I picked up a canon 28-135 IS for dirt cheap on ebay - it was a refurb, but seemed perfectly okay. Not the greatest lens in the world but was really useful for me.
http://wiki.polycount.com/PhotoshopTools?highlight=%28%5CbCategoryTools%5Cb%29#Export_Tools a whole lot of them on the wiki. I personally like d1vSave, dunno why :)
This could be useful to you: http://wiki.polycount.com/TexturingTutorials?highlight=%28\bCategoryTextureTechnique\b%29 or even just browsing around the WIKI - http://wiki.polycount.com/Polycount
keep in mind that it's vertex count that matters. Here's the bit from the wiki. http://wiki.polycount.com/PolygonCount?highlight=%28%5CbCategoryEnvironmentModeling%5Cb%29#Triangle_Count_vs._Vertex_Count
Here is a video about swords, it explains the importance of the sword's concussion power at 28:37 and gives an example on a helmet. Check it out : http://youtu.be/1SijLXKmlsw
Day 26 Reference: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/48z2W4 by Dmytro Bajda Day 27 Reference: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/Kr2KWX by MashacK Day 28 Reference: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/JvVRwA by Kirill Senzu Day 29 Reference: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/Z52PqX by Soff (Chili) Just one more day to go!