Black Friday 2024 camera deals live: Plus, savings on telescopes, binoculars and stargazing accessories

Now, time for something completely different. Whether you take jaw-dropping pictures of nature or spend your nights stargazing, you want a watch that is reliable, durable and useful. Garmin is your best pick here: these smartwatches are made to last in the great outdoors, and their fitness-tracking capabilities are among some of the best on the market. And Black Friday, incidentally, is one of the best times to invest in one of these high-tech gadgets.

But which Garmin watch should you choose? That is a tricky question to answer. Our health writers can think of many excellent Black Friday deals. This gem is perhaps best for newcomers to advanced fitness tracking: Garmin Instinct 2 is now 33% off at Best Buy, with more color options available at Walmart and Amazon. It is now just $199.99. We liked Garmin Instinct 2 for its affordable allure, and right now, you can get it even cheaper.

If you want to get into telescopes and enjoy a challenge, the Celestron AstroMaster 130EQ is a great project to sink your teeth into and give you a crash course on telescopes.

Celestron AstroMaster 130EQ: was $349.95 now $246.49

Our staff writer bought one back in the Prime Day sales, and although the instructions leave a fair amount to be desired, anyone who likes to tinker and throw themselves into a project will get on well with this telescope. It gives beautiful views of the Moon, and you can make out Jupiter and its four Galilean moons, plus Jupiter's rings are also visible, but it lacks the power to see anything further afield.

If, however, you weren't born with patience and want to get up and running at the drop of a hat, a smart telescope might be more for you, where you can view almost any object in the sky with just a tap of a button. But obviously, you'll need to pay a lot more for that luxury. Still, for anyone on a budget who wants to learn about telescopes and the sky, it's a worthwhile purchase.

Back on cameras now, and Canon shooters will be thrilled to see that the Canon EOS R5 is now $2,479 at Walmart.

We're not surprised that the R5 has been included in both the Black Friday offers and the Prime Day deals last month, with the release of the R5 Mark II in the summer, it's the perfect time to get your hands on the original model (which is still pretty great, in our opinion).

In our Canon EOS R5 review, we said it was "effectively a cheat code for capturing photos of animals", making it one of the best cameras for wildlife photography. That said, it'll excel in pretty much any style of photography, including astro, and it's still considered one of the best even 4 years after its release in 2020.

The only real downside is its infamous video overheating issues, but if you don't shoot much video, then happy days! If you do, then stick around as we've found some other deals on cameras that don't throw a tantrum about shooting longer videos.

Choose your fighter: A scientifically accurate star projector that serves as a wonderful educational tool to learn about the universe, or a Pretty Light for your bedroom. Those are the two main camps when it comes to the best star projectors, and the Pococo Galaxy Projector sits...somewhere in the middle.

It comes with two sets of discs, as we mentioned in our Pococo Galaxy Star Projector review, and there are loads of others you can buy separately for bright, detailed and real-looking projections of the constellations, planets, nebulas, moon phases and more. It was one of the quieter projectors we've tested (great for falling asleep), so much so that our reviewer had to physically hold her ear against it in order to actually hear the motor. It's pretty much identical to the Orzorz Galaxy Lite, in everything other than looks — and it's the same price.

Pococo Galaxy Projector: was $119.99 now $79.99

Telescopes can be very heavy, especially if, like our optics writer, you have the upper body strength of a kitten. This is where a great pair of binoculars have an advantage in being a lot more portable and easier to transport to dark skies to get a decent look at the night sky. Although, you'll obviously not get as good a view as you would with one of the best telescopes, so it's a balancing act.

We rated the Celestron SkyMaster Pro 20x80 the best pair of binoculars for stargazing, and in our review, again, by our managing editor, we said "For the money, it’s hard to beat their reach and clarity". One of our staff writers has the non-pro version, and their lack of fogproofness has proven to be incredibly annoying, so we'd recommend paying a bit more for the better model.

Celestron SkyMaster Pro 20x80: was $320 now $211

Calling all stargazers, you can save $300 on the 'world's most beloved' telescope, the Celestron NexStar 8SE at Amazon. Our managing editor said "It’s not cheap, but what you get for the price is a fantastic night sky observing instrument that won’t let you down." when they reviewed the Celestron NexStar 8SE, and it's proven time and time again to be one of the best telescopes you can buy.

Although it's not cheap whichever way you slice it, the advantage of the 8SE is that you can observe closer objects like the moon and planets and deep-sky objects like nebulas and galaxies — in most cheaper telescopes you only tend to get one or the other.

Plus, it could be worth investing now so you don't need to upgrade later down the line. Our staff writer, Kimberley Lane, bought a cheaper telescope in the Prime Day sale and is now immediately ready to upgrade after only using it a handful of times.

Celestron NexStar 8SE: was $1,599 now $1,299

Live Science team is officially logging on! Black Friday has officially begun and we're already seeing some huge discounts on cameras, optics and fitness gear. We will be highlighting some of the very best discounts you can find on items like telescopes, binoculars, cameras, fitness trackers and streaming so you can spend more time enjoying the science that you love, for less.

We thought we'd crack things off with this huge saving on the Sony A7R V mirrorless camera we spotted over at Walmart.

It's $600 cheaper, the lowest price we've seen, and our staff writer (and photographer in her own right) Kimberley Lane reviewed the A7R V for our sister site Space.com saying it has the best autofocus we've tested in a full-frame mirrorless, ideal for pin-sharp wildlife photography.