What digital camera review site that you trust?

On Feb 23, 1:27 pm, anira... DeleteThis @yahoo.com wrote:
> There are practically hundreds or more sites that provide reviews for
> digital cameras - steve digicam, dpreview, dcviews, image-resource,
> dcrecource, photography.com, pcworld, pcmag, etc. What camera review
> site(s) that you frequently visit and trust?
> Who paid for these reviews?
> Do they own a camera shop?
> Are they a dealer of a certain brand of camera?
> Do the camera companies deliver free cameras for them to test and
> review?
> or do they lend them the cameras?
> or do they buy the cameras on their own, test and review them?
> Are they owned by a camera manufacturer?

Two things militate against getting a good review on those sites:
1. The tester's competence and how scientific the review is. (Is most
of it "opinion" or other subjective B.S.?)
2. How much money the site makes off advertising of various brands.
 >> Stay informed about: What digital camera review site that you trust? 

aniramca.TakeThisOut@yahoo.com wrote in
news:1172255258.013018.133640@q2g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

> There are practically hundreds or more sites that provide reviews
> for digital cameras - steve digicam, dpreview, dcviews,
> image-resource, dcrecource, photography.com, pcworld, pcmag, etc.
> What camera review site(s) that you frequently visit and trust?
> Who paid for these reviews?
> Do they own a camera shop?
> Are they a dealer of a certain brand of camera?
> Do the camera companies deliver free cameras for them to test and
> review?
> or do they lend them the cameras?
> or do they buy the cameras on their own, test and review them?
> Are they owned by a camera manufacturer?
>
>

I most frequently use dpreview. But, I also have used dcresource,
steves-digicams, image-resource, and dcviews (in that order), just to
double-check my options and the reviews of the various cameras I was
interested in. Never hurts to get more than one opinion on a camera.

Sorry, I can't answer all the other questions you have about who paid
for the reviews, etc. I have no clue.

--
Eric Babula
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
 >> Stay informed about: What digital camera review site that you trust? 

On Feb 23, 5:48 pm, "Wayne J. Cosshall" <w....TakeThisOut@dimagemaker.com> wrote:
> anira....TakeThisOut@yahoo.com wrote:
> > There are practically hundreds or more sites that provide reviews for
> > digital cameras - steve digicam, dpreview, dcviews, image-resource,
> > dcrecource, photography.com, pcworld, pcmag, etc. What camera review
> > site(s) that you frequently visit and trust?
> > Who paid for these reviews?
> > Do they own a camera shop?
> > Are they a dealer of a certain brand of camera?
> > Do the camera companies deliver free cameras for them to test and
> > review?
> > or do they lend them the cameras?
> > or do they buy the cameras on their own, test and review them?
> > Are they owned by a camera manufacturer?
>
> I can answer some of this, having edited a number of photo mags, written
> for others and now publishing my own site.
>
> No one pays for reviews to appear. Mags (I include print and online
> because my experience has been that there is no difference in the way
> they are run) do reviews for two reasons: to attract readers and to keep
> advertisers happy with coverage of their products.
>
> Mostly the cameras are on loan. I know of some people who generally get
> to keep the cameras sent to them but for most of us they are loans. The
> companies have a number of loan units and these move from mag to mag on
> a priority list or on the basis of the order that requests for review
> units come in. Camera companies differ in how they handle this, and some
> have more units and some less. I don't know of any mag that buys the
> cameras they test. No one has the budget to do that. I know I sometimes
> buy gear for myself and then review it (I did this with my 400D, for
> example) but that is rare because no one can afford to do that for
> everything they review.
>
> Now I guess I better address influence, because that seems to be the
> underflow in your questions. I've never worked on a mag where I had to
> pull my critical comments of a product because of an advertiser. My
> experience has been that most (I said most) companies understand that
> reviews may be critical and I have often found that when I have ripped
> into a product over the years the people at the company have been cool
> about it because they have known the issues themselves. At the end of
> the day most people understand that if the reviews are not honest you
> will loose readers and that will loose you advertisers and then you shut
> down. That said, I know of some magazines and sites where I do not feel
> the reviews are often critical enough, certainly of some companies
> products. This could be advertiser pressure but it could also equally
> just be the natural biases that individual reviewers have. I've never
> expected readers to just take my reviews as gospel, but rather I expect
> them to read around and make up their own minds. That's why now I have
> the online site that I put RAW files up so readers can download and make
> up their own minds.
>
> The thing is, all reviewing is subjective. Yes all. Even the
> quantitative measurements of lens resolution, etc have so many variables
> in practice that the reviewer can influence the result. Plus people
> rarely want the raw numbers, they like those little writeups of the
> results and people interpret numbers in their own ways.
>
> When you get to something like a camera review, rather than a lens test,
> you get really subjective. I've known of reviewers so incompetent that
> they needed help from another journalist to find the power switch on a
> camera. Yet they have been around for a long time and writing reviews
> people have made purchasing decisions on. I know others whose judgments
> I would trust my life to. People are people, whether they are reviewers
> or not. I think most reviewers are trying to do the best they can based
> on their experience. Unfortunately some magazines hire the cheapest
> person they can, which usually means little real experience.
>
> I know I am very conscious of the fact that people make real purchasing
> decisions on what I may say. I would hope that they do their own
> homework as well, and compare multiple reviews, but I am aware of this
> responsibility. Frankly that means I hold off doing some types of
> reviews until I can be sure that I have a test method that I am happy with.
>
> There are some great reviewers out there, both online and in mags.
> Generally look for those with a track record, a history and a real
> knowledge of what they are reviewing. There are exceptions to this, both
> longtimers I would not listen to and also youngsters who know what they
> are doing. So use your own judgement.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Wayne
>
> --
> Wayne J. Cosshall
> Publisher, The Digital ImageMaker,http://www.dimagemaker.com/
> Bloghttp://www.digitalimagemakerworld.com/

