacuums from various retailers. There are even a lot of great Prime Day TV deals you can grab, and even some substantial discounts on the best smart home devices on the market. Whatever it is, you'll likely find something to make your life easier during Prime Day in October.
Today's best Prime Day robot vacuum deals
iHome Juno Robot Vacuum — $99, was $199

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