Camera and lens reviewers

YouTube Influencers

YouTube influencers are an interesting bunch. Their primary motive is to make money. The more they are watched, the more advertisement money they make.

The first problem with influencers is, they are not independent. They have symbiotic relationship with camera manufacturers. Manufacturers lend cameras to influencers, as new models emerge. Often influencers censor themselves, and avoid criticising in fear of manufacturers dropping them from their list. Due to conflict of interest, their reviews are not reliable. Typically they praise products of certain manufacturers, while smearing the others.

The second problem is, influencers focus on numbers. Most of them just dump the fact sheet from manufacturers’ website without providing useful insight for users. User experience, ergonomics, haptics, build quality, reliability, and durability are often not covered sufficiently. When they provide sample pictures, they are either substandard or heavily photoshopped images. Most often they fail to demonstrate out of the box camera capabilities.

The third problem is, influencers skew their preferences towards hypes which has no meaning for serious photographers, such as video AF, face recognition, and so on.

Reputable websites

DPReview is a long standing camera and gear review portal with well managed reviews, posts and forums. DPReview has strong Photography focus and it is less prone to hypes.

ApoTelyt.com is another website designed to show detailed side by side comparisons. One thing I like about them is their ability to show proportional pictures of cameras, so that users perceive their relative sizes.

Tape recorders

This reviewer type loves to show off their presumed knowledge, by constantly talking about specifications, and using photography jargon to decorate their talk. 90% of their talk can be read from manufacturers’ data sheet.

Bokeh worshippers 

Fast lenses are great. But Bokeh worshippers simply cannot get over excessive bokeh talk. Every lens has strengths as well as weaknesses. Bokeh worshippers don’t talk about astigmatism, diffraction, chromatic aberration, OIS or lack of them.

Leica bashers 

Leica bashers try to prove Leica cameras and lenses are not worth the high price tag. They make shifty comparisons with other manufacturers’ data and cherry pick to prove their point. They typically ignore ergonomics, build quality and hidden strengths of Leica gear, such as Leica look.

Leica ministers

Leica ministers are just the opposite. They preach Leica technical specifications like a parrot and refuse to leave slightest room for criticism. Some of them may go as far as photoshopping the sample pictures to prove their point. Their symbiotic relationship with Leica is so very obvious. The irony is Leica equipment does not need propaganda.