Thank you for your comprehensive reply!
Do most review sites run by magazine companies? Or are there sites
which originally started by an experienced photographer, or an
ethusiast of photography, in which the site subsequently grew and
expand?

Are most of these review sites originated in North America? Where can
I find review sites from other part of the world, such as from
Australia, UK, etc?

As a reviewer, do you have a "sneak" preview of a camera product
before it goes to the market?

Thanks again for your info
 >> Stay informed about: What digital camera review site that you trust? 

Rich wrote:
> On Feb 23, 1:27 pm, anira... RemoveThis @yahoo.com wrote:
>> There are practically hundreds or more sites that provide reviews for
>> digital cameras - steve digicam, dpreview, dcviews, image-resource,
>> dcrecource, photography.com, pcworld, pcmag, etc. What camera review
>> site(s) that you frequently visit and trust?
>> Who paid for these reviews?
>> Do they own a camera shop?
>> Are they a dealer of a certain brand of camera?
>> Do the camera companies deliver free cameras for them to test and
>> review?
>> or do they lend them the cameras?
>> or do they buy the cameras on their own, test and review them?
>> Are they owned by a camera manufacturer?
>
> Two things militate against getting a good review on those sites:
> 1. The tester's competence and how scientific the review is. (Is most
> of it "opinion" or other subjective B.S.?)
> 2. How much money the site makes off advertising of various brands.
>
>
Which is why nobody would ever go to RichA-DPreviews.com
 >> Stay informed about: What digital camera review site that you trust? 

<aniramca.TakeThisOut@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1172255258.013018.133640@q2g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> There are practically hundreds or more sites that provide reviews for
> digital cameras - steve digicam, dpreview, dcviews, image-resource,
> dcrecource, photography.com, pcworld, pcmag, etc. What camera review
> site(s) that you frequently visit and trust?
> Who paid for these reviews?
> Do they own a camera shop?
> Are they a dealer of a certain brand of camera?
> Do the camera companies deliver free cameras for them to test and
> review?
> or do they lend them the cameras?
> or do they buy the cameras on their own, test and review them?
> Are they owned by a camera manufacturer?
>
I like dpreview for their detailed review of advanced cameras and SLRs.
I like Steves' for testing nearly every camera and has full size examples.
Image resource seems to be pretty thorough and tests many models.
John
 >> Stay informed about: What digital camera review site that you trust? 

dpreview.com is a good one.
 >> Stay informed about: What digital camera review site that you trust? 

aniramca.DeleteThis@yahoo.com wrote:
> There are practically hundreds or more sites that provide reviews for
> digital cameras - steve digicam, dpreview, dcviews, image-resource,
> dcrecource, photography.com, pcworld, pcmag, etc. What camera review
> site(s) that you frequently visit and trust?
> Who paid for these reviews?
> Do they own a camera shop?
> Are they a dealer of a certain brand of camera?
> Do the camera companies deliver free cameras for them to test and
> review?
> or do they lend them the cameras?
> or do they buy the cameras on their own, test and review them?
> Are they owned by a camera manufacturer?
>
There are several I trust, but note that I only trust them to do what
they do, which is offer their OPINION. Opinions are, by nature, subject
to bias, and personal preference, and may be inconsistent from time to
time. Check for the camera(s) you are interested in on several, and
take obvious opinion (subjective statements) with a grain of salt.
Finally, go to a store and HANDLE the camera(s) you are interested in to
see if they are the right size and shape for your hands, and that you
really can enjoy holding the camera, and taking pictures with it.
 >> Stay informed about: What digital camera review site that you trust? 

