dpreview bias?

Having read their reviews very carefully for years I always thought they
had a pro-Nikon bias. It always seemed to me that they picked on very
minor things to complain about with Canon cameras. When they compared
pictures taken with Canon and Nikon cameras, they often said there was
no difference or the Nikon was better, when it looked obvious to me that
the Canon was better in just the area they were comparing. So, after
being surprised after reading the long set of posts from people who
think they are biased in favor of Canon, I guess it may not be so
obvious that there is any brand bias and what it is. They do have
different reviewers, so maybe that could account for different biases.

However, in the end, one shouldn't really care all that much IF one
knows how to use reviews. ALL reviews are biased, if not by brand, at
least by the reviewers' tastes or preferences. Even the size of the
reviewer's hands can make a difference in what they think about a
camera! I use reviews only as a rough guide. I hope that they will
expose major faults or aspects of performance that might bother or
please me, but in the end I must try out the items themselves and do my
own evaluations before making a choice. The Canon 400D fits my hands
perfectly, for example, while most reviewers said it was too small.

All recent Canon and Nikon DSLR cameras are superb. In competant hands,
they are capable of taking stunning pictures. I would be willing to bet
that a first-rate photographer could photograph the same scenes with
both a Nikon and a Canon, have large prints made, and there isn't a
person reading this post who could tell what brand of camera they were
taken with by looking at the prints. Incidentally, I own two Nikon
cameras and two Canon cameras and see no superiority of one brand over
the other. There are things I like and dislike about each camera, but
these things are specific to the camera.

Joe

On Thu, 25 Oct 2007 12:41:52 -0700, Joseph Miller <miller RemoveThis @ucolick.org>
wrote:

>Having read their reviews very carefully for years I always thought they
>had a pro-Nikon bias. It always seemed to me that they picked on very
>minor things to complain about with Canon cameras. When they compared
>pictures taken with Canon and Nikon cameras, they often said there was
>no difference or the Nikon was better, when it looked obvious to me that
>the Canon was better in just the area they were comparing. So, after
>being surprised after reading the long set of posts from people who
>think they are biased in favor of Canon, I guess it may not be so
>obvious that there is any brand bias and what it is. They do have
>different reviewers, so maybe that could account for different biases.
>
>However, in the end, one shouldn't really care all that much IF one
>knows how to use reviews. ALL reviews are biased, if not by brand, at
>least by the reviewers' tastes or preferences. Even the size of the
>reviewer's hands can make a difference in what they think about a
>camera! I use reviews only as a rough guide. I hope that they will
>expose major faults or aspects of performance that might bother or
>please me, but in the end I must try out the items themselves and do my
>own evaluations before making a choice. The Canon 400D fits my hands
>perfectly, for example, while most reviewers said it was too small.
>
>All recent Canon and Nikon DSLR cameras are superb. In competant hands,
>they are capable of taking stunning pictures. I would be willing to bet
>that a first-rate photographer could photograph the same scenes with
>both a Nikon and a Canon, have large prints made, and there isn't a
>person reading this post who could tell what brand of camera they were
>taken with by looking at the prints. Incidentally, I own two Nikon
>cameras and two Canon cameras and see no superiority of one brand over
>the other. There are things I like and dislike about each camera, but
>these things are specific to the camera.
>
>Joe

Seconded!

I purchased a Canon 30D when they were first released, but I looked
real hard at Nikon and Pentax. All had favorable points over the
others, but I chose the Canon strictly because of the lower high iso
noise over the others. This was based on reading every comparison I
could find and looking at lots of high iso photos posted for all of
the cameras. I have suggested both Nikon and Canon to people who
asked, based on their intended uses.

I think some people simply must bash whatever they don't own (sour
grapes) or base their opinion on an isolated case. Others just like to
stir up trouble to give themselves a sense of importance.

Bill