This site seems to collect reviews from different sources:

http://www.digitalcameratracker.com/


aniramca RemoveThis @yahoo.com wrote:
> There are practically hundreds or more sites that provide reviews for
> digital cameras - steve digicam, dpreview, dcviews, image-resource,
> dcrecource, photography.com, pcworld, pcmag, etc. What camera review
> site(s) that you frequently visit and trust?
> Who paid for these reviews?
> Do they own a camera shop?
> Are they a dealer of a certain brand of camera?
> Do the camera companies deliver free cameras for them to test and
> review?
> or do they lend them the cameras?
> or do they buy the cameras on their own, test and review them?
> Are they owned by a camera manufacturer?
>
 >> Stay informed about: What digital camera review site that you trust? 

On Feb 24, 12:47 am, "Wayne J. Cosshall" <w....DeleteThis@dimagemaker.com> wrote:
> anira....DeleteThis@yahoo.com wrote:
>
> > Thank you for your comprehensive reply!
> > Do most review sites run by magazine companies? Or are there sites
> > which originally started by an experienced photographer, or an
> > ethusiast of photography, in which the site subsequently grew and
> > expand?
>
> > Are most of these review sites originated in North America? Where can
> > I find review sites from other part of the world, such as from
> > Australia, UK, etc?
>
> > As a reviewer, do you have a "sneak" preview of a camera product
> > before it goes to the market?
>
> > Thanks again for your info
>
> Sorry, it was probably more comprehensive than many wanted.
>
> Most print mags have a supporting web site. But they are usually a
> supplement to the mag only. Most of the review web sites are separate
> publishing businesses. Most would have started as something small and
> grew. And I suspect most were started by someone who was a pro
> photographer or a long time amateur.
>
> There are review sites from all over the world. There are in fact many
> European ones in the local language, so I can't read them. There are
> many US ones. Mine is hosted in the US but run from Australia, while
> most of my readers are in the US. Do a google search for camera reviews
> and the country you want.
>
> Yes, with some companies we have non-disclosure agreements and get to
> see products before announcement, sometimes get to feed into the
> development process and sometimes get to play with gear before it is
> released. But not with all companies.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Wayne
>
> --
> Wayne J. Cosshall
> Publisher, The Digital ImageMaker,http://www.dimagemaker.com/
> Bloghttp://www.digitalimagemakerworld.com/

Before I replied previously, I visited your website briefly and I
notice about the word PTY, which seems to be corporation in south
pacific (Australia). However, then I also notice about Austin, TX. So
I was not sure where was the origin of your site. By the way, what
unique web address which gives away that it is from Australia? I know
that .com can comes from everywhere. But for Japan it is co.jp, for
UK it is co.uk, for Canada, it is .ca. What about australia?

Do you guys get invited to photo shows like Photokina, etc.? Do
sponsor companies provide free travel or ticket for the show?
Just curious!
 >> Stay informed about: What digital camera review site that you trust? 

aniramca DeleteThis @yahoo.com wrote:
> There are practically hundreds or more sites that provide reviews for
> digital cameras - steve digicam, dpreview, dcviews, image-resource,
> dcrecource, photography.com, pcworld, pcmag, etc. What camera review
> site(s) that you frequently visit and trust?
> Who paid for these reviews?
> Do they own a camera shop?
> Are they a dealer of a certain brand of camera?
> Do the camera companies deliver free cameras for them to test and
> review?
> or do they lend them the cameras?
> or do they buy the cameras on their own, test and review them?
> Are they owned by a camera manufacturer?
>
I can answer some of this, having edited a number of photo mags, written
for others and now publishing my own site.

No one pays for reviews to appear. Mags (I include print and online
because my experience has been that there is no difference in the way
they are run) do reviews for two reasons: to attract readers and to keep
advertisers happy with coverage of their products.

Mostly the cameras are on loan. I know of some people who generally get
to keep the cameras sent to them but for most of us they are loans. The
companies have a number of loan units and these move from mag to mag on
a priority list or on the basis of the order that requests for review
units come in. Camera companies differ in how they handle this, and some
have more units and some less. I don't know of any mag that buys the
cameras they test. No one has the budget to do that. I know I sometimes
buy gear for myself and then review it (I did this with my 400D, for
example) but that is rare because no one can afford to do that for
everything they review.

Now I guess I better address influence, because that seems to be the
underflow in your questions. I've never worked on a mag where I had to
pull my critical comments of a product because of an advertiser. My
experience has been that most (I said most) companies understand that
reviews may be critical and I have often found that when I have ripped
into a product over the years the people at the company have been cool
about it because they have known the issues themselves. At the end of
the day most people understand that if the reviews are not honest you
will loose readers and that will loose you advertisers and then you shut
down. That said, I know of some magazines and sites where I do not feel
the reviews are often critical enough, certainly of some companies
products. This could be advertiser pressure but it could also equally
just be the natural biases that individual reviewers have. I've never
expected readers to just take my reviews as gospel, but rather I expect
them to read around and make up their own minds. That's why now I have
the online site that I put RAW files up so readers can download and make
up their own minds.

The thing is, all reviewing is subjective. Yes all. Even the
quantitative measurements of lens resolution, etc have so many variables
in practice that the reviewer can influence the result. Plus people
rarely want the raw numbers, they like those little writeups of the
results and people interpret numbers in their own ways.

When you get to something like a camera review, rather than a lens test,
you get really subjective. I've known of reviewers so incompetent that
they needed help from another journalist to find the power switch on a
camera. Yet they have been around for a long time and writing reviews
people have made purchasing decisions on. I know others whose judgments
I would trust my life to. People are people, whether they are reviewers
or not. I think most reviewers are trying to do the best they can based
on their experience. Unfortunately some magazines hire the cheapest
person they can, which usually means little real experience.

I know I am very conscious of the fact that people make real purchasing
decisions on what I may say. I would hope that they do their own
homework as well, and compare multiple reviews, but I am aware of this
responsibility. Frankly that means I hold off doing some types of
reviews until I can be sure that I have a test method that I am happy with.

There are some great reviewers out there, both online and in mags.
Generally look for those with a track record, a history and a real
knowledge of what they are reviewing. There are exceptions to this, both
longtimers I would not listen to and also youngsters who know what they
are doing. So use your own judgement.

Cheers,

Wayne

--
Wayne J. Cosshall
Publisher, The Digital ImageMaker, http://www.dimagemaker.com/
Blog http://www.digitalimagemakerworld.com/
 >> Stay informed about: What digital camera review site that you trust? 

You can't trust any one site. You have to read as many reviews as possible.
Read user reviews like those on Circuit City's web site, Amazon.com,
Epinions, NextTag, etc. and then decide for yourself if the pluses and
negatives covered are pluses and negatives for you and then decide for
yourself which camera is best for you. If you rely on any one single review
or article you will most times make a bad choice. Educate yourself and you
educate your purchase.

ljc
 >> Stay informed about: What digital camera review site that you trust? 

On Feb 24, 5:28 am, "silvercelt" <LMKem....TakeThisOut@gmail.com> wrote:
> dpreview.com is a good one.

I agree, but I wish they'd overhaul the look. Hard on my eyes.
Sometimes I don't stay long just because I can't look at the yellow
fonts or the background anymore.
 >> Stay informed about: What digital camera review site that you trust? 

aniramca RemoveThis @yahoo.com wrote:
>
> Thank you for your comprehensive reply!
> Do most review sites run by magazine companies? Or are there sites
> which originally started by an experienced photographer, or an
> ethusiast of photography, in which the site subsequently grew and
> expand?
>
> Are most of these review sites originated in North America? Where can
> I find review sites from other part of the world, such as from
> Australia, UK, etc?
>
> As a reviewer, do you have a "sneak" preview of a camera product
> before it goes to the market?
>
> Thanks again for your info
>
Sorry, it was probably more comprehensive than many wanted.

Most print mags have a supporting web site. But they are usually a
supplement to the mag only. Most of the review web sites are separate
publishing businesses. Most would have started as something small and
grew. And I suspect most were started by someone who was a pro
photographer or a long time amateur.

There are review sites from all over the world. There are in fact many
European ones in the local language, so I can't read them. There are
many US ones. Mine is hosted in the US but run from Australia, while
most of my readers are in the US. Do a google search for camera reviews
and the country you want.

Yes, with some companies we have non-disclosure agreements and get to
see products before announcement, sometimes get to feed into the
development process and sometimes get to play with gear before it is
released. But not with all companies.

Cheers,

Wayne

--
Wayne J. Cosshall
Publisher, The Digital ImageMaker, http://www.dimagemaker.com/
Blog http://www.digitalimagemakerworld.com/
 >> Stay informed about: What digital camera review site that you trust?